What Is "Trainability"?
Are you supporting your horses ability to be trained?
Trainability refers to the ability for your horse to process the education your are providing. It requires a willingness and desire to work together as you both progress.
It is unfortunate that many training techniques actually discourage “trainability” - although these techniques will continue to state that they get results.
I agree they can get results:
Sometimes that result is a horse that has been bullied into submission, and has no way of communicating his lack of understanding.
Sometimes that result is a horse that has been forced to shut down emotionally, because they are constantly exposed to adverse situations and then expected to not respond in any way.
Finally, sometimes that result is a horse that is deemed ‘unsafe’, ‘unsound’ or dangerous. Sometimes that result is another horse on the doggers truck.
It’s not always doom and gloom. Some horses come through traditional training programs and can do well.
But so many horse’s don’t thrive in traditional training methods - and neither do their owners.
This is why Trainability became such an importance focus for me, and it is why I will always put the concept of first do no harm in the fore-front of any work I do. It is why I work so closely with Katie - to give more horse owners the capability, knowledge and skills to change the world of their horse.
When we open our horses up to becoming trainable, we open them to a whole new world. A world that allows them:
To openly communicate with you, express their confusion or understanding to the task at hand;
To understand that we are the leader, but we are not going to punish them for something they didn’t understand, but will help them through until they do;
To feel confident and safe enough to be curious, instead of being reactive to new stimuli;
& to show their personality in a totally new light.
Even more than that, it teaches us, as people:
To better understand our horse;
Methods that we can apply to our horse regardless of education level;
& how to be a better horse person.
That is why Katie Boniface has put together the Holistic Horse Handling Program . It is a selection of exercises, activities and theory that shows you, step by step, how to work through the challenge of making your horse more trainable.
