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DO LESS: This is what we’re hoping people will do a lot more of. When people get onto this good feel of a horse, why then the horse understands it and is making use of it in the work they have for him. These people would be the best ones to show someone else about not doing so much. The horse is ca

DIAGONALS: This word refers to two of the horse’s legs — one front leg and one hind leg — that are on opposite sides. A left diagonal refers to the left front and right hind leg. A right diagonal means the right front and left hind leg. This is a naturally occurring motion that helps the horse keep

CONFUSION: Anytime a horse stops feeling of you, he’s getting confused and he may appear cranky. So long as he’s feeling of you, he’s not going to be confused and a lot of undesirable things won’t even develop. In this picture, the horses are confused about what’s expected of them. These people are

COLLECTION: This is important to know about and to practice. The feel you build in from the ground is what gives your horse the foundation for true collection. So many people use this word, but the way they go about collecting a horse seems to take away the interest a horse would have in being coll

CHANGE: Where horses and that word “change” are concerned, not everything will feel comfortable on the start, because that word “everything” takes in quite a lot. When there’s a need for you to make a change, you may try several things, hoping that one will be understandable to the horse. You migh

BRINGING UP THE LIFE: This would mean a person was livening up the horse for a purpose they had in mind. For sure, you need to have a purpose for livening up that horse. The person needs to have a clear understanding of the way that horse’s energy is going to be put to work, because once that life c

BLIND SPOT: That would be only if he had one eye out, or a bad eye. Then it would be harder for him to see things on the side that didn’t have a good eye and — depending on where he is — his self-preservation would cause him to operate a little different to make up for that eye that has the problem

BALANCE (for the rider): There are many variables that affect a person’s balance, the main one being at what age and stage of physical development the person was introduced to horses and riding. Generally speaking, the younger a person starts out, the easier it is for them to learn how to balance w

BARN SOUR: This is what people say about a horse that always wants to go back to the barn. But if the horse has learned to respect you, through feel, there wouldn’t be any reason for him to want to go back to the barn. Generally speaking, a horse that does this has been handled by a rider who’s mis

ANTICIPATION: When we speak about anticipation, we’re talking about the horse being ready to move in response to your feel, but not to the point where he takes over. If he’s feeling of you, he’s not liable to be overdoing the anticipation.

DISCIPLINE: We’re trying to help the horse find a better way on his own, not to force anything on him or punish him for being the way he is. Some people think a horse needs discipline. Well, if that means whipping him, then they don’t understand that he’s just confused about what’s expected of him.

CRITICISM: There’s two kinds of criticism. One is constructive and I’d say that means helping. Then there’s that other kind and it’s destructive and we don’t want any part of that. It’s not fitting. When criticism is offered in a helpful way it’s all right, and when it’s used otherwise, it isn’t all

CORNERING: That word takes in so much. A lot of people use this to mean different things. What I mean is just bringing that nose around a little, because that’s the start of cornering. Of course, whether you can do that and leave the feet still, just depends on the horse and the ability of the perso

COLD-BACKED HORSE: This is just something people say about a horse that has tightness in his back. After they learn how to teach a horse to feel of them, they aren’t apt to have a cold-backed horse. It’s best not to cinch a horse up tight without moving him around the corral a little bit. Get him t

CADENCE: (Cadence refers to the timing and placement of the horse’s feet in any gait or, put another way, it’s the pattern and rhythm of the hoofbeats. This is not a word that Bill uses, but because the word is sometimes misunderstood, we thought these pictures would be helpful. In a single stride o

BRACE / TIGHTNESS: This comes from confusion about the feel that’s presented to the horse, but he can sure learn to operate without being braced or tight. If he’s unsure about the meaning of what a person does, he might get ready to do what he thinks he ought to do instead. This is where his self-pr

ATTITUDE: We’ll assume a person is speaking about an attitude the horse has that isn’t the best. There’s always a cause for this and I’d search to find out what it was, through feel. When the horse is first starting out, his attitude is more or less on survival. Self-preservation causes his attitud

BLENDING IN WITH THE HORSE: This has to do with getting together with your horse. This is when you have picked up his feel, and he has picked up yours. When it gets to being this way between a person and a horse, he’s understanding what you expect him to do.

BAD HORSE: It’s a good subject to talk about, but you have to figure out what made that horse the way he is. Was it the way that horse was handled or was it self-preservation that made him do things that weren’t good for him, or good for the human either? He’s really just a confused horse so we woul

"From THTF: Page 297: Chapter 9 “Meanings” "ADJUST: You change something a little bit, if this word is mentioned. But what you’d do would really depend on what came before the adjustment and what came after it. Anything that isn’t fitting to the horse would cause a person to think about adjusting wh

DIRECT & SUPPORT: These two things go together. If you’re using these words, you’d be talking about either your arms, and the meaning you are building into your horse’s understanding about those reins, or your legs, and your horse’s understanding of their feel on his body. You’d get your whole body

CRANKINESS: A horse like this is just confused about what he’s expected to do. If there’s an excess of pressure applied to a horse that is confused, resentment can set in there and when it does, he lets you know about it. If you don’t miss some of the important things down the line, crankiness isn’t

COLTS: Some people say that about older horses (refer to them as colts), when they’re maybe four or five or seven and haven’t been handled much, but in this book we’re talking about the younger horses that haven’t been handled much. And that’d include geldings and fillies. COLT STARTING: It’s the

CHANGING EYES: A horse’s eyes don’t change. It’s a horse’s body that does the changing. The horse turns his head and shapes up his body so he can see whatever he needs to see. You’d work both sides of your horse so both eyes get used to seeing you, and this way the horse wouldn’t think that you belo

BUCK: Any horse can buck, but we’d prefer that they didn’t if someone was sitting up there. They’re lost and mixed up when they get to doing that. No, if a horse gets to bucking with a person, it’s only due to self-preservation and maybe something that’s been left out of his education up to that poi

BOSAL: Some people call a hackamore a bosal, but what we mean is that thinner rawhide noseband that goes underneath a bridle. A person can put it on there about three or four ways, but the most practical way to have it is with a light piece of leather that’s used as a head piece. Some people just us

ARM (leading arm): This arm has a real important job. It’s the arm that takes the horse’s head around one way or another. Many people use the term “leading rein,” or “direct rein,” but really, it’s the arm that does the leading. This arm provides the horse with the feel of whichever direction you i

BASICS: Developing feel is what you start with, and it comes in there even before some of these other basics. And getting that better feel — that’d be feel that was real effective — applied to the horse comes in anytime after the person has first learned to feel of the horse. Even when the horse and

APPLY: There’s no limit to the things that don’t work, so it’s best to talk about the things that do work. Like feel, and how to apply it. To get good at applying feel, there’s always a place for a little experimenting to see if the animal, and we’ll say a horse in this case, can follow the feel tha

Hi, at Leslie’s request, I am posting quotes from True horsemanship Through Feel chapter 9, “Meanings”. We are hoping to stimulate some useful discussion. "From THTF: Page 297: Chapter 9 “Meanings” “ACTUAL FACTS: This is the main thing we’re interested in, the actual facts where horses are concern