Click for Focus
by Dolores Arste

 Creating an atmosphere that's calm helps horses and humans stay focused. Try this simple focusing exercise as a first step. Put a good treat in your closed hand (e.g. a 1 hay stretcher pellet) and put your fist near your horse’s nose. When the horse sniffs your hand, click and open your hand to deliver the treat. Repeat twice, then put your empty fist near the horse; click for touching, and give the treat from your other hand. Move the empty hand to another spot. Repeat. Don't click for licking or mouthing, just for a gentle touch of your empty hand. In just a few minutes, without actually handling the horse, you can turn your hand into a target, something the horse can safely touch and follow. Now wad up a lead rope in the empty hand. Repeat. In no time, you can clip on the lead and the horse will follow the closed hand on his lead rope. This helps the horse to calm down, focus on people, and try to earn more clicks.

 Horse training is a great test of one's ability to stay present. When I first learned Clicker training I would tend to over think everything. Is my rope the right length? What do I do if the horse does….. My back hurts. How will I get the horse to…..I think my left leg stirrup is too long. Ok, now relax the right arm. No, that's too relaxed. Come on Dolores, pay attention. Don’t look down. Yup. I've got a long way to go. Oh shoot, here comes the corner, what do I do here. Feel the hips, what do they feel like? What do you mean you can’t feel the hips?

These conversations flowed through my head every time I was working with the horses. No wonder they were confused. I was confused. That's nearly 100 long, annoying conversations over the course of an hour’s ride.

Now when I ride I decide to avoid trying so hard. I silenced the conversation. When I get to the horse, I  simply align my body (my compass, my shape, my tag points), and I then close my eyes and totally relax for about 5 seconds. I do not worry about the weather or the bugs I just take deep breaths. I open my eyes and begin without really thinking about what I am doing. I'm looking for the feel of it all. The back under my seat swiveling into the turns. The feather like lightness front to back. The strength and purposeful movement of the horse.

These days that I can accomplish this are my very best days riding or on the ground. My horse feels like butter. I feel strong, straight and completely relaxed.

When you try too hard, you create stress. Imagine the last time you were driving down the highway in the middle of winter. The road seems clear. You are relaxed. Then, without warning, you hit a patch of ice. You immediately tense up to try and control the car. You grab the steering wheel with both hands, white knuckled. Unfortunately, in doing this, you inadvertently become a worse driver. Your muscles tighten up. If your car crashes, this rigidity is more likely to cause your body harm, as you are not resilient.

When you find yourself trying too hard at any endeavor, relax. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes if necessary (unless you are driving, of course). And stop over analyzing everything. Although it is not always easy, the more you can be present and in the flow, the better your performance, whether it is at work, on the golf course, in times of crisis and especially with the horse.

When we start talking about parallel shoulders and hips, or seat bones on a different axis, or shoulder rotations it was way too complicated for me to put into practice. What helps me is this. Keep it simple. Look for what one thing feels like. Stay with that feeling. Click it if it feels good. There are no rules. Click when you like it. Click to teach. Click to say thank you. Add a marker that soothes that does not get treated - use it. If you keep that mantra in your head all the time, you won't go wrong.

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