Horse Training Basics: Keep on Keeping on
By Patty Wilber
Clinton Anderson talks frequently about horse training requiring hundreds to thousands of repetitions.
Buck Brannaman emphasizes “many, many repetitions until it becomes the horse’s idea.”
Ray Hunt said, “You can’t teach a horse anything; you just create the right habits.”.
Tom Dorrance mentions repeating steps until the horse finds relief in the right answer.
One of Pat Parelli’s aphorisms is “Take the time it takes, so it takes less time.”
In reviewing articles about creating new habits in humans, I found this Scientific American Article (2024): “A hallmark 2009 study on habit creation found that habits developed in a range of 18 to 254 days; participants reported taking an average of about 66 days to reliably incorporate one of three new daily activities… Consistent daily repetition was the biggest factor influencing whether a behavior would become part of an automatic daily routine…”
All these agree that building new behaviors takes time. Thus, to train an ordinary horse to be a reasonably good citizen, one of the keys is persistence.
Are other factors important? Sure. Skill, timing, balance, a talented horse, proper equipment, and I am sure everyone can think of five more things, but with calm, quiet persistence, a whole lot can be accomplished, eventually.
Eons ago, I had a person come wanting to compete in western pleasure. They were pretty handy, and the horse was easy to get along with. The lessons went well, but instead of reinforcing the skills we covered, they went home and did things like run barrels with their friends. Naturally, the horse didn’t learn to do western pleasure.
I had a friend that needed their horse to trailer load better. They spend an entire day working on it. It wasn’t the easiest day, and there might have been a smoother way, but persistence paid off. By the end of the day, the horse loaded like a champ.
I had a Fjord that didn’t want to canter under saddle. He didn’t buck or do anything dangerous. He knew how to canter on the lunge line, but he just didn’t want to lope under saddle. At first, I was going crazy as I was not making noticeable progress. I called a trainer specializing in Fjords. She suggested I first accept faster trotting, and then have the owner lunge him while I rode. This took a few weeks, but eventually, he was comfortable, and he learned to canter under saddle.
One of the first horses I solidified lead changes on was a Whisering Spirit mare bred by Connie Hunter. The horse learned lead changes in four tries on one single day. She went on to win a big event that featured lead changes. No persistence needed. I thought I was brilliant–(turned out the horse was the brilliant one). When I went to teach lead changes to other horses, I learned that for most horses, I just had to keep on keeping on, sometimes for months, and eventually, the lead changes fell into place.
In today’s instant gratification clickbait world, it is still true that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither are good horses or new habits.
Penny! People said she was stubborn, but honestly, we’ve always gotten along. Maybe because we had time.
