Horse Training Theories / Our Methods
Training should not confuse or fatigue the horse
The training methods we use focus on taking the uneducated (or poorly educated) horse and developing him into a 'utility horse'.
What is a utility horse? A horse that is supple, strong and balanced, with sufficient cardio fitness to do his job obediently and willingly, with out fatigue, in the lower levels of 'sport horse' or 'working horse' type disciplines.
A good utility horse will be sure to have a useful purpose in anyone's stable, even if his 'type' doesn't suit the taste of the farm owners, his honest general education (esp in the stable) will ensure he will not become a nuisance to anyone who may have to handle him.
Relaxation and Trust
The first quality we strive for is relaxation. Older schools call it 'Unconstrained'. The horse is given time to get into a working frame of mind. When the horse is unconstrained he is more open to learning, understanding and accepting instructions. A horse that is constrained is more likely to be nervous, over sensitive, irritable and un-accepting of instruction (ie the aids), guidance, and the work. He will tire quickly and will probably be at a higher risk for injuries due to the fact that his entire system works in tension.
When the horse is relaxed and trusts the handler/rider he will have a lower level of mental and physical tension. In a state of 'unconstrained' the horse should allow the trainer to influence how he uses both his body and his mind.
While our personal niche is with solid basics and general fitness training for most horse types, in sport or working disciplines, Starting Point Stables admire great horsemen/women like; Waldemar Seunig, Reiner & Ingrid Klimke, Paul Belasik, and Lynn Palm.We also value biomechanics training related priciples taught by Linda Tellington-Jones, Dr. Deb Bennett, and Susan Harris.
When a horse comes to us for schooling, we study his conformation, general fitness and his character before starting a work program. This may take a few hours over a few days.
Our goal is to apply the training in thin layers so the horse is more likely to comply through out his education. Often at the start of training education/communication is very simple. In fact it may seem fairly unrefined, often like teaching a small child ("No you must not touch that, its HOT!"). We feel the hallmark of good training is that the interaction between horse and human becomes more sophisticated, but it does take time. True training (of the horses mind and body) does not occur over night, or rarely in 30 days. There are no such things as short cuts in the learning process or in the fitness process.
Increasing the demands for endurance and the work ethic
Slowly we increase the mental and physical demands on the horse. With out an increase in the work, the horse will never progress. How this progress depends on each horse's physique and attitude. The development of his body should not harm his personality (make him nervous, sour, dull). Keeping that in mind we can fairly begin to judge if the horse is really ready to move on to more demanding work (some good natured horse will give more than they should, and an unknowledgeable rider may take advantage of this) or if the horses personality is 'weaker' than his physical state (that of the spoiled, grumpy or previously 'ruined' horse).
During training we focus on which part of the horse needs more or less work both physically and mentally, and create a program accordingly. We are very aware of the horse needing rest in each work out and periods of rest during a training program, which is why I will not usually take a young, green or reschool horse in for training more than 4 days per week. You don't want to cause burn out or over fatigue.
Finesse and De-sensitizing in training
It is possible to have both. Finesse in training is a trait that enables a horse to respond to the softest signals/aids both on the ground and while riding. De-sensitizing is 'creatively' exposing a horse to a variety of situations with out him loosing his calm and trust. The two can go hand in hand. We do NOT practice crude versions of 'sacking out' horses, or purposely scaring them witless.
Doing desensitizing work is important (for all green horses) as it gives the 'trainer' (handler or rider) some insight as to how the green horse will react to uncertain situations that could crop up anywhere (show, your back yard, social function).Thru these controlled exposures to 'strange things' it gives me a chance to try to instill in the horse a coping mechanism. I always start with the least amount of stimuli and want the horse to realize he can regroup, trust his handler and get refocused amid distraction.
Finesse work actually requires the horse to become more in tune with the rider / handler. The horse needs to respond to lighter aids/pressure.
