Training in the Right Way: The Need for the Trained Lesson Horse
Let’s talk about why learning to ride on a horse that’s actually trained correctly is a vital part of a rider’s education (Hint: The aids don’t work if they don’t exist…).
Dressage training is supposed to be the process of training ANY horse to be a better riding horse. The more the horse learns, in theory, the easier it is to communicate with and therefore complete more complex tasks with. Although competition dressage training often is more focused on training for the dressage test, that is not what the original intention (and original judging requirements) were for competitive dressage. Initially, it was designed to give riders and trainers a way to determine how their training measured up to the theoretical ideal of the training process. That said, it is critically important to understand the meanings and reasons for some of the terms we use to describe dressage training and what to look for when observing training and competition (and videos and photos), regardless of whether you intend to compete or just train your horse to be a better whatever you do with him. That, ultimately, is the main purpose of my articles. To provide education and knowledge for riders to understand and improve their eye and understanding of what dressage training is supposed to be. While there will always be some differences in practice and theory, good horse training is always recognizable to the educated eye. That said, it absolutely is necessary that we remember and understand that limited knowledge is limited judgment.
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There is a belief that if you don’t train your own horse, you aren’t really a “good” rider. Similarly, there is a consistent use of young (and untrained) horses in lesson programs. Both of these ideas are completely incorrect and do a huge disservice to both horses and riding students. Let’s discuss.
The philosophy often heard in medical training is “See one. Do one. Teach one.” This refers to how physicians and other skilled care providers learn and teach procedures to their students and colleagues, creating experts at these techniques. This thought-process is universal in medicine around the world because it works. The theory behind it is that a person cannot learn how to do something that they have not seen or watched done before. The next step is that they have to master the knowledge and skill from watching enough to do the procedure under the guidance of an expert until they become proficient at it. Once they have achieved proficiency, they must teach other learners how to perform this procedure proficiently. This process is proven to produce the desired results: individuals who are correctly and thoroughly trained.
Teaching horses and riders is the process of teaching a language. If you are not fluent in that language, you will not be able to teach it. Photo (c) Morgane Schmidt
Interestingly, and quite to the contrary, when it comes to training horses and teaching riding, we somehow have the expectation that people who have possibly never even seen really good, quality riding and training will learn how to ride on a barely trained (or totally untrained horse) and then, in turn, teach their own completely untrained horse.
The problem with this is similar to the idea that someone who does not know a foreign language is utterly incapable of teaching another person that language. If we start by understanding that learning to ride horses is like learning a language, skill, or procedure (instead of some magical development of physical talent or telepathic ability), it is obvious why this won’t work.
A rider who has never seen how to train a horse from nothing to being a capable Third Level (or higher) horse, and has never ridden a Third Level or higher horse, cannot create a Third Level or higher horse. I know some of you out there are invoking the, “Yes, but not everyone is going to be able to learn and do all of that” clause right now. My response is WHY NOT? If I had a dollar for every time a riding teacher has told me that their student “Isn’t going to the Olympics” or “is never going to show” or “is not really talented enough to do this,” I would be living in a castle in Scotland with my private herd.
Sure. Not all riders will be Olympians, or Grand Prix competitors, or even have the opportunity to ride a really good Third Level horse. My complaint is why are we teaching them to fail instead of helping them learn what they need to know in order to reach their full potential? And, who are we (the teachers) to decide what their potential is without putting them in excellent training opportunities on well-trained teaching horses?
Money usually is the answer. Honestly, it is the reason I do not have a really good teaching horse to put students on, and I know many other people who are good trainers and teachers have the same problem. I get it. However, we are all doing it wrong.
There used to be a much more common system of training as recently as 30 to 40 years ago. This system of teaching riders goes back centuries where students would ride level-appropriate lesson horses who were, in fact, trained. Not three-year-olds that were “calm enough” or 30 year-olds that are so stiff or dull they can’t “act up.” Or failed competition horses that are struggling with physical ailments and are, at best, in pain all the time and at worst dangerous to ride and be around because of their discomfort (let me note that I am not saying there isn’t a place for serviceably sound horses as lesson horses, simply that they should be trained still).
