Racing, jumping, western pleasure, breaking two-year-olds and clipping ears – almost nothing we do with horses has escaped the "cruelty" label. To the list of all things considered unfair treatment, I would like to make my contribution – "confusion". I see many well-meaning riders exasperating or numbing their horses by trying to communicate to them with unclear or inconsistent cues. When a rider loses her cool because her horse isn’t responding to a language he doesn’t understand, this to me is unfair.
All training revolves around a series of requests and rewards, we cue a horse to move his body in a certain way and when he responds, we remove the cue. This sounds pretty simple, but in order for it to work, our cues have got to follow a clear pattern.
I frequently tell riders I teach to "put themselves in their horses’ bridle" (the equestrian equivalent to walking in someone else’s shoes). When we imagine what the horse is feeling it becomes easier to see why there might be a communication breakdown. There are three common reasons I see for this breakdown between horse and rider.
The rider’s signal is inconsistent. If we compare the behavior we expect from a horse to a box, it’s easy to see the importance of giving the horse freedom inside that box, and for its boundaries to be consistent. Lets say, for example, you want your horse to canter at a certain pace. For every stride that matches the pace you’re counting in your head, your arms and hands are relaxed and the reins are soft, but every stride that is stronger than the pace you’re counting will be met with resisting arms and tight reins. Timing is the key. I feel the horse must be rewarded within half a second of the correct response for him to associate it with the rider’s request. Many riders fail to reward their horses in time. If, however, he breaks into a trot and "falls out the back of the box", you respond with squeezing legs to get him back up into the pace you want. If you soften your legs when he responds eventually, with repetition, he’ll lock in at the pace you want.
Inconsistent boundaries can take the form of behavior that is permitted sometimes and reprimand other times. Hand grazing is a good example. I can see people permit their horses to eat grass on the end of a lead shank sometimes, and then give them a good jerk when the horses pull their heads down to eat at other times. Horses are creatures of habit, not of reason, like people. It is unfair to have boundaries that move around.
The rider’s signal is unclear. I remind my students that every cue should be able to be chartered on a scale of one to ten. For instance, to ask a horse to side pass away from your leg, you might first ask with some pressure from your calf, increase the pressure if he fails to respond, and if there is still no response, lift your heel to activate your spur to "make" him move over. As soon as he begins to move, of course, you lower your heel and soften your leg. For a turn of the forehand (to move his hind end away) you would use the same system with your leg placed eight inches further back.
Do your hands and legs follow a series of ask, tell, demand, reward? Do you use them in the same way and same place each time? Assess the clarity of the language you use for your horse.
The rider’s signal is drowned out by background noise. A bouncing seat, an unsteady hand, and a waving crop – these are distractions that can make it difficult for your horse to focus on the real signal you’re trying to send. Exercises to strengthen a rider (work without stirrups, etc.) do more than just make you look good. They enable you to isolate muscles in one part of your body to cue your horse, while keeping the other parts of your body quiet. For example, if you expect your horse to trot right by your side while you run, stop, back, etc. your hand must remain steady while you run (remember the "egg and spoon race"?) Your horse will learn that the safety zone is found when he keeps his cheek in line with your shoulder as long as he feels no pressure or bumping from the lead chain when he’s there.
Talking to your horse can drown out the signals you’re trying to send to him. Having a few select voice commands, in addition to your aids can be a valuable training tool, but to be effective your words must be limited. Stories like Black Beauty lead us to believe we can be our horses’ buddy by chatting with them. In reality it is kinder to keep words to a minimum if we expect him to remain focused on us and not to dismiss our voice as background.
Too often horses become dull when they don’t get a consistent reward for a correct response, sour because reprimands seem to come out of the blue, or nervous because they can’t figure out their rider’s language. In fairness, let’s make every effort to communicate clearly.
Lindsay Grice