I want to talk briefly about a technique that I see quite a lot from students and a few other professionals. It’s the use of pressure in a tugging or ‘on/off' fashion.

Let’s first talk about the lead rope and use leading as an example.

I see many people urging their horses to lead up by tugging or bumping the lead rope. If a horse is dragging on the lead rope many people offer a pull and release of the rope. They repeatedly pull and release until the horse no longer drags, No doubt they believe it will encourage a horse to keep up the pace.

There are two types of tugging or bumping. One is a sharp tug of the rope followed by an abrupt release. The other type is a smooth pull and smooth release. The first type is rarely, if ever, okay. It offers no clarity to a horse. The second type where the pressure is applied and released smoothly has its place in certain instances which I will discuss towards the end of this essay.

This technique is designed to make dragging on the lead rope less uncomfortable for a horse. However, by pulling and releasing there is no clear feel being offered that a horse can follow. Tugging the rope and releasing the rope gives a horse nothing to go towards. It only offers a feel (or pull) to go away from. In this way, tugging the lead rope is a driving pressure and not a directing pressure. 

 [I know I am repeating myself from previous essays, however, driving pressure is when a horse’s thoughts and its feet are going in different directions and away from the pressure. On the other hand, directing pressure is when a horse and its thoughts are going in the same direction and towards a feel. Driving pressure adds anxiety, whereas, directing pressure diminishes anxiety.]

Instead of tugging the lead rope, if a handler holds the pressure in a sustained way and only releases the feel when the horse changes its thought, the horse is presented with a feel to follow and ‘go with’. There is much more clarity with a steady hold of the pressure than there is if the rope is tugged repeatedly.

Another example I see from time to time is when people try to teach their horses to line up by a mounting block. Tug, tug, tug of the rope or reins when the horse is not where the rider wants. There is little or no feel for the horse to follow. Each tug just tells the horse “not there”, but does not give the horse any clarity about where it should be. Each tug is meant to make the horse feel bad for making a choice the rider did not want.

Now consider when a horse is ridden. Some riders apply the rein with a bump or tug when turning or backing a horse. Often it is in time with a horse’s footfalls. However, again the ‘on/off’ pressure of the reins gives a horse nothing to follow or ‘go with’. The reins are simply driving the feet to comply, but offer no clarity to ‘go with’ a thought.

But let me also say there are sometimes exceptions. There may be times when a bump or tug is necessary. For example, if a horse leans heavily on the reins when a feel is applied without searching for a lighter response, sometimes a tug can motivate a new response. This can happen when bearing heavily on the reins has become a chronic habit. By bumping the rein or reins, we hope to inspire a horse to try something new, and once the search for a different response begins the bumping is no longer necessary. This is an example of turning driving pressure into directing pressure. Similarly, when a horse chronically ignores the feel of a rider’s leg to go forward. Using leg pressure in a bumping manner can open the horse’s mind to trying a new response. Then a rider can go back to using a steady feel because the horse is no longer ignoring leg pressure and ‘go with’ the feel of the seat and legs. Again, turning driving pressure into directing pressure.

It’s important to understand the role of driving and directing pressure in training. Both have their place. But what’s particularly important to understand is that using pressure to drive a horse’s movement is a job only half done. For the best possible outcome, we should be striving to use pressure and feel to direct a horse’s thought by giving the horse something to ‘go with’ or ‘go to’, not stop at driving their feet by using pressure to ‘go away from’.