How do you know when enough is enough? Good timing means more than ‘stopping on a good note'. Fundamentally, training horses is about two things:
effective two-way communication (and its timing) and
balance control (ours and the horse's)
Effective Communication with horses
Useful communication requires a cyclic process of receiving, interpreting and sending information. But with horses its like multi-skilling mindfulness of multiple senses. Unlike most conversations with humans. horses can receive a monologue of messages, questions or stimuli on different parts of their body, one after the other, or together... and often with contradictions. It must be no easy task for a horse to decipher what to respond to and what to ignore in this guessing game. This is where timing comes in: sensing and feeling the horse's response, asking the right question, at the right time, in the right way (with the right feeling) for the right length of time, and knowing what answer you're waiting for, and how to reward it.
Inevitably, consequences rule. Understandings emerge from behaviours which serve them well; those which successfully avoid discomfort, fear or confusion, or those which produce comfort, pleasure, freedom or peace. Behaviour rewarded is behaviour repeated. Habits set in, good or not from this.
Balance Control
As for balance… We’ve little chance to control the horse's balance without a means of communication. Hence, the best we can do, is to understand and appreciate how a horse learns and acquires new habits through our own habits of communicating. A little learning theory goes a long way to improve our relationship, our success, and our safety. (This assumes we also know how a horse balances in motion)
Notice the smallest try
When a horse is trying to do what you want - in some fashion - she is looking to you for any tiny sign that she IS doing what you want or getting the idea. So, it is only fair that we concentrate 100% on sensing and acknowledging the start of the smallest try. It means to know exactly what we're asking, how clear we ask, and if our horse predicts how to answer the question, so we know when to stop asking it.
Waiting to say yes
I want to set my horse up to succeed, make it easy, create the best conditions for her to find the right answer - lead her to predict the answer. If it's clear to me that she has a hint of an idea, I stop or change what I'm asking. The sooner I can say yes to a roughly good try, the sooner she learns, and is motivated to keep finding answers. In this way, she finds a sense of control over me, by being able to predict which answer serves her best. In acknowledging every little try I can motivate her to be willing and light. This is important when teaching something for the first time. Letting the horse feel, sense and learn how to get it right - how to predict and deliver the answer.
Shaping means knowing when to stop asking the question, and not being greedy.
When a horse is learning something new, it's trying to work out what to do, and how to make the pressure go away. It's likely to offer a range of different responses searching for the answer (using 'trial and error’ learning). 'Knowing when to stop’ means we know when to stop asking the question. We target a specific response at the level of a basic try, and look for the right moment to reward that attempt as soon it happens. Then kindly repeating this to consolidate the response.
Gradually we can shape and improve the response by targetting other qualities - progressivly one at a time. We can wait a tad longer before saying yes to soften or release for a greater quality of a certain movement.
Be there for your horse - with a trustworthy connection
Practice, patience and positive reinforcement will make it easier. How does your horse know when she's done what you want, and to the level of quality you targeted? You make it clear that you're after a specific quality of a response. A longer neck, a higher neck, more flexion, a lighter contact, a more confident contact, a slower tempo, more impulsion etc. Target one thing, consolidate it, practice it and gradually add another. Give her confidence to trust your hands. Remembering that contact for the horse should feel like a consistantly nice conversation, a trustworthy comfortable 'hand holding' feeling, not a rigid, fixed, abrupt, or haphazard - 'there one moment-gone the next' - feeling. Yes we need to make timely corrections to teach the lessons, but a horse should never feel taken.
Don't practice what you don't want
Next time you ride, try to take the guess work out of the situation so your horse learns what you are targeting and practicing. Are you improving the ‘quality' of a specific response, or the ‘quantity' of more of the same by accident? If habits get better with practice, best that we target good habits. Don't proctice what you don't want.
The photo here is of Grace my Andalusian/TB mare at liberty. The question being asked was neck extension on a circle in trot. Then I was progressively targeting and rewarding a longer stride in trot, with a longer neck stretching forward and out. This was the answer she gave, with far more quality than I imagined she was ready for. Can you see her inside ear turning to me to check for success?
Happy riding Susie Would you like to read more helpful articles? Click here: https://www.facebook.com/classical.riding