Tell jokes.
3 Take a rest.
4 Eat lunch.
5 Don’t ride that horse for a few days.
6 Ride another horse.
7 Have somebody else ride your horse.
8 Dismount and take a walk.
9 Muck stalls.
10 Take a shower.
The first day I rode the horse, he was wild the whole time. At the end of twenty minutes, I got off.
The next day I rode him for twenty minutes. He was wild. I got off.
I did the same thing for two or three weeks. Whether he was wild or whether he was quiet, it didn’t make any difference: I rode that horse for twenty minutes, regardless.
After a while, he got used to only doing twenty minutes of work. He gave up being crazy because he knew the end of the session was never far away. Soon, the biggest problem I had with him was trying to keep him from getting too quiet.
When we eventually sold him, he was very quiet and very easy to ride. He still is.
Too often, people add stronger bits, more time, more work, and more gimmicks to a horse’s training until they finally run out of time, work, gimmicks, and tack. Then the horse is declared “no good” and that is the end of the story.
Some people believe that, over time, horses become more and more difficult to train. I think that the reverse is true. If you school a horse and work with him properly, training him should get progressively easier.
“Subtract” Tack after Training
The “less is more” concept also applies to the tack you use.
For example, consider bitting options. During the course of training, people often progress to harsher and harsher bits, citing a need for more control of the horse.
In reality, the primary reasons to progress to a harsher bit are poor hands and a lack of training. Rather than increasing bit severity, look for ways to perfect your riding and improve your horse’s training so that you can ride him in bits that are less and less severe.
The only time you should use a stronger bit is when it is necessary to get the reaction you want so can you teach the horse. As soon as the horse learns, however, go back to a lesser bit.
Make a Difference for the Better
All of your training should make a difference for the better. The most consistent practice schedule won’t do any good if your riding makes your horse stiff, sore, and uncomfortable.
Your goal when riding is to teach your horse to be relaxed and supple. Then his job gets easier. He can become more and more responsive to you.
When the horse understands what you want from him, there is no need to drill endlessly. Riding well is all about subtracting the unnecessary parts and focusing on what is needed.
Consider your schooling time. If you generally ride for an hour, analyze what you want to accomplish in that time. Then, see if you can get it done just as effectively in forty-five minutes. Once that is possible, work at decreasing your schooling time to just half an hour. Make every minute count—then stop.
Beware of saying, “I’ll do a little bit more just in case.” That means you are making the horse do more work because of your uncertainty. The overall principle of good horsemanship, and the art of riding, is to ride with as little exertion as possible.
As a general rule, I try to get my riders and students to do the least amount of schooling necessary. I like to put my horses to bed the night before the show ready to go. Then, I only need to do some quick longeing or flatwork in the morning to fine tune them before I send them into the show ring.
When schooling, continually remind yourself that less is more. If you can get a perfect jump after ten schooling jumps, try to do it in nine. Then do it in seven. Then four. Look for ways to reward yourself and your horse for mastering something, rather than repeating it until it becomes monotonous, mechanical, and dull.
Worthwhile Warm-Ups
The warm-up is just a limbering-up time. It is not a punishment for being fresh. It is not time for training. It is not time for re-training. Most people warm up for the ring more than they need to.
By the time you get to the horse show, your skills are set for that event. You will not magically master some new part of riding in the warm-up ring. Use the warm-up to practice a little of one thing or another. Then go into the ring and do what you went there to do.
Some people think they need to jump a lot of warm-up jumps. They will start with a lot of low ones. Then, they will do some medium ones—and then they will jump some high ones. In my experience, this is a waste of the rider’s time and the horse’s attitude.
If your horse knows what is expected of him, he doesn’t need a lot of warming up. He can do a few fences to get a feel for the venue, and then he is ready to do his job. So few people understand this. Unfortunately, their horses are the ones who suffer because of it.
The classes at most larger horse shows start on Wednesday. The warm-up classes are generally on Tuesday. It is not uncommon to see people in the schooling area warming up over the schooling jumps for hours before they go into the ring—where they will warm up some more before jumping a course.
I don’t do that. I jump one warm-up jump in the ring. And, then I do the course. If the horse is in shape and knows what he is doing, he doesn’t need more than that.
I save about thirty jumps just by not warming up for the warm-up. That’s thirty fewer takeoffs and landings on my horse’s legs. My horse isn’t “warmed” into a coma, and I have still accomplished my goal, which is to show the horse the arena and school over the show’s jumps.
Don’t Forget Downtime
The “less is more” philosophy is a tremendously important part of what I do. I really believe that we are too quick to humanize horses and assign our values to them. At the end of the day, we like to have a nice shower and get cleaned up. I am not at all sure that horses do.
I am quite sure that they don’t like braiding and pulling and twitching and trimming and all of that nonsense. I think horses would much rather lounge around in their pajamas with their socks half off.
I try to consciously create “downtime” for my horses. I like to pull their shoes and let their manes and coats grow. I like to let them get dirty. For some time every year, my horses live like…horses. I believe that this downtime is good for their bodies and their brains.
If I had to give just one word of advice for
