AN OPEN LETTER TO EQUESTRIAN COACHES
AN OPEN LETTER TO EQUESTRIAN COACHES
I have spent a lot of my career dealing with horses that have developed behaviour or training issues. A cause of many of these issues has been due to the horse experiencing discomfort when being ridden. The horse then develops a negative association with being ridden and has less ability to cope with the environment; what it is being asked to do, and starts to display signs of anxiety or tension. In our industry things such as saddle fitting, gastric ulcer, dental problems, diet and nutrition, body soreness etc. are commonly recognized sources of horse discomfort and readily accepted. But there are others that tend to be overlooked. I am hoping you will help me promote knowledge of the following less recognised causes and ways we can address the issues.
1) The Overall Pressure the Horse is Being Forced to Endure – Encourage people to become aware of HOW their horse responded to their aids. There are people that are inconsistent with how they ask their horse to do anything and have poor timing. Make sure your clients are aware of how you want them to ask the horse to go forward, stop, turn etc. Once people shift their focus to becoming aware of how their horse is responding to them, they will become more aware of the way they are asking. Encourage people to aim to ride in a way where their aids are invisible to those watching on the sidelines and be strict! Encourage them to become aware and repeat the transitions until the horse is consistently going off the “invisible” aid. Embrace the standard promoted by Charlotte Dujardin, the only time you can do a bad transition (i.e. one that is not invisible) is in a dressage test. Stop and repeat transitions until they are off the smallest aid again. This way we can protect horses from enduring excessive pulling on their mouths, kicking and use of the whip or spur. It also helps prevent horses from being confused, which is another significant source of mental discomfort.
2) Lack of Independent Seat – Many riders do not have an independent seat and have a weak core. If they ride with a contact this means they are balancing on the horse’s mouth and this causes a lot of discomfort, worry and tension through the horse. Not only are the horses wanting to protect their mouths, but their backs will generally be hollow, and the poor posture and tension will cause both acute and chronic soreness. If you ever want to test to see if a person has an independent seat, ask them to rise/post to the trot whilst on a loose rein. If they struggle to do so, then that is your evidence they need the horse’s mouth to balance. Things we can do about this include encouraging people to take lunge lessons to work specifically on their seat and balance. Also encourage improvement in overall fitness and participate in pilates and yoga classes.
3) Grow the Horse’s Confidence – Encourage people to allow their horses to show they are confident at simple things before they make them perform harder or more complex things. If the horse is not relaxed in working canter, don’t ask them for a collected canter! If the horse gets hot and tense at a 45cm jump, don’t raise the bar to 60cm, drop the pole on the ground and get the horse’s confidence back. Encourage people to wait and allow the horse to develop strength balance and experience. They will show you with their signs of tension or evasions if they are not yet ready. If the tension persists then always promote going go back to something less complex, find a starting point where the horse is confident and work your way up from there.
I will always be here to deal with tricky behaviour cases and help people start their own horses. I also know most of you are already doing all these things and I am grateful. However, there are gaps in our industry and if we work together to promote these issues, we can really help people protect their horses from these less recognised sources of discomfort.
Thank you for your time in reading this letter.
Shelley Appleton
Horse Training Coach
