How Do You Choose Your Instructor?

This may be a little controversial but I’m going to say it:

I don’t care how reputable your instructor/trainer is, their name does not excuse the way they treat your horse. Or the way they expect you to treat your horse.

I’m putting the call out that we start holding trainers and instructors to a higher standard of how we handle our horses.

It’s not your fault if they don’t know how to get the results from the horse with kindness. And it’s also not your horses fault. If we put enough pressure on our instructors and trainers and make a stand of how we are willing to handle our horses than they will just have to learn and adapt their techniques.

 Learn better, do better.

I’m not exempt to this. There are definitely times that I have been disappointed in myself for getting heavy handed with an aid.

I’m also not saying we don’t maintain expectations of safe behaviour from our horses and discipline.

I am saying the way that we get there doesn’t have to be through fear and bully tactics. In fact I am saying that this is the worst way to get lasting results from our horse.

It does mean that we have to be flexible in the results that we get within a certain time frame. We don’t have to be flexible in the results just how quickly we expect our horse to get there. It is important that our horse understand how to learn and work with relaxed focus. Ideally we can get to the point where our horse enjoys working with us and learning.

Your horse doesn’t have a voice. They can’t tell you if you have offended them, if they are sore, if they don’t understand, if their body or brain is tired, if their saddle is uncomfortable, if you are sitting uncomfortably on their back (the list of things they can’t tell us can go on forever). But you know your horse better than anyone else - your instructor or trainer included.

You have to be brave enough to be their voice.

So before you book in for that clinic, workshop, lesson or training, make sure the person you are booking in with has the same philosophy on how to train as you do. And even if you do get in to the lesson or training session, I give you permission to say “no, I’m not doing that,” if you are uncomfortable with how they are telling you to treat your horse. And worst case scenario you can just play dumb and pretend to not understand what they want you to do.

Not sure what your philosophy in training is? At Equestrian Movement we start with the place of “first do no harm”. If you want to read more about our training, click here.

What you horse needs from you to learn

A horse needs a lot from its trainer to be able to learn – and we want our horses to learn, not just submit.

They need to respect you!

• If they don’t think you are competent,

• if they think they are more capable of keeping themselves safe without you,

• if they think you are going to put them in situations that they aren’t ready for or will get hurt in,

• if they think you aren’t putting the effort in with them ...

...then why should they do what you ask?

Think of a situation at work where someone of authority that wasn’t particularly good at their job kept asking you to do something. Do you do it with enthusiasm eager to prove yourself? Or do you dig your heels in becoming more and more begrudging of them? What if you were doing work for someone you respected but they didn’t reward you for your efforts and just asked more from you? Do you keep giving them a 100% or do you start to become resentful of them?

To prove yourself as a leader they need you to create clear, consistent discipline, where you follow through on your ask. You need to provide a safe learning environment and not put them in situations that they can be hurt.

How can you provide your horse a better working and learning environment?

1. Don’t become emotionally engaged in their arguments.

When our horses do test us and push our boundaries, getting angry or frustrated and arguing with them rarely helps. We suggest that you avoid getting into a battle of the wills and work instead on staying centered, relaxed and balanced. Focusing on consistent expectations rather than winning the argument.

2. Consider lowering your expectations

If we want our horses to be enthusiastic and engage in their training, we need to focus on rewarding their effort and for trying rather than pushing for a certain thing we want to achieve. This keeps them interested in learning and keeps their mind open to being curious. We reward for effort, finish on a good note, feeling like we could’ve done more.

3. Know what we are trying to achieve and break it down for them

How many times have you done something because someone has told you you should be doing it with your horse but you don’t know why or how? Well if you don’t know, how can your horse know? Be very clear in your mind in what you are trying to achieve. Often there are multiple steps involved to get to this goal so it is important that we know how to break it down to the smaller steps that build up to that point as well. That also helps us to reward for effort, finishing on a good note, feeling like we could have done more. We know that the steps are just as important if not more important than the end result and can see the path.

4. Make sure you use clear communication

Our horse needs us to understand how they learn and how best to communicate with them, so they understand what is being asked of them. They also need a way to communicate if they need a break because they are overwhelmed, confused or tired. They need us to know when they are trying, to be compassionate if they can’t do it and not let the communication break down.

5. Be patient

They need us to remember that, at the end of the day, they are still a horse and they are letting us ride them and handle them. If they are having an off day, they are sore, fatigued physically or mentally, or having some other problems, we need to be patient and forgiving. It needs to be a 2 way street where we are not always demanding of them, but making the learning and riding process as comfortable and interesting as possible.