Transcript: Horsefulness Training podcast-episode 10
Title: Myth #4 - If You Move Your Feet First, You Act Lower in Rank
Date: 25-04-25
Host: Karine Vandenborre
Hello and welcome to the Horsefulness Training Podcast.
My name is Karine Vandenborre, I’m a professional horse trainer and instructor & founder of Horsefulness Training.
In the previous episodes of the Horsefulness Training Podcast, I already debunked 3 popular horse training myths. Today I’ll talk about myth#4
Myth #4 is typical for dominance-based training and that myth is: IF YOU MOVE YOUR FEET FIRST, YOU ACT LOWER IN RANK!
People are often told not to move their feet first when training their horse. This would make the horse think it can let you move which would then mean it is higher in rank than you.
But a horse knows perfectly well when you move because you want to and when you move because the horse asks you to move.
When a horse enters your personal space and you don’t want this it then is indeed important you don’t step backward but that
you calmly but confident define you space. On that moment, and that is indeed on that moment, you are defending your spot, you stay put and you send your horse out of your space instead of going away yourself. But when you ask your horse for instance to leave on a circle (in liberty or on a lunge) and you move yourself in a way so that the horse understands you better, that is, of course, allowed!
That’s because there’s a big difference between:
Moving because you decide to yourself (for example to communicate with your horse through body language) or moving because your horse is driving you
And your horse knows this too!
They are better than us when it comes to feeling intentions and reading body language.
But even in the case your horse is driving you, this does not always mean you should say no to that. There are situations where you can say yes and move when your horse drives you.
Just think about:
• The horse asks more space because you've entered his personal or intimate space too quickly.
• A horse with fear or a bit of uncertainty about humans that you want to help overcome that fear.
• When you play with a horse you can also play driving games
• A horse that invites you to come with him and does that by driving you subtly in the right direction.
So to claim that you have to move your feet as little as possible because you otherwise are lower in rank while the horse
is higher in rank is put very bluntly. This is reasoning from the dominance theory.
Now, what does this mean for the human-horse relationship in practice and how can you do it differently?
Well, it’s important to let go of the idea that you should move your feet as little as possible and that you should never move your feet first. Instead it’s important that you deal consciously with when and why you move and deal consciously with letting yourself be driven by your horse or not.
So when do I go along with it and do I let myself be driven? And when do I not go along with it, how subtle it might be, and say NO, I stay where I am?
This might seem difficult and you’re maybe asking yourself now: how can I do this, but if you know where you need to pay attention to, everybody can learn this. I’ve taught this already to many many people, so I know that everybody can learn to recognize these different situations. After some practise you can deal with this very consciously, and also apply this during groundwork and other training components.
So If you want my help , just hop over to my website www.horsefulnesstraining.com where you will find more info or simply email me at info@horsefulnesstraining.com
I’m going to leave you here, but before I go, I want to invite encourage you to subscribe on i-tunes or spotify and it would be so nice to hear what you think about this episode! Let me know in the comments, and if you have questions, put them there too, I’ll be answering every single one of them.
In the next episode I will be talking about Myth #5 , which is “HORSES NEED TO KNOW “WHO’S BOSS” OTHERWHISE THEY WILL BE DIFFICULT TO TRAIN”
So be sure to listen to that one too! Till then!
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