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Soft Touch Training Tips by Teresa Kackert |
Having trained hundreds of horses and riders in San Diego now for over 20 years, I have heard many concerns regarding both horse and rider performance, enjoyment and behavior. The end-result in resolving the many, seemingly different, cases are most commonly traced back to confidence. Confidence is critical. A confident horse and confident rider, or handler, make the most successful team. In my opinion, confidence is the beginning and the end when it comes to addressing and resolving horse and rider issues; but more importantly confidence is vital in avoiding issues in the first place. That said, confidence is not easily obtained. Often confidence must be taught, learned, practiced and/or managed to be effective: too much or too little can make for a dangerous situation. The “confidence” element is a complex and multi-faceted one, so I will address it in four parts: a general overview (this article), a confident handler, a confident rider and a confident horse. Each part will contain specific examples, instructions and solutions. In the end all parts will come together to give you the complete picture of confidence and its every day relevance to both you and your horse. We’ve All Been Nervous Confidence is in large part a state of mind. It is also something that needs to be taught, learned and practiced until it is second nature, automatic; something we do without having to think about it. Creating a confident horse and rider team takes time. You have to build upon positive experiences—that is our goal. We’ve all been nervous at a show, riding in front of others, loading or unloading, handling our horse or even someone else’s in an emergency, crossing water or even a bridge for the first time, jumping a course at a new height or new level of difficulty, tying a new horse, leading him in a new or scary environment, past a tractor, across a busy road; the list goes on and on. What is the common element here? It’s the “new” aspect of each example. Anything new is inherently unknown and, in the horse world, that is not necessarily a good thing. How do we address and resolve new things with our horses? The answer is: with confidence. We should be consistent and methodical. Taking everything one step at a time, with the help of others or a professional if need be, then we practice, practice, practice. The Most Common Issues Communication is the most common issue that needs resolving before we can start working on skills or behaviors with our horse. By communication, I mean effective communication. My horse must understand exactly what I’m saying or asking and I must understand exactly what he is trying to say, tell or ask me! In order to attain effective communication there must be an identical, error free understanding of information, sent and received. Our goal in building confidence will rely heavily upon effective communication during the training process between both the horse and the rider, handler and trainer. Here’s an exercise to try the next time you and your horse encounter a frustrating situation. Ask yourself these three questions, in this order: I call them “The Golden Three.” 1. Do I understand me? (Or am I just “barking” at my horse—too much crop, rein, leg, etc.) 2. Do I understand my horse? (Or is he just “barking” at me—being pushy, bucking, tossing his head, flipping his tail, pinning his ears and being resistant) 3. Does my horse understand me? If you think the answer to all three questions is “yes,” then in my opinion, you should probably take a closer look. Over the years it has been my experience that the most likely source of “frustrating situations” is a breakdown in communication between horse and rider. By closely evaluating both, we can quickly focus in on the source and resolve the situation. Remember, we are trying to build confidence; in order to do that we must teach the less confident. And in order to teach, we must communicate accurately The second most common issue that needs resolving is relationship. By relationship, I mean are we looking to our horse for his or her confidence to help us through? If this is the case then we probably need to take a closer look at that and possibly consider a change. Don’t get me wrong, many a great horse has helped its rider get through a situation that perhaps the rider would not otherwise have been able to handle on their own. But generally, we are the teachers and leaders and for safety’s sake, we need to be able to make the safe and correct decision in most situations. The point is, assuming the horse is the less confident, we are trying to teach him how to get through, over or around something new. Something he or she has never had to deal with, let alone ever seen before. In order to do this we must first be confident and then we must understand how and be able to effectively communicate our confidence to our horse by way of an appropriate “leader” relationship. In subsequent articles I will elaborate specifically on how we can build the confidence of a horse, handler or rider in any situation. Our ultimate goal is when we ask—he listens, when we teach—he learns and when we lead—he follows! Please join me here again for more Soft Touch Training Tips or feel free to e-mail me your thoughts at GreatHorses@msn.com.
Teresa Kackert is Certified Gold by Chris Irwin, Master by Richard Shrake, and C.H.A. Clinic Instructor. She may be contacted via e-mail at GreatHorses@msn.com. .
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