|
|
From: wendy@fc.hp.com (Wendy Milner)
Subject: TEAM FAQ
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 17:08:08 GMT
This isn't quite finished, however, there are enough requests
to warrent sending it out. Please send comments to me: wendy@fc.hp.com.
T.E.A.M.
Tellington-Jones Equine Awareness Method
Linda Tellington-Jones has devised a method of communicating with your
horse through touch. As anyone who has attended one of her clinics
can tell you, results can be amazing and nearly instantaneous. The
systematic method includes a type of massage, exercises and
understanding of what the horse is thinking and doing. The best way
to learn about TEAM is to attend a clinic. The next best way is to
read and talk to people about TEAM. What follows is a brief summary
of some of the techniques of TEAM.
ORGANIZATION
Contact the TEAM office for a list of their publications.
TEAM News International
Site 20, Comp 9, RR1
Vernon, B.C.
Canada VIT 6L4
Tele: 604/545-2336
Fax: 604/545-9116
EQUIPMENT
The equipment to do TEAM is minimal. You need a web nylon halter.
A leather halter will also work. Rope halters, B-Nice, and other
variations do not allow you the control needed.
A wand for touching the horse is needed. Many people use a lung
whip by hold the rope end and just using the stiff end.
A lead rope, preferably with a 4' chain. Positioned properly the
chain gives you better control of the horse. To place the chain in
the halter start on the left side of the horse. Take the clip and
place it going down, through the left halter hole where the cheek
piece and the nose band connect. Pull the chain all the way through.
Take the clip and move it over the nose of the horse to the right side
hole. Put the clip into the hole from the inside going down and out.
Pull the chain through. (Done properly, the chain will *not* rest on
the nose of the horse, but rather on the nose band.) Put the clip up
to the ear piece hole on the right side and clip it to the hole. Take
up the slack.
When holding the lead rope, do not put any pressure on the rope unless
you are directing your horse to do something. As soon as the horse
responds, let up on the pressure.
You do *not* tie your horse with this lead rope. If you plan to tie
your horse, get a second lead rope and just clip it to the underside
of the halter.
Many people do not use the chain at all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TRAINING PLAN
Whenever you begin a training session, start with the relaxation
exercises. Do the wand connection exercise to remind your horse
about the wand. Then proceed to the training you are planning
for the day - whether TEAM or other training.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RELAXATION
HEAD LOWERING
Before a horse can think about what you want, the horse must be
relaxed and alert. If a horse is tense, afraid, distracted, it is
difficult to do anything with the horse. You can tell a lot about the
state of the horse by the height of its head. If the head is up, the
horse is not relaxed. By lowering the head, you can relax the horse.
From the ground do the following:
Stand in front of the horse, place your fingers on the nose band
of the halter and gently press downward. The instant the horse
lowers its head even an inch, let up on the pressure. Wait a
second and then ask the horse to lower its head a little bit more.
Your goal is to have the horse lower its head such that its eyes
are lower than your eyes.
Case: When I started to ride my young horse for the first time
he was obviously a bit nervous. The first time I mounted,
his head shot up, his eyes got wide, and without moving
he tried to see what I was doing up there. I instructed
my handler to ask him to lower his head. A few seconds
later, his head was down, his heart rate had lowered, and
he was ready to get on with the lesson. Note that I had
been working with him for months, asking him to lower his
head as part of the ground exercises.
FACE CIRCLES
The first of the massage techniques is called the Raccoon Touch.
Start on yourself so you learn the feel and the amount of pressure needed.
Place the tips of all five fingers on your cheek. With just enough
pressure to move the skin of your cheek, make one and a half circles
clockwise. The circles are about the size of a dime. Your fingers do
not lift from the skin, rather you move the skin around in a circle.
Move all your fingers down about an inch. Repeat the circles.
Continue until you have touched most of your face.
Note how much pressure you need in different areas. Around the eyes
you need very little pressure. Around your forehead, you can use a
little more. Now move on to your horse.
Ask your horse to lower its head so that you can reach the entire
face. Start with which ever side is easiest for you. I generally
start about half way between the eyes and muzzle on the horse's left
(since I'm right handed). Working upward, do the circles all along
the face, then work down. Repeat on the other side.
You can work over the eyes, into the nostril, even inside the mouth.
If the horse gets nervous at any time, stop, ask him to lower his head
and then start again.
Case: For hard to catch horses, this is a wonderful exercise. First
catch the horse anyway you can.:-) Once you have the halter on
the horse, do the face circles. You only need to do a few minutes
of this work. Let the horse go. The next day, or the next time
you see the horse, catch the horse, and do the face circles.
More than likely, the next time you come out, the horse will come
to you. Most horses like the face circles so much, they become
pests, always lowering their heads and asking for more. Work the
face along with the ears and you'll have a wonderful pest coming
to you for love and attention.
EARS
Many horses are very sensitive around the ears. Some to the point
that they won't let you come close to the ears. For these horses,
begin first with lowering the head, then with the face work, slowly
coming closer to the ears. Once you can touch the ears, begin with
the following exercises. For people who have no problems getting
to the ears, you should do these exercises too.
