Category Archives: Training

Liked any good Facebook posts lately?

16 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by in Language, Training, Uncategorized

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The question used to be, “Read any good books lately?”

To my mind, it was a far better question.

While educators now acknowledge that reading isn’t everything, and it’s universally acknowledged that people learn in different ways (visually, verbally and through experimentation), employing youtube or Facebook as a font of knowledge is an unfortunate trend in today’s equestrian world.

Rene Descartes (1596-1650) said, “The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal to us none but the best of their thoughts.”

I wish we could say the same about youtube or Facebook.  But videoclips and micro-thoughts posted on microblogs simply don’t do it.  Nor can they.  Nor are they expected to….one would think.

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Tact & timing

12 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in Training

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I was just discussing flexions with one of my students today and I recalled that Jean Froissard says that in order to perform flexions well, we must have both innate and learned equestrian tact.  Who am I to disagree?  But I do. And I can get away with it, because everyone knows that for every two horsemen, there are three opinions.

I do love flexions and I love Froissard (I received his book Equitation on my 13th Christmas).  But while I think that success with horses is largely dependent on tact and timing, I’ve come to believe that nearly everyone can develop timing….and have a good shot at developing tact.

I’ve always liked this definition of equestrian tact from one of my instructors, Francois Lemaire de Ruffieu.  He says that “tact is the ability to use the right aid at the right time with the right strength and the right duration.”

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Notes & quotes from a clinic junkie: Buck Brannaman

10 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Notes & Quotes, Training

≈ 2 Comments

I like a horse that’s hot off the leg and sensitive to the hand.

Sometimes, in the course of training, you have to convince a horse that it really will be more pleasant if he or she can carry him or herself.  So you have to refuse to let your hands do the carrying.

Some horses will argue about this rather vehemently, but I’ve never known one that doesn’t actually enjoy it when the conversation is more subtle and they have a part in it.  I’m always amused when a horse that shoots me a dirty look or gives me a cold eye during lessons eventually starts to carry himself and then wants to come up and give me a kiss during a walk break.

I’m working with a horse right now who needs to discover a new relationship with hands during groundwork.  So I’m doing some basic groundwork a la Buck, getting those hindquarters moving and “offering him a good deal” without pulling on his head.  In preparation, I watched Buck’s groundwork tape again and reviewed my notes from his clinic last fall.

There were a few things I starred, including this:

“This is 100% true with a horse.  If the horse is dull to your legs, it’s a guarantee he won’t be light to your hands.  If he’s light to your leg, it’s possible he’ll be light to your hands.  Not a guarantee, but it’s possible.”

Danger – what to do?

05 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by in Equitation, Training

≈ 2 Comments

I’ve been enjoying the dialog that’s been ongoing since Tuesday, following my post on the importance of verbal rewards.

On that same Tuesday, one of my fellow bloggers, who lives in the French Midi-Pyrenees (I am squelching envy, I am, I am) had an adventure on her horse which was suitable for the cinema, which she wrote about, and which you can read about here.

I hope I’m not spoiling anything by saying that both she and her horse survived the ordeal unscathed.  But in reflecting on what she did, and what else she might have done, she decided to ask me if I had any tips.

Reading her blog, I’m guessing that, like me, she asked because she wants to hear new ideas and to learn new things, and you never know where those will come from.

It was fun for me to compile a list of tips for riders who find themselves in a potentially explosive situation while on a horse.  They’re readily available to readers who choose to wade through the thread of comments following Tuesday’s post and actually make it to comment #9.

Which is why I thought it might be useful to reprint them, in a new post. You’ll note that these suggestions are particularly applicable to those potentially explosive escapades that involve loose horses in addition to the one you’re riding:

1. Remember to breathe. That will help calm you and your horse.

2. Sit deeply and try to envelop your saddle but don’t grip with legs or hands.

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The two (or three) most important words in the horse world

03 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Language, Training

≈ 16 Comments


“Good boy!“

“Good girl!“

There we have the two (or three) most important words for horsemen (and horsewomen).

If, when your horse does something well, you say “good boy” or “good girl,” you’ll find your horse not only happy at being good but becoming better. Maybe even eventually, his or her best.

Do you give your best to someone who doesn’t say anything when you try?  I don’t.  Maybe that’s a weakness in my character, but it’s a weakness I share with the horses.

Naturally, when you say it you have to mean it.  Your tone is important.  But you don’t have to be boring.  You can vary what you say.

“That’s a good girl!”

“What a good girl!”

“You’re a very good girl.”

“You are such a good girl.”

“Good, good girl!”

