In our previous article we looked at the most basic of sins: not releasing correctly - releasing pressure too early or too late and too little repetition, today we'll take a look at some more extremely common training sins...

1. Training Sessions too long.

Here the maxim seems to be "more must be better" and the horse is put through endless repetitions until it 'gets it right'.  This seems to operate on the basis that the horse knows what is required but is simply refusing to get it right, rather than the notion that perhaps the trainer\rider has not taught the behaviour correctly, the horse doesn't know what you want and is therefore unable to comply.  If the horse isn't performing a movement, or at least providing a very basic attempt (see running before you walk) of what you are asking, within 5-10 mins you probably need to reassess whether he understands what you want at all.  

On a physical level, try to imagine yourself starting a new activity - muscles will take time to acclimatise to the new requirements - would you start out by going for a full hour? Or perhaps you would need to get the hang of it with shorter sessions to learn the basic skills and then work your way up.   As with many things in life - less can be more!  Top international riders know that 15 mins of good concentrated effort is better than an hour of mediocrity or conflict.   Repetitions should be built up over many sessions.  You will get much better results by repeating your exercise or behaviour over many days, weeks and months in small lots rather than trying to get your horse to do 100 repetitions in a single session.

2. Running before you can walk. AKA Expecting too much, too soon.

This sin is really about impatience and inability to plan for goals with achievable milestones and potential setbacks along the way.  It's also about understanding how important creating solid foundations are and that in order to have reliable and solid foundations, these behaviours must also be practiced most often no matter how basic they seem.  For each behaviour you should begin by rewarding the tiniest of attempts to do what you ask, gradually building up to excellence. 

Having been on the bit nicely for a few minutes one day, many riders see no reason why the horse cannot achieve this forever more from then on.  They then move on to something more interesting.  As time goes on the contact is still inconsistent but importantly every movement that is dependent upon it is also unreliable. Strangely it often never occurs to many riders and trainers to return to basics.  Building basic behaviours like going forward promptly from the leg, or when asked by the lead rope may not be sexy but it is vital to have the most boring and fundamental behaviours correct before moving on. 

3. Not being consistent.

Let's face it, we're impatient, plus we judge horses by our own standards instead of as horses.  No matter how much we love them and think that they are the world's most intelligent horse, they do not have the same sort of intelligence and reasoning as a human and to think so is unfair to the horse.  One of the most important areas where this difference should affect our training and interaction is in the consistency of our training.

If you are inconsistent, ask yourself this - how does the horse know when it does or doesn't matter?  If you are inconsistent with your aids, how does the horse learn what you want?  Quite simply he doesn't.  If you let a horse run out from a jump in practice - he will do it in the arena.  If you let him ignore your aids when riding in your home paddock, or on a hack, he will do the same in other situations too.  If you allow him to tug on the lead rope and eat grass when he pleases, he will do this no matter what hurry you are in and feel free to make his own decisions about loading on the float or truck too!

We all want the best for our horses and generally try to do the right things.  If you consider just these major sins when you are training (or when you have problems) then you will have a fairly good checklist of good training practices.  Let's review them again: When using pressure (bit, whip, leg, leadrope) am I releasing correctly? Not before I get what I want and not too long after.  Do our training sessions provide enough repetition for the horse to understand what I want, without individual sessions taking so long that the horse is bored, annoyed or sore?  Does the exercise get broken down into small enough chunks for the horse to learn and do I provide consistency so that the horse knows what I want every time. 


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