Many times, people talk about old versus new ways of training.
I do not agree with that way of thinking. Maybe we have been conditioned to think that way by the “millions of years” evolutionary theory thrust on us through science classes in school. I do not believe humans have slowly evolved through eons of years to be smarter and live longer in a constant upward trend. I think the most realistic model emulates an economic graph with its ups and downs. People in certain locations lived longer and made smart decisions in ancient times for a period of time, then things plummeted downward with stupid decisions resulting in shorter lives with history repeating itself many times.
I believe we would be blown away by much of the ancient peoples’ expertise, and they would be shocked by how we value making machines smarter than people.
Horse training seems to be the same way. Good ancient training methods are good today, and bad methods have always been bad. As famous horse trainer Pat Parelli said, “proper horse training is so old it is new again.”
I think of good teachers in my life, and they especially look good compared to the bad teachers. Bad teachers are known for making the right thing hard and the wrong thing easy.
My dad was partially paralyzed from a brain stroke when I was 7 years old and died when I was 10. So as a fatherless kid, I remember my uncle teaching me things like fixing a flat on a bike and later a guy from the Big Brother program showing me how to drive a car. My uncle was a good teacher, clearly showing all the steps to accomplish our goal easily. But the big brother ended up being the perfect example of a lousy teacher. Instead of starting me out in a pasture in granny gear, or a big parking lot with an automatic transmission, he put me in a squirrelly jeep on a high narrow road. I put his brand new stick shift Jeep in the ditch pretty darn quick.
It is interesting how often people do the same type of thing when teaching a horse or people about horses. They commit murder by skipping steps and making it hard for horse or person to succeed. The good teachers in my life have always broken things down for me so I could easily concentrate on one thing at a time and build confidence and speed before going to the next step.
With horses, the most natural way to divide learning into steps is to separate guiding from riding. When we are guiding and not riding we are working on the ground with the horse. When we are riding and not guiding, we have another person guiding the horse with a long rope on the ground. Good training helps us focus on one thing at a time so we get good at each ingredient before we add them back together.
When we sense horse or human getting mad or frustrated, we need we need to be thinking how to break it down more or hit it from a different angle. We also need to recognize that everything we do on a horse’s back can be done on the ground. A good teacher imitates God in the flesh – Jesus Christ – by being well grounded, therefore being able to walk in their students shoes. We can also see the bigger picture of what is happening on the ground so we can read our horse better.
Another important point is to make sure that all the basics are learned in a small area before going to a big area (the opposite of learning how to drive). When teaching, there is no room for being a robot. We need to read the emotions of horses and humans and keep checking for feedback. We know that learning shuts down when emotions are too high or too low. When emotions are high we need repetition of simple tasks and when they are too low we need variety.
Just like the old saying, “repetition is the best teacher, but variety is the spice of life.”
Mike Daniels is a horsemanship trainer and barefoot trimming specialist from Raymondville. His columns are posted online at www.houstonherald.com. Email: rlhorse58@yahoo.com.