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A Note From Bert:
In November 2008, having just graduated the John and Josh Lyons Certification Program, I found myself with several days of driving ahead just to get myself and my horses home from Parachute Colorado. I greatly enjoyed my time there and I learned more than I ever thought possible about training horses and more importantly a great deal more about myself. One of the greatest lessons I learned was that I had to change the way I thought and the way I handled my horses before they would change. Let me tell you, both myself and my horses (Dutchess and Bonnie) did a great deal of changing. It was a great experience that not only will I never forget, but will be building on for the rest of my life.
On my drive home, I realized that it seems like every time a group of horse people get together, at least one person will tell a story about their horse (or one they were riding) not doing something they were asking the horse to do. We all have stories like them ranging from the horse just seeming to be stubborn and not turning in the direction we want to the horse running away with us. At one end, the horse not turning the direction we want him to go seems harmless enough. It is like an annoyance that happens from time to time, but really not all that dangerous. However, pretty much everyone agrees that the horse running away with us is a dangerous event. We seem to separate the two events from one another like they have nothing whatsoever in common when, in reality, the consequences of both are just as dangerous.
If I asked you to get into your car and drive to the store but the brakes in your car would not work, would you get into your car and drive it? Most people probably wouldn’t drive their car until the brakes were fixed. Now what if I asked you to get into your car and drive to the store but told you the steering wheel may work or it may not work properly. Would you get into your car and drive away? Most people again probably would not drive the car until the steering was fixed.
The horse that runs away with us is telling us that his brakes don’t work. In other words, he has not learned (or has not been taught) that when we pick up our reins and sit down in the saddle and say “ho” that he is supposed to stop his feet from moving. Likewise, the horse that does not turn in the direction we want him to is telling us that his steering doesn’t work. Again he has not learned (or been taught) that when we pick up the reins and apply pressure to one rein that he is supposed to turn in that direction. If he does this at the walk inside an arena, then it seems like it is not that big a deal. But take the same horse, put him out on the trail, with a very very steep drop off on one side and it becomes a pretty big deal to have his steering working.
It all boils down to us having and maintaining control of our horses whenever we are dealing with them. Consistency is the key to teaching and maintaining the control we all want to have with our horses. Its not fair to the horse to expect one set of behavior in the barn, one set of behavior in the arena, and another set of behavior out on the trail. But, if we teach our horses a simple set of cues, to which we get the same response all the time no matter where we are, we can maintain control of our horses so that neither of us gets hurt and we can enjoy each others company. Our horses want to give us what we want and they are extremely patient and tolerant of our mistakes. However, they will only give us what we want when we learn to ask them in a way they can clearly understand and when our requests for the same thing do not change. So before getting mad at your horse for missing the cue to turn or the cue to stop, ask yourself “Did I make my cue clear enough for the horse to understand and did I teach that cue well enough for the horse to give me the correct answer every time?”. If the answer is anything but a resounding yes, then go back to a safe environment and teach the cue again and practice it until you give the cue consistently and your horse gives you the right answer consistently.
Along the way, always remember to have fun. After all, isn’t that why you got your horse in the first place.
Bert C. Gates
John and Josh Lyons Certified Trainer