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Publication Excerpts Members' Manuscript: Diary of a Three Week Training Clinic
Publication Excerpts Members' Manuscript: Diary of a Three Week Training Clinic
Members' Manuscript: Diary of a Three Week Training Clinic
Written by Robert Alexander
Introduction:
My name is Bob Alexander and I own a young part-bred Cleveland Bay, named Idlehour Gawain. He's 3/4 Cleveland Bay and 1/4 TB. Sire is Idlehour Richard Lionheart and grand-sire (on the dam's side) is Rambler's Renown. He turned 2 years of age on June 7, 2009. I bought him in-utero and brought him home as soon as he was weaned.
This article is a report on a horse-training clinic I attended with my youngster in November. The clinic was a three-week event for the purpose of "apprenticeship" training. It's the same basic training that instructors go through, except that we only go through an introduction.
Introduction:My name is Bob Alexander and I own a young part-bred Cleveland Bay, named Idlehour Gawain. He's 3/4 Cleveland Bay and 1/4 TB. Sire is Idlehour Richard Lionheart and grand-sire (on the dam's side) is Rambler's Renown. He turned 2 years of age on June 7, 2009. I bought him in-utero and brought him home as soon as he was weaned.
This article is a report on a horse-training clinic I attended with my youngster in November. The clinic was a three-week event for the purpose of "apprenticeship" training. It's the same basic training that instructors go through, except that we only go through an introduction.
I sought this clinic out because I felt it would help both me and my youngster learn to be more disciplined in our interactions. I don't see any domination in his methods. His motto is "Training with Confidence". Everything I've seen him do can be really easy for the horse if it wants to work. Up to now, I felt that my youngster was very good about giving me whatever I asked of him, but nevertheless had an attitude of compliance and just "getting along" rather than one of "let's go to work" I wanted us to start learning how to depend upon and trust each other, doing things that would eventually require athletic and mental effort. Being a big horse (well over 17 hands by his second birthday), I knew that physically he needed time to mature, but mentally needed a level of training that would keep both him and me (mostly me) safe in our daily interactions. I knew ahead of time that we would be doing things in this clinic that are physically ill-advised for such a young horse but believed that if we kept this training short (to just the three weeks of the clinic) and followed it with time off and a slow progression of low-impact riding activities over a proper length of time, that his body would have sufficient time to recover from the clinic and then grow correctly. I also believed that it would give me a better understanding of him so that I would know what I could him and what I could expect.
Week ONE:
As the week started off, I watched Kenny and two of his staff work several horses, with him explaining what was going on. I then got to work with a mare that was familiar with round pen commands, so it was non-confrontational and just let me work on my basic skills, including knowing how strong or soft you can be with the signals. He doesn't advocate a large amount of lunge work or playing of ground games. His goal is to teach the horse to focus its attention on you and to be seeking ways to answer any question you ask of it. His objectives are to be able to send a horse forward and to turn the horse at whatever spot you pick and to get it to turn either inside or outside. Once that is accomplished, the horse has to learn to stand still while you walk up to it, then go in and out of the pen to retrieve your tack and put it on it. Kenny said any horse trained by his method will stand still while you tack it, and longer. If you need a halter to keep the horse in place, he hasn't been trained.
As the week progressed, we began working Gawain, and he accepted it well. I started him off in the round pen, under Kenny's supervision. Early on, Kenny pointed out that Gawain wasn't paying enough attention to me and I wasn't being firm enough with him. Kenny says that owners who want to be nice to their horses actually do them a disservice by being general and vague; the horses don't ever really know exactly what they are being asked to do, and never learn that non-obedience is not an option. That was the situation that surfaced at the very beginning, in the round pen. I was passive, not assertive, and allowed Gawain's attention to wander. After Kenny got us both corrected, I had him going very nicely around the round pen, changing directions to the outside and inside, and then standing on the spot opposite the gate, where I sacked him out, and eventually saddled him up, making him stand perfectly still, without any rope or halter, for quite some time. ( I knew that was probably the hardest thing Gawain has ever done: in the past, I allowed him to be constantly moving backward and forward when, for example, we were in an in-hand show; and I often permitted him to invade my personal space and to play with me in ways that were not respectful - I thought we were being pals.) I tacked him up, while standing at liberty, and then had him move around the ring both ways with the tack on and then left him alone in the round pen to think about things. He was there about 30 minutes (maybe more) and didn't move a foot for probably the first15 minutes. The cool thing was that he seemed fine with it all and we didn't get into the "domination" that some trainers have for a goal. Our goal was just to get him thinking about how to answer questions that we were asking. I called that "learning to work".
As the week progressed, I had some good sessions with him in the round pen. Kenny explained that with a young, green horse, you don't want to wear them out before you get on. Lots of people lunge, etc. to take the edge off, but you also take the edge off their learning ability. So, a good session is to send him around the round pen just enough to get him looking for answers to questions you are asking, and then to proceed with the day's lesson. We moved quickly into backing him and learning to go forward safely. We wanted Gawain to learn to go when asked, as his very basic tool. So, we worked a lot on that. Getting on his back was a non-event for him but felt hugely satisfying and exciting for me. We progressed very so that he only received positive reinforcement to his first attempts at learning to go forward at my command.