Take the entire ear in your hand and rotate the ear (one at a time),
clockwise, counter clockwise and back and forth. Generally every way
the horse can move the ear, you do it for him. Do both ears. Note
that the motion should be slow and even. No grabbing and twisting.
Next place your thumb inside the ear with your fingers supporting
the ear from the back. Slowly but with pressure, move your thumb
upward. When you reach the tip of the ear, hold for a second before
repeating the motion.
Ear work will slow your horse's heart rate and activate its digestive
system.
Case: Drake colicked. Since I had just lost another horse to
colic, I was a bit paniced. While trying to think which
I should do first, call the vet, start walking, etc. I
began to do the ear work. Drake let me touch his left
ear but not his right ear. This was unusual. I worked
his left ear again then his right. While he tossed his
head at first, he finally gave in. After a minute, he
belched. My thoughts, "Horses don't do that. I must be
mistaken." I did his left ear again, then right. He
belched again. Then he dropped his head and began eating.
Now he had nice gut sounds, where when he first colicked
he had none on the left side.
Ear work is not a substitute for calling the vet in cases of colic.
But it can help to relax the horse while you are waiting. It also
helps you to relax.
Case: At many endurance and competitive trail rides you will see
the riders doing ear work with their horses. Since the
horse is judged by how low the heart rate is, these riders
get a bit of an edge on the competition by lowering the
heart rate for their horses.
BODY WORK
As with the face circles, you can do the raccoon circles all over
the horse's body. You need to image lines drawn over your horse.
Along the neck, the lines start near the ear and radiate out and
downward to the shoulder. Along the body, the lines run parallel
from the shoulder to the rump.
Starting at one side, follow the lines along the crest of the neck
to the shoulder, move back to the crest and follow the next line
a little lower, move back to the crest and follow the next line a
little lower. Continue till you've touched the entire neck.
Starting at the shoulder follow the lines along the backbone.
Go back to the shoulder and follow the next line a little lower.
Continue till you've touched all down the side of the horse.
For the front legs, start at the shoulder and work down.
For the rear legs, start at the point of the hip, work towards
the tail and then work from the point of the hip down the legs.
Do both sides.
Case: For a horse that is overly sensitive to the touch, this
body work shows the horse that touch is good. If you begin
your training session with the body work, the horse is less
likely to spook when some thing accidently touches it; some
thing like you leg too far back, a branch on the trail, a
rope, or the whip.
While you do the body work from the ground at first, you can also do
it while mounted. Suppose your horse gets startled by something.
Lean over, start at the top of the neck and do the circles down the
neck. How far you reach depends on just what your horse is doing. If
the horse is just tense and standing still, you can reach way over and
work the entire neck. If you think your horse may jump at any minute,
obviously you want to keep your seat, and need to be more cautious.
Case: Doing the body work will also tell you if your horse has
any unusually lumps or bumps. Since you learn what your
horse feels like, you can tell when something has changed.
Rather than waiting a week for a big swelling to show up,
because you touch your horse every day, you'll feel the
first change in its body.
RELAXATION
Doing the head lowering, face circles, ear work and body work, you
will get your horse to relax. If you start your training session with
a few minutes of this work, your horse will be more ready to learn.
It may not be necessary to lunge your horse for half an hour to get it
worn out so you can work it. These exercises only take a few minutes
and work with all horses. (I know that is saying a lot, but try it
before you say it won't work.)
At one time Linda took several horses to the hospital to test what
was happening. The vets took EEG (measuring the brain waves) while
she did the touch on the horses. There was an increase in some
brain activity and a decrease in others. The result was most like
a human meditating. It's well know that after meditation, a human
is more responsive to learning. So is your horse.
WAKE UP
There are also times when you don't want your horse to be this
relaxed. Can you image an Arab being shown in halter who looked
half asleep? You do want the horse manageable and listening to
you. So start with the relaxation techniques. Then just before
entering the ring, cup your hand and pat the horse vigoriously
all over its body. This clapping type motion will wake up the
horse so it can perform.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MOVING FORWARD, SIDEWISE, BACKWARDS, STOPPING AND STANDING
We would all like our horses to move in the direction we want without
any hassles. Generally we think that tugging on the lead line will
make our horses follow us. To the horse, you are just tugging. The
horse might not understand what you want.
You will be using the wand for these exercises. Also, if you have a
problem horse, you should be using the lead line with chain. If your
horse doesn't have a problem, you can get away without the chain.
WAND CONNECTION
Many of the exercises begin with moving the wand along the body of the
horse to the foot you want to move. This motion "connects" the horse.
If your horse is afraid of the wand, or a whip, you'll need to work on
just touching with the wand before going on to the other exercises.
Start at the poll with the wand (if this spooks your horse, start
at the withers and then once the horse is used to the wand, go back
to the poll).
Lightly place the wand on the horse. Stroke the horse along the back
all the way to the tail.
Go back to the poll, stroke the horse along the back and this time go
down the back leg.
Go back to the poll, stroke the horse along the back and go down the
front side of the back leg.
Start at the girth area under the horse, stroke along the underside.
Continue down the front of the back leg.
