First Steps When Training Horses

Use of the three p’s – patience, persistence and positive reinforcement – is vital when training horses. It is necessary to understand these basics before attempting to teach your horse to do what you would like. Following these basic tips will provide the foundations of a great relationship between horse and rider.

Let’s start with patience, as that may be the most important quality in a good trainer. Patience will be needed each time you want to teach your horse anything new. Horses are prey animals and are aware of this fact. Watch horses in their pens or pasture as the sun goes down. If there’s a herd, you’ll see them gather into their group for safety.

They can be observed standing side by side and head to tail. Standing like this helps them to spot potential danger from different directions. If you watch a horse that is not used to water you will notice that he may be hesitant, or worse, could rear up dangerously. Both horse and rider could be hurt or even killed. Training your horse to trust you not to lead him into a potentially dangerous situation takes time and lots of patience.

Horse and rider can develop a mutual trust and a confident partnership when due patience has been employed in training. It can come as a surprise to some that it is possible to reduce a horse’s fear when presented with alien objects or situations. A shirt flapping in the breeze on a washing line could represent enough of a threat to a horse to scare him, however silly that may sound. If, through patient training, you can teach your horse to trust you, he will soon be able to ignore what may have seemed so sinister to him, and walk on by with no fuss.

Horse trainers need persistence to get good results. You can also build hores and trainer trust and confidence by pracicing exercises over and over. While it may at first seem tedious, it is important in training to begin both horse and rider with the ground work. Doing the ground work, after all, does not mean getting up and riding off. But trainers understand that horses are no different than children learning to walk. A horse is a bit like a baby learning first to sit up, then crawl and then walk; he must first learn polite and acceptable behaviour befor he can be tacked up and ridden.

Persistence means that you may need to perform a task with your horse many times before it’s understood. It is important for the horse to know just what he needs to do. When you bring out the tack, for example, he needs to know that he must always stand still for you. This is unnatural for your horse. It needs to be taught, which requires persistence. You must always exhibit more persistence than your horse. If he runs off when you approach, you will need to persist, as allowing him to resist or avoid you even once will give him the idea that he can indeed do so. Persistence could also be referred to as consistence.

As a trainer you will have to use plenty of positive reinforcement. Horses generally love to please; they should see you as the herd leader. Lifelong friendships can be developed between horse and rider where each understands their role in the relationship.

A well-placed pat, a scratch behind the ear or a gentle word of approval are all simple forms of positive reinforcement. Horses are very perceptive and can feel your emotional state. Let the horse feel your satisfaction at the way an exercise may be going.

A word of caution here – it is not a good idea to enter the training area with your horse if for any reason you are stressed, angry or in a particularly bad mood. The horse will pick up on your mood and could be uncooperative. This is not out of rebellion as much as it is out of the horse’s own fear. The horse may not know you well enough yet to predict your behaviour when upset and could be wary of you because of this.

No matter what type of riding or event you wish to persue, it is the ultimate goal of the horse trainer to build a bond of trust between horse and rider. The basics are the same regardless of whether you choose English or Western style, or whether you will be riding for pleasure or competition. The 3 p’s principles – patience, persistence, and positive reinforcement – can be applied to any breed of horse for a successful training experience.

Check out this great little ebook that will teach you how to train your horse, even if it’s a mean one.

Filed under: horses

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!