Why professional trainers, breakers and instructors ride for submission.
Why do most professional trainers, breakers and instructors ride their horse into submission?
Short answer – it’s the quickest and easiest way to get their desired results.
Trainers and breakers only have a short period of time to get big results. They also are very competent riders that don’t baulk at a horse bucking, bolting, rearing and acting out and will just ride them through that behaviour into submission. They simply don’t have the time to spend with the horse to take it at that individual horse’s pace.
Another reason why professionals work for submission is because they don’t have the time to develop the trust and relationship to get the results this way.
Getting our horses to say “yes”, as opposed to submission (not sure what this means – read this first), is because what and how we ask depends on how well-established our relationship, trust and leadership is established. This takes time. With any of my students that get a new horse, I recommend that it takes a year minimum. Normally, when you send your horse away on training, they get maybe 6 – 8 weeks to get the horse to confidently and safely to walk, trot and canter, and to look after their rider. It’s a big ask!!
Lastly, when someone comes to us as an instructor and trainer, it’s not because they are happy with where they are with their riding and how the horse is working. It’s because they want to step up and ride at better level. So for us as instructors and riders, to get more from our students, we have to put pressure on our riders and get them to ask more from the horse.
The horse will nearly always protest because the quality they have been working at has been good enough, so why should they put more effort in? We have to put more pressure on the horse and push through their argument to get them to try harder and often do something they’ve never done before (for both horse and rider) and figure out what that something is.
Where this “push through” doesn’t work.
Our horse doesn’t know how to process pressure;
There are gaps in our horse or riders understanding of the aids;
The horse isn’t physically ready to do more;
There are underlying traumas (whether physical or mental) that take longer and need more support through those developmental processes.
