| Planning the Plan - Part 2 |
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Goals for the Human The other thing I do on a regular basis is to write down what I’m going to do with my horse. I sit down and write out steps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of my plan. The lessons I write down directly relate to the goal for the day. That way if you get interrupted (which is bound to happen), you can refer back to your written plan, which will redirect you to where you were with the horse. Trust me, this is easier than trying to rely on your memory. (Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have the worst memory on the face of the earth!) Having a lesson plan, writing it down, making it attainable, making it simple, making it specific—all of these items are very important in developing a plan for you and your horse. Recognizing the Horse’s Innate Intelligence When I first started training horses, I would get frustrated because I didn’t have a deep knowledge of horse psychology. And I certainly didn’t have an understanding of behavioral rehabilitation. I would get very frustrated very quickly, and didn’t get the results I wanted. Every time I felt frustrated with myself or with the horse, I would stop, get a drink of water or a soda, talk to someone, or just put the horse away. Then I’d regroup by sitting down that night and write in my notes: “Today this is what the horse did really bad, and this is what he did really good. These are the things I saw as improvements. These are the things I want to do tomorrow.” I’d make a list and keep a log for every horse that I trained. The log allows me to see an improvement in the horse and keep a record of his progress. When the horse improved, then I knew I didn’t have to work for hours on walking on the rail and stopping and backing; I already knew he was improving and I could go on to something different.
Once a horse does the lesson correctly for five, six or seven times consecutively, then I basically stop at that point and switch to another lesson. I was inspired by reading about a scientist who proved the theory that most mammals learn best with five to seven repetitions. If you drill the horse over and over and over again, always attaining the right response, eventually he’ll show you the wrong response. Then the horse will be practicing the wrong thing! So having that stopping point is very important: five to seven successful repetitions. Years and years ago I certified under a trainer who believed that you had to perform thousands of repetitions with the same response to get the horse to learn that response. It was an important benchmark in my life when I found this scientific study about animals learning best with five to seven repetitions. I talked about this study with Dr. McLean, one of my mentors. He was very enthusiastic about the study, and totally supported the concept. This information and validation made me recognize the intelligence of the horse, and I started appreciating these animals much more and started working with them in a new way. It was really enlightening to watch the horses’ responses without drilling them with thousands of repetitions. However, it does take thousands of repetitions for a learned response, but that will take years to add up to those numbers. For instance, most of the top dressage horses are 12 to 15 years old, the reason being that it takes that many years to get the horse to where everything is an automatic response. There’s such a strong connectivity between the cue and the response that it becomes ingrained in their minds. What’s Enough? Old timers frequently give the advice to “stop on a good note with your horse; he’ll be there the next day.” Well, I honestly don’t think that’s the case. I’ve seen a few horses that, if you stop on a good note, you’ll make progress the next day. But I’ve seen too many horses where you stop on a good note the first day and the next day the issue was just as bad as when you started. Having that in your mind, coupled with knowing that you’re going to have both good and bad days, and you’ll develop a feel for knowing when to say “when.” Not Getting the Results You Want? If I’ve been working with a horse for a few hours and I’m not getting the response I’m looking for, then I stop and ask myself: What am I not explaining to the horse that he needs in order to give me the proper response? Someone once told me, which was a home run idea in my mind, that “the lesson needs to be clearer to the teacher than it is to the student.” It can’t be equal—in other words, the lesson can’t be as clear to the student as it is to the teacher. And that’s where 90% of the riders end up. The rider takes a bit of someone’s method here, a bit of another method there, and then mix in parts of another method. On one day they’ll work with the horse with one method, which is directly opposite of the method they used the day before. The horse winds up with mixed messages in crazy foreign languages and nothing ever makes sense to them. It would be like me studying Chinese, French and Spanish and using words from each language in a sentence. Just try to sort that out and make sense of it! You have to go back and clarify to the horse that this particular method is the one you’re going to use and these are the cues you’re going to teach consistently. And then you need to promise that these premises won’t change! Find a training method you like and stick with it. If you’re having problems, sit down and analyze exactly where you’re having challenges. Write down your thoughts—problems, successes, progress, concerns. Writing them down is a step-by-step, tedious process, and many people don’t want to do it. But it gives you a clear picture about your horse (and yourself). By writing down these things, you’ll visualize a successful image in your mind and you’ll begin to see a pattern in your training—maybe your cues aren’t clear, you don’t quite understand how to get the stops you’re after, maybe you don’t know why a certain leg needs to be the first in a departure sequence. Maybe you’re not clear about the connection clock and how the horse’s shoulder moves off. Whatever it is, it always boils down to one simple fact: It’s always the rider’s fault, never the horse’s fault. As always, Train Safe, Ride Safe, Have Fun! |
Part 2 of "Planning the Plan"