What's Inside

Working with my new 4yo OTTB mare, Lizzie, has truly brought me back to square one. While I was working on perfecting my half pass and flying changes on Trance and repeatedly going through the Advanced test, now I spend my time in the saddle trying to kindly convince Lizzie that she wants to go to a connection, and that she wants to work everyday. I mainly walk and trot (her canter is coming along very slowly), and have gotten bold and begun trotting small courses and even a ditch! I wish I could say I have some specific training program she is following, or we are aiming to debut at X in X months. In reality, however, the main thing I care about is building a partnership. I thought this might be worth some reflection. These are purely my opinions and how I have decided to ride my horses, and by no means does this apply to anyone else.

I am an eventer, so my horse has to be able to have intelligent opinions about its body, its jump, and its balance if we are to make it across a difficult cross country course. Further, I am an amateur, so this intelligent animal also needs to know that all my ideas are not brilliant, my demands not set in stone, and sometimes that jump I just asked you to do is not there, and I am ok if you realize that before I do.

The product I want to produce is just like my upper level horse sitting in the barn – a horse with a brilliant, safe jump, who loves his job more than life itself, is enthusiastic and offers me everything, is sensitive in the mouth and, when things have not been right, is smart enough to say no. I made this horse from an OTTB frenzied mess of a 4 year old, but it took ten years. I don’t plan on taking ten years with Lizzie, so knowing what I know now, what do I consider the most important lessons?

1. She has to love her job. I see horses everyday that love to eat, and they love affection, and they tolerate demands, but they do not all love their job. I read in an article last year that 70% of horses are draftees, 20% of them draft dodgers, and 10% of them volunteers. The tricky thing, however, is that I think they can shift between those categories depending on how fairly they are trained and how closely they bond with the rider.

I could go out next weekend and get Lizzie clean around a beginner novice. We could get through a dressage test, and I could get her around a sj and xc. However, for me to do so would be unfair and counterproductive. It is unfair because she needs time to learn what is expected of her, to see sights, and to know I will never ask her to do anything that isn’t safe. It is counterproductive because to get those clean rounds I would have to be rather aggressive and go to my whip a lot. I would need her to mindlessly obey me, and probably fear me. I could draft her into a BN horse next weekend, but she certainly isn’t ready to volunteer.

Everyday I pay attention to her attitude when I get to her stall. Is she in a good mood? Does she seem tired? Was yesterday too much flat? Does she need to hack? Is her body sore? All of these things affect what I decide to do. I want to challenge her, but only as she is ready. More than challenging her, I want her to have fun everyday and learn, even if it is at a slower rate. She has to love her job to become the horse I need her to be in five years, and for her to love her job I need to be a very attentive, intelligent, compassionate rider.

Lizzie learning foot work in gymnastics.

And her first oxer in gymnastics!

2. She needs to problem solve. I can’t speak for other disciplines, as perhaps a dressage horse need not have a mental existential discussion about his piaffe while performing it, but an eventer very much needs an opinion. At least mine do. When I work her each day, I don’t just want her to obey, I want her to think it through and come to different conclusions. Some might be incorrect, some correct, but they are all part of the process.

Take stopping as an example. I am *gasp* perfectly ok if my horse stops. I mean, there very well MIGHT be a monster on the other side of the jump. The Earth very well might be gone on the other side of a horizon fence. That water could possibly be 15 feet deep. I don’t assume they are built with this massive source of mental experience. My job is to put her through enough experiences that she realizes A. I will never ask her to do anything that would harm her and B. water jumps are shallow, horizon jumps have ground, etc.

And then I have to be good enough to follow through on A. every single day.

In the meantime, I am ok with her not being ok with everything. When I present her to a new type of fence, or in a new light, or at a new location, I don’t expect her to always go. Trance didn’t always go….far from it! When Lizzie stops, which has only happened a couple times, I just sit there. I don’t hit her, I don’t get aggressive, I just sit there and let her process. She usually puts her nose on whatever it is, sniffs a few times, checks the other side, and then takes a deep breath. Then, I just represent. I don’t ride it much differently, I don’t hit her, I just head on back over. And she always goes, just pops right over. And what did she just learn? Thinking is ok, it is not a cause for panic. I am not evil, and…Oh! Wasn’t it so fun to just jump that you bold beautiful thing!? I don’t mentally classify her as “ditchy,” or “afraid of water,” or anything. I classify her as green and learning!

I know a lot of horses have never stopped. And I am sure those are great, wonderful horses, they just aren’t for me. Trance and I have a handful of 20s on our XC record, and let me tell you each time he decided the jump was a no go, he was right. And I am SO lucky that he called it off in those moments. He has never stopped twice, always sails over safely when I get it together, but I can go out on a two star course only because I know that if the jump isn’t there, we aren’t going. I don’t want a horse that rushes fences out of fear, or panics when it feels insecure out of fear of me, or has rotational falls because no matter what…it always jumps. Not for me. She has to learn to think and she has to problem solve. I’m not always right, and I need her to take the time to read lines, make plans, and do her footwork as well.

So, while I can’t offer any exercises I am doing, or major goals I have, I can say that thus far Lizzie loves her job and loves life. She pops her head in the halter everyday, jumps onto the trailer to go places, and in the midst of all the fun, she is progressing rather nicely.

This is us trotting a little course today. Not very polished, but we had a lot of fun!