Now the holiday's are behind us. The turkey is wearing down and the partying is out of our system, and we once again turn our attention to training our horse. Some of us have new holiday gifts that we received for us and our horse (new saddles, new bridles, boots, gloves, horse magazines, or a computer to read this article). We now find our renewed vigor for the sojourn ahead of us. We girth on our saddles and put on our fancy new bridle; don our new winter fashion riding clothes and proceed to mount up.

But what of our precious steed? What of him that does not have the renewed vigor? The zest for a fresh new battle of cold and steed! What of the poor same old horse that we could not train for days... because of the holidays? What of his state of mind?

All too often I have seen this behavior of rider: The renewed training process. But not a thought of the horse's mental state. The rider/trainer should relish in the zest of a new fresh start... but they should do so with a fresh mind; not just a fresh start of the physical riding of the horse.

So let's talk about the training that may occur now after the holidays. Once again I love to stress the basics. Make sure your horse enjoys the work. Do not push him beyond his emotional/mental capacity. You had a small vacation because of the holidays. Your horse did also. Do you really think he wants to just start into the work? When you come back from vacation do you just jump right into work as if the vacation never happened? Well, some of us have to... but we do not enjoy it! Wouldn't it be nice if you came back to work and your boss said "take it slow today; just get your feet wet for a few days. Then start a faster pace until you come up to speed. A ridiculous thought of my x-employer telling me that! But wouldn't we love it if it happened! Wouldn't you just love working for that person! Well, your horse will love to work for you also if you treat him with that type of thinking.

So... start you schooling with some slow transitions. Test your horse's mental state. Test to see if your horse will become responsive (not reactionary) to the light aids. A common fault people do when training is to over train their horse - especially when coming off of a break. Your horse feels great! He is refreshed; you are refreshed. So we do more! Right? Wrong!

Training takes time and effort. If your horse all of a sudden starts to try for you and is more responsive, do not take advantage of this gift of goodness he has given you! End the schooling early! Show him if he does work wonderfully then work is lessened instead of increased! (Once again put it into your jobs: If, once you have accomplished your goals quickly at your job, you can go home, would you not want to work harder and harder, knowing that you can go and do something else and have more fun? But no; we tend to hide from our employer sucking the day dry because we know there is always more they will have us do! That is not my management style to work after the task is done. Reward the employee. Let him / her go home or enjoy the rest of the day. Novel concept..ah...I digress again)

Well, back to the horse. And so will your horse suck the day dry He will not give you the brilliance from start to finish if he knows he will not get a shorter work load. your horse will not try to be better he will try to endure the work and get droned out mentally because there is no happiness in his work.

So work manage your horse's work day as you want to be managed. Plan your training. Write down your goals for the day. And "what if" statements. If he does an effective half halt at the walk then go to (and collect $200.00 dollars) the trot transition. If he does not, then he is not ready to trot. And your horse needs to stay at that level (the walk) until he understands that it is the mental work he has to listen to with full energy to do the work load; not listening because he is tired!

So treat your horse with the respect you want and he will perform for you. Be clear with yourself about what you want. Set your goals and "what if" statements and train with ease.

Have fun and use the renewed energy for riding the right way.

Mark Matyszyk
Owner /Trainer/Instructor

Sunrise Farm