TTEAM UK How To Start TTEAM

	HOW TO START TTEAM


HOW TO START TTEAM	A NEW HORSE STARTS TTEAM

HOW TO START TTEAM

HORSE ASSESSMENT CHART

By being aware of how your horse responds to contact on every part of his body you can take the necessary steps to help improve his health, behaviour and well being. To aid in this please use the HORSE ASSESSMENT CHART which is available to download as a *pdf file here or a zip file here.

Use the diagrams to mark areas of tension, 'ticklish' places, no-go areas, and places that are over or under developed. Mark patches that are cold or hot or areas where the coat is worn, raised, coarse or scurfy. Note which is the higher nostril, ear, shoulder, hip, and so on.

Watch your horses reactions at all times and only carry out the flat hand assessment if it is safe to do so.

Date the chart and repeat the assessment every few weeks to follow your horse's progress. You may be amazed at how the simple TTEAM and Connected Riding body work exercises can change your horse.

Top of page

A NEW HORSE STARTS TTEAM

Starting from Scratch
A new horse begins the TTEAM journey

Looking at your horse's posture will give you valuable information about how he behaves. Schooling difficulties can be overcome by working in hand and transferring the information to the horse once under saddle. By using TTouch bodywork exercises you can release tension that may be contributing to his behaviour and teach the horse to stand and move in a more relaxed outline which will improve mobility and athletic ability.

A new horse begins the TTEAM journey

Note how the horse is standing. His head is high, his back is dropped and he is standing with his legs close together. This posture is linked to horses that have a tendency to work on the forehand and find it hard to move freely forward from the leg when asked to work in a collected frame.

The posture will influence how the horse moves

The posture will influence how the horse moves in both in hand and under saddle. His body weight is falling through the shoulders and his shoulders and neck are bracing to compensate for his lack of balance. The way he organises his posture makes it hard for him to stand still for long. He has developed a bottom line and is tight in the poll. This tension will run through his body making him stiff. It will be hard for him to engage his hindquarters. Punishing him for being fidgety will only make him tenser and lead to an escalation in behaviour.

High head carriage

The high head carriage that makes it hard for him to stand quietly means that he has to walk fast to balance over his feet once moving. Pulling him back to try to keep control will increase the bracing that is already evident through his body and encourage him to lean to the left and crowd the handler exacerbating the tendency to be uneven through his body. This will make it harder for him to work on the right rein since he has learnt to carry the majority of his weight on his left shoulder and he may have a tendency to fall through the shoulder when working on the left rein.

Horse's that are labelled 'dominant' are often simply out of balance

Horse's that are labelled 'dominant' are often simply out of balance. They rush and lean on the handler because they lack self-carriage. Self carriage, self confidence & self control are linked. Teaching horses to move correctly through TTEAM ground and body work exercises diminishes the undesirable behaviour without the need to resort to fearful or forceful handling

Looking at him from the front shows the difficulties he has when on the move

Note how unevenly the weight is distributed through the body


Looking at him from the front shows the difficulties he has when on the move. Note how unevenly the weight is distributed through the body. His weight is on the near fore and his barrel swings out to the right. If he cannot stand in balance it is highly unlikely that he will be able to move in balance.

Resistance only comes from resistance. Educating the horse through TTEAM is a peaceful, rewarding and highly successful way of improving both performance and behaviour.

TTEAM offers many ways of teaching horses to overcome their habitual behaviours. Adding a second lead line and handler enables the horse to start learning how to move in self carriage. The second handler is there as a support - this helps teach the horse to move in a straight line and starts educating the horse from the offside. Teaching horses to work on both reins in hand automatically helps them when under saddle. Care must be taken to ensure that both handlers are not fighting for control since this will merely confuse the horse more. Communication is vital between the handlers who can alternate who is giving a signal on the line to help the horse release in his poll and neck.

He finds it hard to move forward since his habitual way of moving has been changed

At first it is hard for the horse. His muzzle is pinched, his eye is almond shaped and his ears are back. He finds it hard to move forward since his habitual way of moving has been changed.

By staying quiet and not pulling on the head collar, the horse quickly learns to come forward with his head carriage low

By staying quiet and not pulling on the head collar, the horse quickly learns to come forward with his head carriage low.

Dressage schooling sticks called 'wands' are used by the handlers to teach the horse to come forward, to slow down and to halt

Dressage schooling sticks called 'wands' are used by the handlers to teach the horse to come forward, to slow down and to halt. Used as an extension of the arm, the wands help the horse to focus and encourage him to release his neck. They enable the horse to learn how to adjust his weight through his body as he learns how to respond to the quiet movement of the wand. Teaching the horse to slow down by bringing one wand back to the chest shows the horse how to transfer his weight from his forehand to his hindquarters. Most horses are taught how to stop from their heads rather than being shown how to organise their body in a more effective way. This can lead to problems with performance since the horse is inadvertently taught how to move and halt on the forehand.

Top of page

*All form files are encoded in PDF format for your convenience. To view the files, you'll need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader free of charge from Adobe's website if you haven't already done so. You can print the file from the Acrobat reader

Start
To Main Index	Site Map and Google™ TTouch UK Site Search