By the end of the week, I was working on getting Gawain ready to go trail riding. Kenny uses trail riding to teach the basics and get the horse thinking forward. The first step is to introduce the horse to ponying in the round pen and then to take him outside. Next, the rider mounts and is very passive while the horse is ponied and then the rider becomes more and more directive in terms of guiding the horse and asking him to go forward. It was exciting. And it was fun watching the ponying process. To do this, Kenny worked Gawain with basically no hands on his own horse, just getting Gawain used to being with the other horse and learning to follow along. He had Dozer (his horse - good name) push Gawain around with his chest and also stand alongside Gawain while Kenny shook Gawain's saddle and patted him, etc. Then, he'd walk forward and if Gawain didn't follow exactly, he'd have Dozer push Gawain around some more. In about ten minutes, Gawain had caught on fine. Then, he rode on out of the arena and down the driveway to the land out back. I hustled along, got my camera and followed them. They went way out to the back, across a stream twice, down a steep hill and up a REALLY steep hill. After he had made a trip around the farm, he had me get on and finish the ride, first passively and then more as a rider. I'd guess Gawain was out for about an hour on the trail. After I untacked him and walked him back to the barn, he was really funny: he tagged along with me with his head low and really close to my side. Just like a little kid who had had a really big experience that he didn't quite understand yet. I thought he did really well and (hope I'm not being melodramatic) knew that both our lives had just changed. I heard Kenny telling his assistant that the horse had done well.
Week TWO
We began each day by working in the round pen again - just enough to get in the proper frame (both the horse and me) and tacked up. I practiced just riding him around in the ring. Pick a spot and go to it. As we did this, Gawain got better and better about carrying me, first for a few steps and then further and further. He also learned better and better about my aids. As Gawain learned to carry me, I also learned how to ride him better, with my weight and seat and aids. It was very cool.
As the week progressed, we took the horses out for short trail rides around the farm. By the end of the week, it was harmony. Up 'til then, Gawain had been just trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. But by the end of the week, he seemed to be figuring out things and going with confidence and responsiveness to my aids.
We also had opportunities to shape behavior, particularly when other horses were being ridden nearby. On one occasion, we were in the big area for a couple of hours and when we weren't working, we were standing there watching other stuff going on. They were video-taping a horse who was leaving the next day. He was being cantered around and a couple of times, he came by us from behind. Surprisingly, Gawain pinned his ears at the horse, so I got to work on teaching him to accept that.
Week THREE:
On the first day, I got a little buck out of him. He was bothered by a door in the arena that was moving and making noise due to a rainstorm outside. We were practicing for the big trail ride, following in line around the arena. The leader picked up a trot and as Gawain passed that door, I gave him a little leg for more trot. It might have been a strong leg, because gave me a couple of big bucks back. He was continuing to build confidence in himself and to behave in ways that showed he was thinking more on his own.
The big trail ride went very well. There were six of us and we all piled our horses into a stock trailer and rode together in the truck. Gawain had to work pretty hard and it was asking him a LOT to do that ride. But he came through. I had very mixed feelings all the previous night and throughout the morning, on the way to the ride. Kenny said the ride is the pinnacle of the young horse's initial training and both teaches him to go forward and to have a proper attitude. I have to say that Gawain handled it very well and kept going better and better as the ride progressed. He got very tired several times, but each time he got a second wind and seemed more comfortable about keeping up with the horse ahead and going along as asked. He's going to be a good horse, and his attitude is absolutely super.
The last few of days of the clinic were spent in polishing things. We had several drills to practice getting the horse to bend its neck and move its haunches or shoulders. These last days were calm and productive and a nice way to end an adventure that started out exciting, got a little emotional, and ended up with a nicely, green-broke young horse with a great working attitude.Week ONE:
As the week started off, I watched Kenny and two of his staff work several horses, with him explaining what was going on. I then got to work with a mare that was familiar with round pen commands, so it was non-confrontational and just let me work on my basic skills, including knowing how strong or soft you can be with the signals. He doesn't advocate a large amount of lunge work or playing of ground games. His goal is to teach the horse to focus its attention on you and to be seeking ways to answer any question you ask of it. His objectives are to be able to send a horse forward and to turn the horse at whatever spot you pick and to get it to turn either inside or outside. Once that is accomplished, the horse has to learn to stand still while you walk up to it, then go in and out of the pen to retrieve your tack and put it on it. Kenny said any horse trained by his method will stand still while you tack it, and longer. If you need a halter to keep the horse in place, he hasn't been trained.
