Life is full of lessons. Our experiences and the lessons we learn from them are in large part how we become the people we are.
Similarly, a horse is the horse it is largely because of its experiences and what it learned from them. We all know that makes perfect sense. But we sometimes forget that training is not a series of discreet lessons. Training is a continuum.
In my last post, I made the point that how well our horse ties up is largely influenced by how well it leads. Being brilliant to lead goes a long way to helping a horse be brilliant to tie up. Some of the comments that followed the post questioned this idea and failed to see the connection between a horse leading well and it being able to quietly and reliably stand when tied.
How a horse feels about being caught influences how it feels about having its feet picked. How a horse feels having its feet picked up can influence how it loads into a trailer. How it feels about being loaded into a trailer can influence how it feels about a trot transition. The trot transition can influence how it feels about a piaffe. And how it feels about a piaffe can influence how it feels to be ridden on a trail ride, which can influence how it feels about being caught.
Training is a continuum. How a horse feels about being caught in part determines how well it stands when receiving its gold medal after winning the GP dressage test at the Olympics.
We should not dismiss any experience and the lesson the horse learns from it just because we can get by with it being imperfect. Every response a horse offers stems from the lessons it learned before because every lesson contributes to a horse’s confidence, trust, ability to search, motivation to try, and willingness to engage with us in a partnership. Every interaction, even seemingly inconsequential ones, helps shape how a horse deals with the lessons to come. Nothing we do with a horse ever means nothing.
At almost every clinic there is at least one leading lesson. Sometimes it's a lesson for a horse and sometimes it's for the owner. HAHAHAHA