Reward and discipline
I do NOT want to instigate a struggle with the horse. I have developed the motto that you can not expect a horse to understand something that is more than one or two degrees of separation from something he already knows. Again, training applied in thin layers. In the beginning this serves many purposes such as getting him GRADUALLY physically fit (conditioned), but mainly it gets him acquainted with the idea of reward, discipline and punishment. I have found that just like EVERYTHING ELSE, you must actually 'teach' a horse how to understand the concept of REWARD (naturally they understand the idea of being disciplined for something that someone else in the 'herd' may not like).
It is my opining that the SIMPLEST form of reward is to temporally relieve the pressure you have put on the horse (in the form of a physical aid or simply mental pressure/stimuli). Again, this to me seems very natural; you do not often seen horses rewarding one another in the pasture for 'good behavior'. Typically when the herd is content, you see quiet activity, not a lot of 'praise' or celebration. Horses seem to quickly understand the idea that relief of pressure is a good thing, and in the beginning I try to find every opportunity to relieve 'pressure' . As the horse's stamina increases, he can go longer amounts of time with out (constant) rewards, and should go longer time with out constant reinforcement (reminder aids or signals). Following this train of thought, I feel there comes a day when a rider (or handler) harmonizing with the horse is, in and of itself, a great reward or encouragement to continue working.
Discipline and punishment certainly have their place. Horses in a herd discipline or threaten to punish one another all the time. Occasionally they groom one another, or take comfort with one another (mostly in quiet moments) or they will rough-house/play with one another. You'll find mares cooing to their young foals to keep them close. However I don't see this as reward or praise, more so than mutually enjoying companionship (each having something to offer the other). You'll not see a horse spouting praise to pesky herd member for not annoying them, and certainly you won't see horses bribing one another to do their will (ok, so mares in heat do that). More often than not one horse gets to close to another and the aggressors ears will go back ("I really don't want you closer, make another choice"). Shortly after that a threatening open mouth or lifted leg will give warning that a bite or kick may follow if the advice to 'move out' is not followed. The pressure of that will usually go away once the offender yields to the will of the aggressor.
Based on the horse's natural ways, I feel that discipline/punishment in the form of pressure is very acceptable and understandable, provided that the pressure is relieved when the horse begins to comply.
In the human - horse relationship I believe 'discipline' can be understood as trying to deter or stop one undesirable behavior/action and replace it with a behavior/action that is more desirable. For example, if I am trying to teach a horse to step backwards and he steps sideways, I will use a mild discipline (such as a tap with the whip to stop sideways movement) to help the horse to understand that the action he took was not what I wanted, 'please try again'.
Punishment to me means to put a stop to an action/behavior, with out question or a replacement behavior. I do not believe a horse should be coddled, spoiled or allowed to act dangerously. They certainly do not tolerate it from one another in the field, and us small humans are no match in size or strength to that of the average horse. There are times when one swift and immediate swack with the riding crop/whip (or use of a lead shank) will clear the air and put a stop to disturbing, dangerous, behavior such as nipping/biting, kicking, crowding, pushing, that really do not require replacement with a 'better behavior'. For example, while leading if I ask a horse to halt and he bites or paws at me, the biting/pawing needs to stop, yet I don't have another action or activity to replace it with when the exercise in itself was to just stop and be still, or stand and be haltered with out biting, etc.
It is my opinion that discipline and punishment should never scar a horse physically or mentally. If discipline or punishment is so severe that it prevents a horse from IMMEDIATELY carrying on with his experience or education (by putting him into a state of frenzy fear/aggression) then it has gone too far. I do not hold a grudge when disciplining or punishing a horse. I understand that once punishment goes on to long it will only instill pain, fear, confusion or revolt/hostility in the horse. That is where punishment turns into abuse, and that is where learning stops.
Horses naturally need a leader, someone confident who will give guidance. To keep reward, discipline and punishment in perspective I remember this phrase that a friend of mine shared with me; Strength with out softness is aggression. Softness with out strength is weakness.
