Why I love using neck ropes:
They give me less control.
In a horse world that sometimes seems to value control above all else, this might sound odd. But I find that having less control makes me a better horse person. It shows up areas that need attention, it helps me refine my cues, and, as the ability to pull my horse around is hugely stripped back, it makes me much softer and more subtle.
I’m not under the impression that using a neck rope makes me better than anyone else, or that it gives the horse full autonomy. I’m aware that we hold an unreasonable amount of power over these incredible animals, and can often manipulate them into doing almost anything even completely tackless.
However, we live in a world where we very often have to tell our horses what to do, and they have to be able to understand those cues and go along with them. So how can I make those cues as understandable and comfortable as I can? This is where, in my training, the neck rope comes in. I had no idea how much I was automatically pulling on Willow’s head until I led her without a halter - and I’ve always thought of myself as being pretty soft. Here are a couple of things that I learned to do:
1: Be more attuned and sensitive to Willow’s responses. Often, I was using pressure I didn’t need, completely out of habit. If I just give her a minute longer to process what I’m asking, she’ll almost always get it from nearly no pressure.
2: Develop cues where needed. The most obvious example of this is asking her to lift her head from grazing. How many of us are familiar with the horrible tug of war we have to do just to get them to stop eating? So, using an understanding of motivation and reinforcement, I got to the point where I can say ‘up’, lift my hand (the one not holding the rope) and she’ll consistently raise her head.
These are just a couple of examples that came to mind, but there are no doubt many more subtle and nuanced shifts that even I haven’t noticed - in the way that we move in relation to each other, or in the extra time I have to spend working out how to communicate. There’s so much to be learned from making small changes like these. They reveal opportunities to observe habits that may no longer be necessary or helpful.
What’s a small thing you could do with your horse to bring awareness to your habits?