The Horse Training Two-Step

I have been thinking today about what it all boils down to and the current answer to that goes like this:

Each leg can move in three dimensions. You can train the horse to move its leg in any of them. You say you don't train one leg at a time??? Hogwash... you clean one hoof at a time! The movement can be done at any speed whether its a fast kick out, a long step out, or just putting one hoof parallel to the other hoof. Fortunately they come preprogrammed to some extent.

Each pair of legs will tend to move together and so it is easy to train the horse to move independent pairs of legs. They mostly move in two dimensions, but the vertical also comes into play to a lesser extent. All this movement is variable in speed.

The two pairs of legs can be trained together and they move in three dimensions at variable speeds. This is where most horse training is done.

You can train the neck to move the head around in three dimensions. I haven't heard of anyone training the tail, but some people do train the ears as they believe that they are connected to the mind.

All of this is like the basic yoga of horsetraining.

But you have to choose a motivational technique to inspire your steed who would otherwise just like to look at you from under the shade of the cottonwood tree. Why would your equine want to move a body part on command? For reinforcement or to avoid some kind of punishment. Most people use reinforcement and specifically negative reinforcement.

Dressage or any type of riding with finesse is like dancing. If you aspired to be a good dancer, you will understand a lot about being a horse in training. At first you have to learn where to put each foot, then pretty soon you forget about independent feet and start concentrating on where you are going. BUT the trainer can't forget about the independent feet any more than a man can forget about his woman's feet because its easy for him to ask for something that isn't possible and she'll fall down or at least get grumpy. Your dance partner has to set you up in the right place to make the movement easy. If you tried to learn to dance by just moving around to the music with no thought to where your feet were supposed to be.... well, that's exactly how most people dance and the kind of partners real dancers assiduously avoid.

You have to get the horse to focus on the dance and respect you as the leading partner. It isn't a thing of equality, its just that one partner is charged with being the leader. Women can back lead their male partner but its a very special arrangement for that to happe. Since it's you bringing the horse to the dance, you must lead. Partners will be happiest when they are matched in skill or when the leader is instructing the follower.

So your first task in equine training is to find the right sort of motivation for your steed. Coersion breeds resistance and lack of some kind of coersion results in a sloppy lazy attitude. But even a halter is a mechanism of coersion for in a coersion free world, the horse would always be at liberty in an unfenced world where it could freely choose to interact with you or not. So how coersive do you want to be?... just enough to get the job done. Desire to please and be rewarded is an extremely strong motivation that blossoms when coersion doesn't blot it out.

So right now it's time to dance, take your partners hand and put your hand on his shoulder. Practice cues for movement. When he pushes like this, you are going to spin around like that. Keep those arms from going limp so you can feel the request. Count the time so you know which foot should move... quick,quick... slow... slow....quick,quick... slow...slow. He's going to be backing you a long long way and you can't look around. Imagine that you are the horse and you don't know how to deal with distraction. What does your partner need to do to help you?

What kind of partner is going to inspire you to want to say "yes" when he asks for this dance? That's how you decide how much coercion to use.

Yrs,
JRW