May 2003 Trainer Tip

“One of the most common mistakes that I see people working with horses do is to try to prevent a horse from doing some unwanted behavior.”

            One of the most common mistakes that I see people working with horses do is to try to prevent a horse from doing some unwanted behavior. By stifling a horse from doing something that he truly has in his mind to do, you really are guaranteeing that the unwanted behavior will come back to haunt you at another time. It’s been my experience that a better approach is to take the unwanted behavior and, instead of stifling it, simply turn it into such a bad idea that the horse itself abandons the idea and decides to quit. If the horse itself decides that the behavior is not worth doing, chances are that, if the behavior returns, it will be even easier to discourage the second time, and by the third or fourth time, the behavior will entirely disappear. Let me give you a few examples that come to mind within the context of show horses.

One of the most common examples that comes to mind is that of an English or Hunt style horse breaking from the trot to the canter repeatedly. On the surface it would seem that the proper thing to do is to simply slow the horse down and ask it to trot again. Or, possibly try to punish the horse for breaking. The answer to the “cure” for the problem lies within what the horse was trying to avoid by jumping into the canter from the trot. Was he trying to avoid the work of trotting because it is easier for him to canter?

Or, was he not going forward to the bridle well enough and simply trying to avoid contact with bit on his mouth? Or, did he simply not stay cadenced and lose his balance? Or, lastly, is he unsound to the point that staying on his feet was simply too painful?

The fix for all of these reasons is more complicated than simply putting him back on his feet repeatedly. For high motion horses it can be true that cantering can be easier for the horse to perform than a strong or even medium trot. When a horse wants to escape the work of the trot and breaks to the canter instead, I will do one of two things. For the younger, less experienced horse, I will go with him in his effort to canter, however, I will make him canter absolutely perfectly and drive him quite hard to the bridle. I want him to know that the escape that he took is just as hard as trotting, quite possibly even harder. When I’m satisfied that I have him moved completely up to his head at the canter, and he is fully engaged with a round back, I will set him back down to the trot by executing an engaged downward transition, and, by bumping him with my inside leg, ask him to move directly from the canter to the trot. I will then trot him more or less a half of a lap and let him walk. For most youngsters, repeating this one or two more times will be discouraging enough.

For the more experienced horse, if he’s saying to me with his actions (by rushing me) that he would rather canter than trot, I will adopt his idea of cantering being a good idea and I will take it one step farther. I will say to myself, “Fine, if you want to canter, I want to canter as well.” I will then proceed to canter the horse more than he ever intended. I will do this by pushing him into a collected gallop, and I will push him until he stops rushing me. I will then push him into being slow, and then push him more and make him speed up again, and then I will push him back into being slow. When he settles and will let himself be rated and is content, I will then execute an engaged downward transition directly to the trot, and, as in the case of the colt above, trot him for about a half of a lap. After we walk for a moment, I will ask the horse to trot again, and if he rushes and breaks to the canter, I will again initiate the same procedure. Again, after he walks for a minute or so I will ask him to trot again. At about this time in the sequence, most horses are content to trot and not rush. For the stubborn or “more wired” individual, you may have to repeat the procedure one more time, but, I would be willing to place money on the fact that that will be the last time that he wants to break and run. If this isn’t true, you aren’t extending the cantering time and effort enough. This is simply a good example of taking the horse’s original idea of “it’s time to break and run”, and turning it into so much work that the idea ends up being the last thing that he wants to do.

The above approach works for the horse that is rushing the bridle and for the horse that is not go forward well enough and is slightly behind the bridle. For the horse that is simply losing his balance, the best course is to simply put him back on his feet and let him try again. If this gets to be a common mistake, using a spur to put the horse back on his feet quickly can discourage any thoughts by the horse of making this “little game” a long term affair.

For the horse that is not sound enough to handle corners and position changes that require him to rebalance, a thorough soundness evaluation and treatment can make all the difference in the world. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between the horse that doesn't quite know how to trot and keep his balance with the horse that knows but has a subtle lameness, which makes his job just uncomfortable enough that he hops off of his feet to avoid pain.

Another type of behavior that is best to be discouraged rather than quashed is the horse that wants to raise above the bridle. Horses that raise above the bridle, even though they may be trying to push their way through the bridle in an effort to escape, have one thing in common; they have quit trying to go to the bridle. The presentation of this problem can cause incredible confusion to the rider because it may seem that the horse, in his efforts to charge through the bridle, is going forward hard enough, maybe even too hard

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