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Horses become confused or frightened very easily. So, your immediate goals and expectations should be very small. Break down your larger goal into 10, 20, or 30 different steps so that the horse can easily give you the right answer hundreds of times before going on to the next step.
The biggest mistake that I see horse people making that causes an incredible amount of confusion, fear, or anger (in both the horse and human) is to jump through your training steps too quickly because you're anxious to get the final result. Don't do this. You will create a whole new slew of problems.
For example, let's say your horse is fearful of sprayer bottles and you want to prepare him for the summer weather where you are going to have to spray him with fly spray often. Many horse owners will un-safely try to tie, twitch or pin down the horse to force him to stand still for fly spray. However, if you break the task down into smaller tasks (first desensitizing to an empty spray bottle, then desensitizing him to hearing the spray nozzle being sprayed at other things, lead the horse behind you while spraying around, then work on ground manners and halter cues for standing still, then take it one spray at a time, etc.)
I just broke down one larger task into 5 smaller tasks. These smaller tasks can be broken down into even smaller tasks. The smaller the task you're asking, the more success you'll have. You know the task is small enough when the horse will accept it without fear or confusion. If the horse becomes fearful or confused, you need to look at breaking it down even further.
"Most trainers fail because they set unreasonable time restrictions on their horses and themselves."
- John Lyons
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The key is to tackle training problems in a way that is easily understood by the horse, does not cause fear or confusion, sets the horse up to give you the "right answer", and allows him to feel good about himself and good about working with you.
Keeping a Journal
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Keep a daily log of every training exercise you practice with your horse. On the first
page of the journal, write down a monthly training goal, for example, better collection
under saddle.
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Then, find out what your goal would be for each week of the month (break down your larger/monthly
goal into smaller pieces).
So, in order to get better collection from your horse, think about
the different cues needed to communicate your request. The first week, you might work on
refining your horse's responses to giving to the bit, and teaching your horse to respond to
very light pressure from the rein to tip
his nose left and right. The second week, you might refine your cues to raise and lower his head
on a cue from the rein. The second week, you might teach him to respond quicker and fuller
to the leg cues for impulsion. And, the fourth week, you might work on putting these lessons
together.
Then, each day, write down your daily goals and expectations. For example, the first
day you might write down that you're going to work on giving to the bit from the ground, standing
next to your horse. You might write down that you're expecting the horse to occasionally pull
on the rein or lean on it, and what you plan to do to teach him that that is unnacceptable (for
example, holding steady pressure until he gives, and then fully releasing the rein to reward
him). After your session with the horse, find a quiet place to analyze how the exercise went.
Maybe the horse reponded better or worse than you had expected. If he became confused and flighty,
write it down. At this point, think about what might have caused this...maybe you
realized that you could have been more consistent to avoid receiving messages of confusion
from the horse, or that you need to break the task down smaller. Write it all down.
Then, write down what you might do the same or different on the next day and how you expect
your horse to respond. If all
went well, you might try getting on the horse and trying the same exercises at a standstill
or at the walk (or alternating between the two). If it didn't go well, you might pull out
your videos or books on "giving to the bit" and review some things, or consult with a trainer
who is experienced in the specific exercise you're working on.
Keep the big picture in mind, but realize that focusing on these smaller daily goals are much
more important than the big picture. After all, if any of the smaller tasks are left
incomplete, you will have plenty of problems attaining the larger goal... you'll having missing
pieces to the puzzle.
When keeping a journal, you'll realize that your daily training exercises will
not always go exactly as you planned. The time frames you set, and the number of repetitions
you think you will need may be horribly inaccurate. However, the more you write these things in
your journal, the better you get to know your horse's individual learning process, and the more
accurate you will become at your estimations and goal setting in the future.
The journaling process will help you to
analyze the situation (how well you followed your plan, how your horse responded), and
logically trouble-shoot potential roadblocks. Journaling allows you to do these things while you
are in a left-brained, thinking mindset so that you can find the most logical solution. It
gathers your thoughts so that you can be more consistent, patient, and confident the next
time you work with your horse.
I cannot tell you how much this has helped my own personal growth as a trainer,
especially when I first started out studying equine behavior, psychology and ground manners.
I'd study some exercises that I could try, write down my goals and expectations for a session,
then go out and practice them with a horse. In the beginning, my predictions were way off.
I might expect to work on giving to the bit and expect the horse to respond nicely within
one session. But, when I end up with the horse having resistance or confusion, I write
about it, and I write about what may have caused it, and what I can do to correct it. Maybe I needed to break the process down
into smaller steps (sometimes we don't realize these things when we're caught up in the
moment working with a horse, but it becomes very clear afterwards while writing in the
training journal). So, I write down my new goals for the next day (and maybe I'll spend a
little time reviewing a
video or book that discusses the exercise), and the next lesson with the horse
becomes much easier, calmer and my mind is more collected and ready to handle the behaviors
or problems I encountered in the last session.
Another great thing I have noticed about the journaling process is that, over time,
you begin to see patterns in the horse's behavior and learning process. This can help you
to be well prepared to handle the same or similar patterns in the future. For example, my
TB/QH gelding tends to shake his neck and squeal the first several times I introduce a new
cue that I expect him to learn to respond to. It's as if he's saying "What the heck! That's not
part of the program and I don't like to change!" (Some horses under-respond by ignoring your new request, but my guy liked
to over-respond and express his opinion loudly).
After several journaling pages of recording this response, I noticed
the pattern and decided on an approach to handling it. I quickly learned that when he is in
this state of confusion, if I hold the cue softly, steady, and calmly (even while he tosses and squeals)
and give him a moment to try to figure out the correct "answer" by himself, he eventually does.
If I wasn't calm and steady, his tantrums would persist and escalate until one of us got angry.
So, what I learned from his learning pattern is that he expresses his confusion and
dislike of me changing the routine in a very obvious way. But, also that if I just stay
steady and calm and give him the time he needs to figure it out, it suddenly "clicks" and
from that point on, he responds to the cue nearly 100% every time. Noticing all of these
little patterns is the first step to becoming the best handler, rider and trainer you can
for your horse.
Note: You'll notice that some horses tend to under-respond to new cues by ignoring
your new request. These horses are typically the cold-blooded breeds, or those that have
a slower, toe-dragging type of personality. Others, like my TB/QH are a bit more hot-blooded
and overly-sensitive to new things. In either case, finding the pattern is most important
so that you can learn to work with your horse's individual learning style better each time
you're teaching something new.
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