As a full time equestrian trainer and coach, I’m constantly amazed at the perception by many riders, especially young riders, who seem to assume that their horse(s) just knows what to do. Many riders expect that if they pull on the reins, the horse should stop, or if they squeeze with their legs the horse should go forward. What many fail to understand is that the horse learns these aids from its trainer or rider. Consequently, if the training is incorrect, the horse can also learn incorrectly.
Take for example a young thouroughbred off the track. It has been taught to run very fast from a two year old, many times with a whip, and also with the jockey holding on quite tightly to the horses head via the bit. So at a very early stage in the horses life, it is being taught to go fast, while at the same time having great pressure applied to the mouth. If subsequently the horse is not fast enough, or not deemed good enough for a race horse, it is then either disgarded to a farm, performance horse discipline, or worse, sent to the abbatoir.
In Australia, many young TB’s are bought cheaply by equestrians, with the aim of re-training to become dressage, showjumping, eventing, pony club, or pleasure horses. Many work out just fine, but many also don’t.
If the new owner is just a rider, they quite quickly may become very frustrated that when they try and “ride” their new horse, things don’t work as planned. The horse may buck, run, not stop, not turn, and generally be dangerous. A “trainer” however, understands that many young racehorses have learnt that if the rider touches them with a whip or leg they run fast, and many will even go faster, as pressure is applied to the mouth via the bit. Some may not respond at all to the leg, as they’ve never been taught that leg means go forward.
So a good trainer will begin by simply teaching the horse stop, go, turn, straightness, quitely and safely, and expect that the horse has to learn, not be “made” to understand the new aids. Along the way there certainly might be some obstacles and frustration, but the aim is to teach, not to “make” the new horse learn the new aids.
Lets all become better tainers. Horses are not machines, they learn just as any other beings do. Many of the top equestrians in all disciplines are not just great riders, they also are great trainers. If we all aim to be better trainers, the horses life, and ours, will become much more rewarding and enjoyable.
