Some trainers speak of cueing your horse when asking them to do something
and others speak of aiding. Both words are used generally to mean the same thing, however there is a distinct difference.
A "cue" can be anything you teach your horse to get a desired response. You are conditioning him to respond to your
movement, voice or touch to develop a communication between the two of you. The cues may or may not be something he
would normally understand and may make no sense to him, but he learns to adapt.
An aid is a form of communication that is generally not only more natural to the horse, but actually
assists him in responding in the desired way. It is a different approach altogether.
For example, a popular method for working at liberty in the roundpen, requires you to point
your finger in the direction you want the horse to go. Put yourself in the horse shoes and imagine yourself looking
at a person standing in front of you, shoulders squared, lifting thier arm and pointing to the right. Being a prey animal,
your instinct would tell you to back away and most likey go to the left - away from the outstretched, pointing arm.
If you disagree with this statement, go get a wild mustang and see what happens when you do this.
The most natural thing to do for the horse is to move away from this pressure, not directly into it. However, through
conditioned responses, the horse can learn to go where you point your finger.
More naturally, if I wanted my horse to go to the right, I would relax my right shoulder, bringing
it back and inviting; which would naturally lift my left shoulder and bring it forward. I could lift my left arm slowly
toward the horse to push his right eye and send him to the right. This would be more of an aid, as I am helping him
understand what I want in a way that makes sense to him and allows the movement instead of trying to re-creating it.