As the week progressed, we began working Gawain, and he accepted it well. I started him off in the round pen, under Kenny's supervision. Early on, Kenny pointed out that Gawain wasn't paying enough attention to me and I wasn't being firm enough with him. Kenny says that owners who want to be nice to their horses actually do them a disservice by being general and vague; the horses don't ever really know exactly what they are being asked to do, and never learn that non-obedience is not an option. That was the situation that surfaced at the very beginning, in the round pen. I was passive, not assertive, and allowed Gawain's attention to wander. After Kenny got us both corrected, I had him going very nicely around the round pen, changing directions to the outside and inside, and then standing on the spot opposite the gate, where I sacked him out, and eventually saddled him up, making him stand perfectly still, without any rope or halter, for quite some time. ( I knew that was probably the hardest thing Gawain has ever done: in the past, I allowed him to be constantly moving backward and forward when, for example, we were in an in-hand show; and I often permitted him to invade my personal space and to play with me in ways that were not respectful - I thought we were being pals.) I tacked him up, while standing at liberty, and then had him move around the ring both ways with the tack on and then left him alone in the round pen to think about things. He was there about 30 minutes (maybe more) and didn't move a foot for probably the first15 minutes. The cool thing was that he seemed fine with it all and we didn't get into the "domination" that some trainers have for a goal. Our goal was just to get him thinking about how to answer questions that we were asking. I called that "learning to work".
As the week progressed, I had some good sessions with him in the round pen. Kenny explained that with a young, green horse, you don't want to wear them out before you get on. Lots of people lunge, etc. to take the edge off, but you also take the edge off their learning ability. So, a good session is to send him around the round pen just enough to get him looking for answers to questions you are asking, and then to proceed with the day's lesson. We moved quickly into backing him and learning to go forward safely. We wanted Gawain to learn to go when asked, as his very basic tool. So, we worked a lot on that. Getting on his back was a non-event for him but felt hugely satisfying and exciting for me. We progressed very so that he only received positive reinforcement to his first attempts at learning to go forward at my command.
By the end of the week, I was working on getting Gawain ready to go trail riding. Kenny uses trail riding to teach the basics and get the horse thinking forward. The first step is to introduce the horse to ponying in the round pen and then to take him outside. Next, the rider mounts and is very passive while the horse is ponied and then the rider becomes more and more directive in terms of guiding the horse and asking him to go forward. It was exciting. And it was fun watching the ponying process. To do this, Kenny worked Gawain with basically no hands on his own horse, just getting Gawain used to being with the other horse and learning to follow along. He had Dozer (his horse - good name) push Gawain around with his chest and also stand alongside Gawain while Kenny shook Gawain's saddle and patted him, etc. Then, he'd walk forward and if Gawain didn't follow exactly, he'd have Dozer push Gawain around some more. In about ten minutes, Gawain had caught on fine. Then, he rode on out of the arena and down the driveway to the land out back. I hustled along, got my camera and followed them. They went way out to the back, across a stream twice, down a steep hill and up a REALLY steep hill. After he had made a trip around the farm, he had me get on and finish the ride, first passively and then more as a rider. I'd guess Gawain was out for about an hour on the trail. After I untacked him and walked him back to the barn, he was really funny: he tagged along with me with his head low and really close to my side. Just like a little kid who had had a really big experience that he didn't quite understand yet. I thought he did really well and (hope I'm not being melodramatic) knew that both our lives had just changed. I heard Kenny telling his assistant that the horse had done well.
Week TWO
We began each day by working in the round pen again - just enough to get in the proper frame (both the horse and me) and tacked up. I practiced just riding him around in the ring. Pick a spot and go to it. As we did this, Gawain got better and better about carrying me, first for a few steps and then further and further. He also learned better and better about my aids. As Gawain learned to carry me, I also learned how to ride him better, with my weight and seat and aids. It was very cool.
As the week progressed, we took the horses out for short trail rides around the farm. By the end of the week, it was harmony. Up 'til then, Gawain had been just trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. But by the end of the week, he seemed to be figuring out things and going with confidence and responsiveness to my aids.
We also had opportunities to shape behavior, particularly when other horses were being ridden nearby. On one occasion, we were in the big area for a couple of hours and when we weren't working, we were standing there watching other stuff going on. They were video-taping a horse who was leaving the next day. He was being cantered around and a couple of times, he came by us from behind. Surprisingly, Gawain pinned his ears at the horse, so I got to work on teaching him to accept that.
Week THREE:
On the first day, I got a little buck out of him. He was bothered by a door in the arena that was moving and making noise due to a rainstorm outside. We were practicing for the big trail ride, following in line around the arena. The leader picked up a trot and as Gawain passed that door, I gave him a little leg for more trot. It might have been a strong leg, because gave me a couple of big bucks back. He was continuing to build confidence in himself and to behave in ways that showed he was thinking more on his own.
The big trail ride went very well. There were six of us and we all piled our horses into a stock trailer and rode together in the truck. Gawain had to work pretty hard and it was asking him a LOT to do that ride. But he came through. I had very mixed feelings all the previous night and throughout the morning, on the way to the ride. Kenny said the ride is the pinnacle of the young horse's initial training and both teaches him to go forward and to have a proper attitude. I have to say that Gawain handled it very well and kept going better and better as the ride progressed. He got very tired several times, but each time he got a second wind and seemed more comfortable about keeping up with the horse ahead and going along as asked. He's going to be a good horse, and his attitude is absolutely super.