The horse's youth is no excuse

I often encounter situations where bad behavior in a horse is excused because it’s young, or considered okay because it's young – and sometimes it even sounds desired because it shows some "spark" in the horse, which is seen as important for a future competition horse. And let’s face it, most young horses do seem more impressive on a windy day when they’re stressed, rather than when they’re calmly walking around, but it’s actually doing the young horse a disservice by not helping it appear a bit "boring" during the early stages of its training career.

Think of the horse as a ship

I often think of the horse as a ship. The bottom of a ship is rarely the most eye-catching to look at, but it is absolutely essential that the bottom is durable, solid, and built correctly from the start, so no water leaks in and the ship doesn’t sink. When the foundation is strong, it's much easier to build and shape the ship as desired – whereas, if the foundation isn't solid and water gets in, no matter how beautiful the ship is, it’s not useful because all your time will be spent bailing water to prevent it from sinking. A small storm might be enough to send the ship to the bottom of the sea. It's all about building the ship so solidly that it can withstand any storms that come its way. This is, of course, easier said than done, but often it’s the small things in everyday life that create the overall picture.

Prepare the horse for life

Buckling with the saddle/rider, rearing, lifting the head high in the air and running beside or ahead of you, barging into you, not paying attention to where you are, rushing around on the lunge line, falling backwards, biting, kicking, pushing, being unfocused and uncentered, struggling with pressure, being resistant to the leg, pulling on the reins, running off, tipping over in corners, etc., are not things the horse does because it is young but because it is in a situation where it hasn’t been given the tools to handle it properly, or because you’re asking it to do more than it’s physically capable of.

Poor balance, a head and body that tire quickly, lack of strength, carrying ability, flexibility, etc., is because the horse is young and inexperienced, and it’s something that must be taken into account and worked with, so that the horse is left in a better condition than it was found and can gradually be built up from the ground up.

Training the young horse does not require a lot of time if you start early, but it does require consistency and being firm, not skipping the easy tasks because of a busy day or because you can’t be bothered. The horse never learns “nothing” – every time you're around it, you either reinforce unwanted behavior based on how you react in a situation or reinforce positive behavior. And sometimes, you end up with a big problem because you didn’t correct the small things. The horse doesn’t act stupidly on purpose. It reacts based on being a horse. It’s our job to communicate what we define as right and wrong in a good and clear way for the horse, just like children learn this from a very young age. It's a complex process – not because it requires hard work (if started early), but because it requires you to be present and not just run on autopilot.

Understanding our rules (assuming our rules work together and not against each other) gives the horse peace in the same way that if you know exactly what your task is and what is expected of you, and you have enough tools in your backpack to solve the task, you can work with focus without being stressed and tense. Just because the horse may not look as impressive when it is relaxed and calm doesn’t mean it has lost its quality, it just shows that it isn’t physically or mentally at a stage where it’s ready to show it.

You must be the horse’s anchor

Most of us are familiar with the concept of having the horse in front of the leg, but it’s not just about the legs – it applies to all the signals we give the horse, whether it’s from the ground or the saddle. In this sense, having the horse in front of the leg means that the horse responds attentively, energetically, and relaxed to the leg and moves freely without resistance to the signal. That is, the horse’s mind and body are united, and the horse “thinks” what you're asking it to do. This applies to all signals we give the horse, so whether it’s backing up, moving the horse around the pasture so it’s easy to close the gate, at the trailer, on the rein, etc., the horse should try to receive the signal we give it and perform the task without “noise” on the line. It’s also completely irrelevant how far the horse is in its training, because the most important thing is its work ethic and willingness to solve the task we give it, whether it is 1, 2, or 10 years old. A good attempt doesn’t equal a correct answer, so if 2 plus 2 equals 4, we are happy, but the most important thing is the willingness to try. Similarly, a horse in front of the leg can walk slowly, and a horse behind the leg can walk quickly. What determines whether the horse is one or the other is how willingly and attentively it tries to do what we ask of it. This is also what makes the horse feel calm because by being attentive to us, we can act as an “anchor” for the horse and make its world bigger as it is able to handle it and is ready for it. So, a young horse that reacts like a “young” horse is a horse whose foundation isn’t solid enough, and water is leaking into the ship.