Physical Training
Moving on to physical training, getting the horse to use their body efficiently and effectively for the job at hand. The tasks/skill are easy at first, and grow more demanding in reasonable time.
In the beginning I like to see a horse that carries themselves in their daily routines using themselves efficiently and in balance. This means they carry their weight balanced over all 4 legs (not crookedly) and work in an unconstrained and responsive way, with out wanting to resist the rider/handler OR the activity at hand. Walking-on and stops should be done straight and with out resistance/fussing. Making turns, backing up, and moving over/through various terrain show a basic biomechanic skills. This is done through ground work exercises and some well thought out lunging (not to be confused with 'round penning') or ground driving.
Suppleness and flexibility are key asset to any athlete and these are addressed from the beginning ('unconstrained').
Strength, agility/coordination can be addressed in a multitude of ways, same as a human athlete. Transitions from one gait or pace to another, obstacle course work (poles, cavaletti, hills/ditches, various types of footing, etc) and doing a variety of activities can slowly develop technical skills (agility, coordination) and strength.
Endurance / Cardio is address once a horse becomes consistent in his ability to remain 'unconstrained' in his warm up and work out routines, and some basic strength training has been done. Longer periods in a gait/pace, more repetitions of an exercise (cavaletti for example), longer over all work period or shorter rest periods.
Though I have never taken a vet type course I always have in mind common sports related injuries or ailments, from soft tissue (tendon/ligament or muscle) to body systems (anhydrosis, rhabdomyolysis/azoturia, dehydration). I am very open to scientific information regarding over all horse care, equine fitness, and specific information pertaining to 'your' horse.
I do not partake in such practices as mistaking exhaustion for submission, depriving a horse of nutrition or water to make him or obedient. I also believe every athlete needs periods of rest; a day off of work, a day of light recreational work, and ample periods of rest during a work-out.
I use the arena as a classroom - a quiet and consistent place to introduce new concepts and practice skills. I do a lot of hacking out in the fields or on the trails to give the horse 'real world' experience.
In Summary
As you can probably tell by this web site, my personal passion is for the sport horse disciplines, including the study of biomechanics. I am personally more fond of an english saddle and a more forward moving horse. I am very fond of 'classical dressage' yet do not dismiss the study of modern bio-mechanics. However, I am not prejudice of breed, riding style or even how advance a horse 'could' go.
My niche has become is looking at a horse and trying to assess him in a way that we find the best 'career' for his personality and body type. There is no sense in trying to make a short strided Quarter Horse a dressage star, or a big moving, 'forward minded' horse a western pleasure celebrity. As much as I love my riding sports of choice (dressage, jumping, endurance), I respect the horse as an individual even more to know what a miserable life it is to do a job you are not well suited for.
I do not pretend to teach/train thru the upper levels of riding. What I offer is a good working foundation that most 'specialty' trainers or instructor could build upon AND a practical education that will enable the average handler/owner to safely enjoy the horse. I don't use gimmicks or 'fads' in training, I don't use an 'out there' aid system that would be hard for the average person to learn. I believe in a common sense approach. Certainly I want the horse to be ride-able and handle-able by its owner, and the majority of the horse enjoying population. I want to help the average horse reach a useable and practical potential, and give the talented green horse a solid foundation to build on.
I whole heartedly encourage owner participation.
Requirements
- Age: We will not start actually placing weight on a horse/pony until it is at least 2 1/2 years of age. All horses under the age of 4 will be worked reasonably with tact for very short amounts of time, out of respect for the horses still growing bones/joints (many of the growth plates do not close until a horse is between 2 1/2 to 5 years of age).
- Temperament: We do not take horses that exhibit habitual dangerous behaviors such as chronic rearing/striking, chronic bucking/bolting or other such chronic violent type behaviors that need serious rehabilitation.
