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Training Ticks....my not so short rant...

2/21/2012

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My Training Rant

I have had the urge lately to blog about teaching style. This is not to say that any one way is right or wrong, certainly there are many effective ways but there are some giant pet peeves of mine and I thought I would get them out there. (maybe start a conversation on my blog? Fancy that!)

For starters, it has always been my belief that there is no single way to train a horse or rider. Granted, there are the greats like George Morris and his students, and other disciplines “greats” (I’m not good with names so screw name dropping) and their methods seem to work for everyone. That’s all well and good, however, there wouldn’t be such a wide array of successful trainers and horse people in this world if only one way worked. Every horse and every rider is different and therefore not one style or method works for them all. So with that, here are my fundamental DONTS  (and some DO’s) at least for me.

For starters, riding should be a learning experience for horse and rider. It should be about building confidence and not breaking it. My first peeve is when trainers are YELLING and SCREAMING and being downright terrible to their riders. Now before I get to far into this, when I’m severely screwing up and know what I need to get done, sometimes yelling is the only way to break through my mental barrier to get the job done, Michael Page and I had a field day with this: “Nice horse, shitty ride!” every day, every lesson… and “SIT UP SIT UP!! DON’T LEAN!! DON’T JUMP AHEAD, DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!” also common, and I knew I wasn’t supposed to be doing these things but mentally, I couldn’t figure it all out and to this day, I will still say I never rode better than my days in Michael Page’s barn.

But the thing here is, I messed up, I had been doing it right and then regressed, mentally, something went wrong. He didn’t approach me with my first trip over a crossrail with screaming and yelling or rude statements. He saw what I needed and got through to me. At the end, there was nothing better than hearing "good riding today." The trainers that are constantly yelling bother me. Maybe not so much the yelling, but the tone.  I am paying you to teach me, not just to tell me what I’m doing wrong.  If I knew all of this already, I wouldn’t have paid you the money to help me.

Second peeve: “Don’t do this, don’t do that” “you did this, and that is wrong” OK well I get that, again, I don’t know what is happening. I know it’s not supposed to happen and really I’m not trying to get the wrong lead there, or fall in or chip a distance. Trust me, it’s not my first thought when I’m cantering to a fence “I’m gonna screw this distance cuz I want to” NO! What I want to know is how to FIX what is going wrong, not that something is WRONG!

Granted, when you’re learning these things have to be pointed out, but not so much “YOU’RE WRONG” and onto the next thing, but, “Did you feel that? What is happening?” or “It could be better” or "why didn't that work?" and then THIS is what you did, and THIS is what you need to do to fix it. You can’t learn unless you fully understand the theory behind what is happening and THEN can apply it to what you are doing.

Which brings me to the next thing: Lessons need to be a conversation. Nothing bothers me more than an instructor standing in the middle of the arena, barking things (especially non-constructive things!) at students who are tight as a clam and not saying two words. When I teach (and when some other pretty great instructors, both accomplished/established and up-and-coming,  teach) it’s a conversation: what do you want to work on? What is going wrong? What are the cues you are using and why do you think they aren’t working?  What do you think could work? Most importantly, why did you do that? All of these are questions I use to get riders thinking on their own instead of just doing what they are told. When a rider walks into the show arena, they are on their own, they need to be able to troubleshoot and figure out what to do on their own.

As this is getting mildly long, I will cut to the last peeve I have: repetitive screaming. This goes back to telling you only what is going wrong. “more leg, more leg, more leg, more leg, etc. etc. etc.!!!!!!!!!!!”

 I get I need to use my leg to turn, I heard you the first time, all of your screaming isn’t going to improve my leg, make it stronger, make the horse turn for me, or make the situation any better.  I like to hear your shrill voice screaming over and over, so I think I’m going to screw my course and implement bad training for my horse so I can hear it over and over. NO. Not actually. You’re not being helpful.

Well there’s my rant.

Now, people need to talk!

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Words of Wisdom and Insight

2/12/2012

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On this lazy-ish Sunday afternoon, I snuggled up with my puppies to read a book I recently purchased from the Wonderful SmartPak...


Unbridled Passion by Jeff Papows, PhD. - mostly about big time grand prix riders and the horses that made them or they are most notable for. It was my intent to just have it as something to skim through, maybe read one day but after skimming the intro, I was intrigued...anyway, I'm only into the second rider bio and I had to share and recommend it to everyone. 

Ok, it gets a little corny as so far both horses discussed had this "super intelligence" where they morphed from this super Grand Prix Jumper beast to this cuddly or concerned animal that had thoughts. I am a biology major and one thing we are always nagged about in organismal studies is to AVOID ANTHROPOMORPHISM, so with that in the back of my head, these excerpts lead me to be a little leery. Regardless, I know I do the same and we all do, but this skeptical view can't escape me...

One particular excerpt I have to share (and mostly the reason for this entry) is from Ian Millar: " Working with horses is like drilling for oil; if you don't try that extra exercise, or that different shoeing angle, or bit, you may never know you were inches from a gusher." Obviously, any words from Ian Millar are gold in themselves but this particularly struck me as genius. I'm not one to give up easy on a horse and on occasion I am hesitant to try something new, but I think it's important to keep this in mind. Really, you haven't hit a roadblock until you have exhausted all of your options, and even then, you probably still have not exhausted every option. And you never know, your "diamond in the rough" or that skinny little backyard pal you have could be the next big thing (ah-hem Tesla and Kristen!) you just gotta find something different or new to keep on drilling for the talent and allow it to come gushing out :) 

Moral of the story: don't ever get discouraged, just get creative 
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Got a US Bred? Go to John and Beezie Madden

2/6/2012

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The talk of this weekend, at least for us horsee-folk wasn't the superbowl....It was instead about the Jumper Prospect Contest. 

John and Beezie Madden, as well as their Assistant trainer are so graciously accepting applications for this contest where three winners will receive three months of full training board from the Maddens....Pretty Sweet..
The catch, you ask? Must be a US bred that was born in 2007 or later, the owner has to be 18 or older as well. That's it. 

They are even keeping it open for OTTBs, awesome (the world is catching on to the whole idea of Thoroughbreds!).  I wish I could still be back at home and have my wonderful Tbreds in work so I can send in applications for them too!!

So, although Jolie is my pride and joy and my first foal to adult project (who by the way is schooling through 3' simple gymnastics BEAUTIFULLY as of this past weekend), I decided to enter her. What have I got to lose? It's a great opportunity to get a big time professionals opinion and get her out there and doing something other than putzing around with me, waiting for the next local show. 

I will keep my readers updated on that front. :)

As for the rest of the horses: 
Ozzy is back to jumping again and is feeling game for one more show season. He will be 25, but his dressage is getting sweet and he's keeping the rails up at 3'5", so I think going beginner novice or maybe even novice this year will be a breeze.

Jolie started to regress a bit (for one day), only to figure out she was in a raging heat and to be super ever since. She has been jumping a bit and her style is really getting better and she is getting more patient and using herself rather than being so quick and monkey-ing her body around to not touch a rail. Hunters are still in her future, but I think she would be a phenomenal jumper, she's getting pretty handy!

Pogo has been feeling the weather - he goes out to the pasture and stands where you let him go until it's time to come in. Pent up energy built and he became a wild man for a couple of days, then I realized what was actually going on and after some arena turnout is going around like a A circuit hunter again. If you would like to know more, you can follow our blog: The Thoroughbred Chronicles
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