It has been drummed into most of us that when we apply a feel to teach a task, our horse learns the meaning of the feel by the timing of our release. We know this. We all learn it and we all apply it to some degree. It is a mantra that a horse learns from the release of pressure, not the application of pressure.

When we ask a horse to stop, we give the signal to stop and then release or remove the signal when our horse stops. In our mind, we are teaching our horse to stop its feet when we apply a signal. But what if the horse’s primary thought was on the bush with the yummy blackberries it was standing beside where it stopped? Would our horse think it was being rewarded for stopping in response to our cue or for stopping next to the blackberry bush?

Maybe we should consider a more realistic scenario.

What if when we asked the horse to stop it was heavy on the reins because its primary thought was to go towards the gate ahead? We release the pressure because the horse stopped moving, but are we teaching that the right thing to do is to stop moving AND lean on the reins?

What if we ask our horse to turn left to go towards a fence post? We apply the signal to turn left and hold it until the horse is pointing straight at the fence post, then we release. But what if the horse was drifting to the right in the turn or slowed its trot or was heavy on the reins while still turning to point at the fence post? By releasing the pressure when our horse was pointing at the fence post did we teach it to drift in the turn, slow down or be heavy on the reins?

We see that our horse did what we asked. We asked our horse to stop on a signal or to turn left on a signal and it did. We think we are teaching our horse to listen and follow our feel. But what does the horse think the lesson is? He has no idea why we released the pressure at a specific moment except that it was released when he had thoughts to resist. He learns that the thought and the emotions he had are a large part of what led to the release of pressure. The horse learns that comfort comes from obedience but with resistance.

If a horse’s mind is occupied with a thought we don’t want when we release the pressure, we teach it to carry that thought, irrespective of what its feet are doing.

A horse only learns to go with us and to be soft when our feel leads to a change of thought. Without a change of thought, you can only teach obedience and never emotional softness and willingness. It’s not how horses learn to be partners.