I’m unsure how to correct behavior or a misstep in my green horse’s training. What is the best way to ensure he understands what I want?
“It’s hard to convince a rider that when the horse makes a mistake, it is okay. Think of every mistake as a training opportunity.
Here, we can learn from the world of dog obedience. Trainer Dian Bauman has a saying: ‘Wrong is wonderful.’ What she means by this is that if the dog performs correctly the first time, we have no idea whether it understood our request or whether its response was a happy accident.
Similarly, trainer Connie Cleveland distinguishes between ‘effort errors,’ in which the animal attempts to comply with our requests but does not understand, and ‘lack-of-effort efforts,’ in which the animal is simply ignoring a command it already understands. Be sure before you assume that your horse is ‘imperfect’ or disobedient that you asking correctly and helping him to understand what you want.
Often, I tell the rider to think first before making a correction. Train your brain and body to react in the correct way.
Riders inadvertently punish the horse in several ways. They jerk on the reins, or bring the horse to an abrupt halt after a mistake. They often spur the horse or overuse the whip.
Remember, we all must make mistakes in order to learn, but we as riders must direct our horse in the right way to teach him something from the mistakes he makes. When you halt and punish your horse, he will only learn to stop and shut down after each mistake.”
– Janet Foy
This excerpt is from “Dressage For The Not-So-Perfect Horse, Riding Through the Levels on the Peculiar, Opinionated Complicated Mounts we All Love,” available at Trafalgar Square Books.
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