My mind loves patterns. As I go about my job of training
dressage horses, I noticed that the patterns of a few of my mount’s
personalities seems pretty similar to high school, which got me thinking of the
movie, “The Breakfast Club.”
Before I dive into this slightly-stretched metaphor, I need
to comment a bit about all the factors that go into developing a training plan for a specific dressage
horse:
- · steps of the technical knowledge they are trying to impart in their horse
- · horse’s natural physical natural strengths and weaknesses,
- · horse’s mental and physical sensitivity level
- · horse’s age and training history
- · horse’s ability to accept pressure
- · horse’s attention span
- · horse’s intensity of their innate fight or flight and herd instinct.
But
for this blog, I’m just going to babble about the horse’s personality, because frankly,
figuring out how to get a horse to try is one of the things I love about training
hoses. And figuring out a horse’s personality is key to figuring out what makes
them want to try.
The only way to
develop that stand-out-in-a-crowd expression, along with the obedience to
perform a tidy test, is to train with the horse’s personality in mind. Every horse is different, and three horses
I’m preparing for the showring for their
owners this season so clearly fall into separate categories that I thought I’d
share a bit of it with you. All three
are wonderful horses, and are each “A” students, but three very different kinds
of A’s. In order to bring out their
best, I need to figure out the best way to motivate them. In describing their personalities, I find
that, much like the characters from “The Breakfast Club,” high school
stereotypes seem to work best.
Slingshot - The Millennial
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| Sling's big ego shows clearly in this shot of him as a 5-year-old. |
For this horse, training has to be a game, and he has to
feel like he’s winning the game. If I pick at him too much, he’ll get sulky. If
I praise try, even sloppy try, he’ll try harder.
I’ve trained many, many millennials. Most of my re-train sales horses have fallen
into this category, as millennials often come with tempers (especially as
youngsters), and angry horses are not fun to ride. So I’m able to get them inexpensive, help
them get over their anger, figure out how to get them to try, then find them an
owner who understands their minds.
A millennial re-train horse (which thankfully Sling is not) often
has a defensive side, so I have to be careful not react to that. My mental self talk has to be
motivational. I often think “play with
me,” instead of focusing on my technique. I am over-the-top gushy with the
praise with these guys, and they love it.
Every horse has their “issue,” that thing that keeps
creeping up time and time again in the training. For the millennials, often
that issue is keeping them in front of the leg.
This, if the horse has a temper, can make him tricky to train. In order to get a millennial in front of the
leg, he has to be pain free, uphill, and straight, and then held to a
consistent standard of obedience. If I
change my standard for a day, because I’m not feeling 100%, or I think he’s
feeling tired, or whatever, I’ll pay for it the next day. If there’s an escape route, either in the
balance or the standard, the millennial will take it. But when the balance, straightness,
and obedience are there, they often give a clear, wonderful feeling of “locking
in.”
As I said, millennials like to play games, and happily do
things that are easy for them, so fitness is very important. But repetition does not work with these guys.
To help them get strong enough to climb to the next level, I figure out an
exercise that they like, and pair it with an exercise that they view as work,
and go between the two. If the game is
fun and easy for my millennial, he’ll get tons of gushy praise, which will
bring out his playful, expressive side. Once he’s in playful mode, his ego
kicks in, and the sky’s the limit.
Capitano -The Overachiever
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| Capi looks a bit surprised that I'm thrilled with is performance, doesn't he? |
Capi, a typical overachiever-type, has a very intense, slightly
insecure, very obedient nature. He’s the
high-school student who lived in the library or the lab, was on the chess team,
and not only got the A, he did all of the extra credit, and ended the year with
a 110%. He’s the kind of horse that will
give you a movement for a “10,” and apologizing because it’s not an “11.” If this were “The Breakfast Club,” he’d be the
brain.
For this type, he has to feel like he’s pleasing me. He’ll
work hard, and do things exactly the way he thinks I want them done. So I support “try,” and reward when he gets
it 100% correct. When I praise my
accountants, it’s more of a humming under my breath for “try”, and a halt and
stroke when he understands something. If I did the elaborate, gushy millennial
-volume praise on one of my accountants, it would scare him.
Because the overachiever types never think they are good enough,
they often feel tense at the start of a ride.
Riding around with not much structure, waiting for them to relax, will
make them more tense, not less. These guys crave routine. They don’t like strong, quick aids, they like
supportive, encouraging aids.
These guys are fun to show because they will let me focus on
my technique and truly influence every step in the arena. If things fall apart in the ring, he’ll be
focused enough on me to put it back together.
Unlike the millennial, the overachievers thrive on
repetition. They will happily let you go over each detail of the set up of each
movement. They will memorize your
pattern to set up each movement, then, if you are consistent, offer that
movement at just the right time. When
I’ve done freestyle with my accountants, they always learn the music cues.
The problem with this personality type is, because they try too
hard, the tension often affects the swing in their back. This creates all kinds of funky gait
abnormalities, like tempo variations, unlevel knees, etc, that may look lame,
but the lameness is not coming from their bodies at all. The funky footwork is
coming from their mind.
Because the overachiever is so locked into doing what the
rider wants, he often won’t “lock in” to his ideal balance point like the
millennial will. I use my video camera
more with this type than any others. Because
the accountants are more committed to doing what I want than what is easy or
correct, it’s up to me to learn which feel brings out his best gaits.
BR Danny’s Secret -The Student Council President
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| Secret's confidence was right at home at Dressage at Devon |
For this type, they need to feel right. These guys have the
work ethic of the overachiever, but have the ego, and sometimes a touch of the
temper, of the millennial. Fair is the
name of the game when developing Madam President. When I praise her, the emotion coming from her
is more of “yes, that was lovely, wasn’t it?” This type I can give a quick scratch on the
withers in the corner and keep going, and she will be very happy to continue to
be perfect.
As schoolmasters, Madam President is wonderful. She’s patient enough
to let her student sort it out, and confident enough in her skills to lock into
the movement when the rider gets it right.
When learning new skills, though, Madam President can be
tricky. Because of her confidence, she
will often take over in the ring if allowed. She knows best, so I have to make
sure my direction is clear, logical and fair. Because if she thinks I’m wrong, she’s
going to do it her way.
I show Madam President very differently than I do my
accountants. I set up movements for her,
then throw in a helpful half halt every now and then, and accept what she
offers. I never show a president at a
level they aren’t 100% comfortable with, as helping her out when there’s show
pressure doesn’t always work out well. I
always teach the presidents their tests, as when they know best, they show
best.
Just as described in the synopsis of “The Breakfast Club,”
all horses tend to have a bit of each personality in them, and sometimes change
shift a bit as they become more mature and confident in their training. But for now, we’ll see what the judges think
of the performances of these three very different personalities.
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