The most important horse training question: can your horse do the move?
You could drive yourself crazy reading all of the training books, watching all the training videos, and going to training seminars. While you’d certainly learn a lot, much of it would be contradictory.
I believe that there’s so many different horse training theories out there because there are many different riding disciplines, a variety of people and horse personalities, and many times of learning styles for people and horses. Multiply all that together and you have innumerable horse training methods. There is definitely a horse training niche out there for everyone.
However, what if—for the most part—your horse does fine in training…except for that one thing she just can’t seem to do, or learn, or remember? Maybe you have some of these training issues with your horse:
- Prefers to go one direction
- Difficulty picking up lope/canter
- Gait transition trouble
- Lead changes (including flying lead changes) difficulty
- Drops shoulder on turns
- Wants to “two-track” or travel “crooked“
- Can’t seem to learn well and/or spooks at anything
- Just unhappy or resistant to what you need her to do
Give yourself peace of mind and first answer this question:
“Can your horse do it or won’t your horse do it?”
There are a few clues that your horse may be giving you. First, if the problem is asymmetrical, then your horse is telling you that there is a problem with his body going in one direction but not the other. It is not that he is a “good” horse one way, but being a “butt-head” the other direction.
Another clue is if he used to be able to do the move. Perhaps your horse used to pick up the canter fine to the right. But maybe he fell once, or pulled back in the crossties, or maybe nothing that you know of. However, now he cross-fires (cross canters, counter canters) to the right. If your horse could do the move before, but now cannot, that is a clue that his body is having trouble.
You can find out the answer to “can your horse do the move” for yourself. I’ve designed Body Checkups for the horse owner so that you can know if your horse has a body part that simply isn’t functioning properly.
For example, if your horse’s body can’t bend to the right, it doesn’t make sense to continue practicing bending to the right. Passive antagonism, promoted by some, only helps permanently in a limited number of situations. It’s far better for you, your horse, and your pocketbook, to simply fix your horse so he or she can bend to the right!
Find out if your horse can do what you’re asking
To find out if your horse can do what you’re asking, use the Body Checkups in my book Where Does My Horse Hurt? Try the FREE Atlas Checkup for horse learning (and many other) issues. The brainstem runs right through the atlas and you’d be amazed at how much learning is impaired when you can’t think!
If the Body Checkup results are “probable subluxation,” call your certified equine chiropractor for help. Your training issues can literally disappear overnight.
If the Body Checkup results are “normal,” then it is most likely that your horse’s body can do the work. You may need a different training style or perhaps riding discipline. For example, trying to get a Standardbred trotter to jump well is not really possible—regardless of training method. Consider what your horse is built for and what your horse enjoys doing.
Best of luck figuring out your horse training puzzle!