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365

31 Saturday Dec 2011

Posted by in Equitation, Training

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I have a dear friend who has a wonderful saying:

“If you write a page a day, at the end of the year, you’ll have a book.”

I literally followed his advice a few years ago, and wrote one.  I followed others’ advice and after several re-writes, I put it under the bed to incubate.  It occurs to me that I should dig it out and see how it reads.  Maybe when I’m snowed in this winter, if winter ever comes to Connecticut again.

But my friend’s advice pertains just as well to horses as it does to books.  Every time you ride, if you work on your position, improve your feel and strive to be the best trainer you can be, it doesn’t matter on any given day if you think you’ve made progress, or made enough progress.  By the end of a year, you’ll have accomplished something both you and your horse can be proud of.

Talk & walk

20 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in Training

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Words work for me (as you’ve probably noticed) so I talk when I teach.  I use the ten minute warm up of every lesson not only to talk theory but also to “check in” with horse and rider.  While I observe the horse, I talk to the rider. How have the rides been since the last lesson? Have there been any struggles or difficulties?  Is there anything in particular the rider would like to work on?

While I’m talking, I’m walking.  This helps me stay fit, keeps me warm in the winter months, prevents me from having to shout, and most importantly, allows me a varied viewpoint.  If I’m not planted in a corner or in the middle of the ring, I’m able to see more, so I’m able to help more.

Plus, it’s the only real way to check the straightness of horse and rider.  My riders may not be ready for the Olympics, but there’s a reason why there are so many judges, all seated at different points around the ring, at international events.  The plain fact is that no matter how good a trainer’s eye might be, it’s not going to be very good if its focus comes from a single position.

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Piece of toast

15 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by in Training

≈ 2 Comments

The other day, I was discouraged about some things going on in my life, and I called my sister.  My teenaged niece Sam picked up the phone, and I shared my woes with her.

She listened and then said, “Have a piece of toast.”

“I never thought of that,” I said.

“Most people don’t,” she said.

Sometimes, things just don’t work the way we want them to, in life, or with our horses.  When it happens while I’m schooling a horse, it could be soreness or illness or boredom or the schedule might need adjusting (too many workdays or not enough).  Or the horse might just be having a bad day.  They have them, just the way we do.

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Offer…part two of two

14 Wednesday Dec 2011

Posted by in Training

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continued from yesterday…

I’ve been “going to the gym” with my young warmblood, right in his stall, while we do the exercises in Hilary Clayton and and Narelle Stubbs’ book and DVD, “Activate Your Horse’s Core.”  Our routine includes carrot stretches, back lifts and leg stretches.  Yesterday while we were at the gym, out of the blue and without my asking, my horse lifted his left knee, as he might in passage, so I could give him his stretch.

While I held his knee and stretched it towards me for the 20 seconds that makes it work, his head was right over mine.  Out of the blue and without my asking, he decided to move his head to the left, right over mine, and stretch his neck as far as he could to one side.  Then he lifted his head over mine again and stretched his neck as far as he could to the other side.  He repeated it, for two reps per side.

I certainly didn’t ask for this behavior.  He simply offered to improve the exercise. And I think he did.  I may be biased, but I think we should suggest this improvement to Hilary and Narelle, for the next edition of their book.  My horse’s inventiveness delighted me.  I was happy he offered me something that neither I nor, in all likelihood, Hilary or Narelle had considered.

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Offer…part one of two

13 Tuesday Dec 2011

Posted by in Training

≈ 5 Comments

I was able to extend you a wonderful offer last Saturday and I have to thank Alex Brown for his generosity.  I don’t have another offer that can compare but I’m still thinking about offers today…the kind of offers that horses make.

The most obvious example is horses offering us their hooves to pick. Personally, I like to pick all four hooves from the near side (racetrack style), and it’s what I ask of the horses whose feet I have to pick.  I’ve found that, even if a horse is used to being on cross ties and having someone walk around him to pick up each hoof, a horse new to me will usually pick up my routine pretty quickly and start offering hooves in the order I want them.

It’s so much more pleasant to be able to accept the offer of a horse’s hoof in your hand than it is to demand it, don’t you think?  I always find it surprising when I watch people grab a horse’s lower leg or try to yank a hoof off the ground or squeeze their fingers down the cannon bone, just to get a horse to lift its foot.  Certainly, you have to do what you have do if a horse won’t help you out.  The problem is when the horse is never given the chance to offer the behavior, so the offer can’t be appreciated by the person sharing his company.

That’s a truism that clicker trainers know very well, because clicker-trained horses offer up behaviors all the time.

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