Lesson barns used to have a fleet of trained lesson horses that included trained animals that developed a beginner’s confidence, others that were too hard for a beginner to sit the trot on but taught the next tier leg yield and sitting trot, and the next layer that could produce lengthenings, maybe medium trots, and all the lateral work. Then there would be a couple of horses that could do counter canter, ½ pass, and a simple change, maybe a flying change at the very least. Some programs had horses that could do the three P’s (pirouette, piaffe and passage). Riders could see good riding in their peer groups, they could see their teacher riding and training the competition horses and new lesson horses, and they could practice what they saw. Some programs would (after a certain point) have a student “teach” the other riders occasionally under the guidance of the resident expert. (Yes, this happened to me. Yes, it was terrifying. And yes, I learned a lot.)
In order to become a proficient rider/trainer, you must have teachers who are also proficient. This includes horses as well as the human teacher. Photo (c) Morgane Schmidt
My last point is to explain why this system/thought process is so incredibly important to teaching riding. And why, if we cannot reproduce it exactly, as teachers we need to explain it to our riders and help them find the right horses to ride and learn from, or why it is necessary for us to train their horses for them while they learn the process and skills. It all boils down to one very significant reason.
When riders ride horses that are not trained and supple enough to be on the aids, no matter how perfect the rider’s aids are, the aids do not work correctly, or at all, because the horse does not know the aids. If the horse is so not on the aids that he does not respond to the rider giving a mostly correct aid, the rider learns that no matter what they do, the aids don’t work, and either they learn to ride with strength (force) instead, or they become afraid or disillusioned. In the moment, they probably aren’t recognizing this is what is happening. Instead, they are being told they “aren’t doing it right,” they’re “not trying hard enough,” they’re “not strong/fit enough” or that they just “aren’t good at this.” Sometimes a rider is just strong enough, bold enough, and physically talented enough that they figure out how to muscle the horse into doing what they want and they move up the ladder of success enough to try to train their own horse. You can see where this is going…
In the absence of every riding instructor having a fleet of wonderfully trained beginner to Grand Prix lesson horses, we cannot lose sight of the importance of teaching riders on horses that adequately educated for a rider to learn how to ride. This can be done by the rider buying a schoolmaster that the teacher trains regularly to keep it supple and on the aids, or the student has a lesser trained horse that the teacher trains daily and the student gets on for part of the ride every day, or for specific rides during the week. Most importantly though, the student must be taught that if the horse does not have the training already, their aids will not work consistently well.
Remember: Limited knowledge is limited judgment.
Gwyneth and Flair in competition at Grand Prix. (c) flatlandsfoto.
Gwyneth McPherson has over 35 years experience competing, training, and teaching dressage. She began her education in in the late 1970s, riding in her backyard on an 11 hh pony. Her first instructor introduced her to Lendon Gray (1980 and 1988 Olympian). who mentored Gwyneth for a decade during which she achieved her first National Championship in 1984, and her Team and Individual Young Rider Gold Medals in1987.
In 1990 Gwyneth began training with Carol Lavell (1992 Olympian) who further developed Gwyneth as an FEI rider and competitor. Gwyneth achieved a Team Bronze in 1991 and a Team Silver in 1992 in the North American Young Riders Championships, and trained her stallion G’Dur to do all the Grand Prix movements while riding with Carol.
In 2008, while Head Trainer at Pineland Farms, Gwyneth began training with Michael Poulin (Olympian 1992). Michael was trained by Franz Rochowansky (Chief Rider for the Spanish Riding School 1937-1955). Michael has shared much of Rochowansky’s knowledge and wisdom with Gwyneth, completing her education as a Grand Prix rider, trainer, and competitor.
Gwyneth’s teaching and training business, Forward Thinking Dressage,is based in Williston, FL. In addition to teaching riders and training, Gwyneth also loves sharing her knowledge of the sport and art of dressage as well as discussing relevant topics pertaining to the training itself and the current competitive landscape.