Go back to the poll, stroke the horse to the withers, and stroke down
the front leg.
Start at the underside of the neck, stroke down the neck and down the
front of the legs.
Repeat on the other side of the horse.
GOING FORWARD
Stand beside your horse at your horse's left near the head, lead line
in your left hand, wand in your right hand. Place the wand at the top
of the whithers, touch the horse with the wand. Stroke the wand along
the back to the hips. Just behind the point of the hip, tap the horse
three times with the wand. (This is called the dingo. Say to
yourself, Ding as you stroke, and go as you tap.)
At the same time as you tap, put a little pressure on the lead rope
forward, take a step forward. You are giving your horse several cues
here, tactal (the tapping, and pressure on the lead) and visual (you
moving). You can also add your voice, saying "walk on".
If the horse begins walking, walk beside it for a few steps before
stopping.
If the horse does not start walking, you stop, place the wand at the
whithers again, stroke the back, and tap-tap-tap. Repeat until the
horse moves forward. You do not have to increase the pressure of
the taps. This is not hitting. If the tap would hurt you, it will
hurt the horse, and this is not what you want.
STOPPING
Whoa is probably the most important command you can give a horse.
When you say whoa, you want a stop right now. For stopping, you
give all the cues to the horse.
Say "Whoa" like you mean it - not like a quiet question.
Stop walking yourself.
Pull down (not back) on the lead rope sharply, just once.
Tump the horse on the chest with a bit of force three times, even
if by this time the horse has already stopped. It's ok if the horse
takes a step back.
Let the horse stand quietly for a few seconds before you do anything.
Remember to loosen up on the lead rope since the horse is now doing
what you want.
After the horse has stopped completely, you can repeat the walk on
exercise, take a few steps and stop again.
When the horse is stopping everytime - maybe after the first lesson,
or after a week of work - stop using the wand on the chest. You may
want to keep the wand in front of the horse, but you no longer have to
tump the chest.
After another few times of stopping, you can stop pulling on the rope.
Just say whoa and stop walking yourself. Repeat this every day till
your horse will stop no matter what is happen around you.
STANDING
Once a horse stops, you also want it to remain standing without
fidgeting. You need to think about standing as a different command
than whoa. Whoa means stop going forward. Stand means, you're
already stopped, so just stand still.
With the horse stopped, stand beside the horse, lead line in your left
hand, wand in your right hand. Now wait for the horse to take a step.
Which ever foot picks up, you take the wand and tap that foot back in
place. For example, if the horse takes a step with the left fore leg
going forward, you tap the front of the leg with the wand until the
horse moves it backwards. If the horse moves a leg backwards, you tap
the back of the leg until the horse moves the leg forward.
BACK
As you might have found out when you stop the horse, the extra
thumps on the chest sometimes makes the horse take a step back.
With the horse standing, do the following:
Say "Back".
Take a step towards the rear of the horse.
Pull back (not down) on the lead rope sharply, just once.
Thump the horse three times on the chest.
Repeat until the horse takes a step back.
MOVE THAT FOOT
As with the stand, you are going to move one foot at a time. This is
good for teaching the horse to stand square, or to stretch out. It is
also the beginning for teaching to turn or side pass.
With the horse standing, lead rope in your left hand, wand in your
left, stroke the wand from the shoulder to the front fore foot, tap
the fore foot from the back to move it forward. If the horse does not
move the leg, take the wand and stroke down from the shoulder to the
foot and tap again. Repeat the stroke tap until the foot moves
forward.
Repeat with the left foreleg and move the leg back by tapping on the
front of the foot.
Repeat with the left back leg. Stroke from the hip down the leg
and tap the foot in the front to move the leg back, and in the
back to move the leg forward.
Change sides and do the right legs.
Once the horse has figured out that tapping the foot means move it.
You can move any foot from which ever side you are standing on, by
just tapping the foot.
TURNS AND SIDEPASS
Now that the horse knows to move its leg forward and back at the tap
of the wand, tap the side of the foot to make the horse cross the foot
over the other foot and move sidewise.
Move the wand along the side of the horse, down the back leg and tap
the outside of the foot. Repeat the tapping until the horse moves the
leg inside. Generally, the horse will also move the far leg next to
rebalance. Tap again to get another step. As the horse moves the
back foot, the horse is "turning on the forehand". As you progress,
the back foot should be crossing over the other foot. The forelegs
should remain motionless.
Do both the left and right side before moving on to the forelegs.
As with the rear legs, stroke the horse from shoulder down the foreleg.
Tap the outside of the foot. Continue tapping till the foot moves
to the inside. Allow the horse to rebalance by moving the other
forefoot. Repeat with both sides till the horse moves easily to
the tapping.
Before you try the sidepass, the horse should move the feet easily.
With the sidepass, you'll tap the side of the horse with the wand.
When the horse doesn't move (because this is the first time you've
tried this), move the wand to the rear leg, tap, move the wand to the
fore leg, tap, move the wand to the side, tap. Repeat. After a few
times, by tapping on the side of the horse, it will move both the
front and rear legs to the inside.
Repeat from both left and right side.
--
Wendy
|
|
