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"Good Now Bad Later," from my FREE monthly newsletter

From the How to Train a Horse Series:

"Every time you teach an exercise, your horse will go through the same learning cycle. He'll go from "Bad" to "Good" to "Worse" to "Not So Bad" to "Learned." That's the typical cycle: Bad. Good. Worse. Not so bad. Learned.

You know "Good." "Good" is where we get excited. It's the part where we want to show off to our friends. We want to show somebody how soft our horse has become, so we walk over to brag to somebody, pick up our reins and the horse sticks his nose straight out, stiff as a board. We're embarrassed and our friends snicker. We've just entered the "worse" stage. It's the part where "he was getting but now he's not."

It's during the "worse" part where we typically second-guess our training. "The horse was good but now he's worse. I must be doing something wrong." You begin to think you need to change what you're doing. "Maybe my hand's in the wrong position" or "I'm using too little pressure." You begin to think you're doing something that's not correct. That's when we're most likely to change what we're doing. But that's the most important time for us to not change, to keep on doing what we're doing. You've got to get through this stage by being consistent. Keep doing the same thing over and over so that the horse realizes all the movements that are "mistakes" and which single movement is correct. It's consistency and time that teach your horse."

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From John Lyons Trainer Keith Hosman

Round Pen First Steps
A Downloadable Book

A sample from Day 3:

"A word of caution: Exercises such as this, all by themselves, are not magic wands. If you're riding and look back to see your horse's hind legs above his rear end, it's too late to whip out this exercise or any other and hope it's going to save you. Sure, if your horse starts bucking you can (and should) disengage the hip and if he bolts you should do the same – but that's a last-ditch effort, a hail-Mary pass. Don't let it get to that point. Horses are living, breathing creatures with emotions and good days and bad days. Every moment you're riding you need to be engaging your horse, keeping it's mind on you. Build a firewall between yourself and danger by keeping your horse occupied, buy a little insurance by teaching exercises such as "Spook in Place" – but don't rely on one thing singularly. It's the totality of your work – and your good, common sense – that will keep you safe."

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GUEST AUTHOR ARTICLES What is a Warmblood Horse?

 
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"Wonderful Warmbloods"
Written by Ron Petracek

Warmbloods have gained enormous popularity in the past few years. More and more of these horses are being seen in competition, especially in Grand Prix and Olympic quality competition. This type of horse is often referred to under the broad term of "warmblood," but there are actually several breeds of Warmbloods and each offer their own bit of edge in competition

The Hanoverian is one of the most prominent riding horses in the world. The breed was originally the inspiration of King George II of England, whom was also the ruler of Hanover at this time. He directed the Celle Stud of Lower Saxony in 1735 to produce a coach horse that could also be used for agriculture. And thus, the Hanoverian was born. In the 19th century, the breed was transformed into a military mount as well and was used extensively in World War I. After World War II, the breed was crossed with Thoroughbreds to give it an edge in sport horse competitions. The results of these crosses were powerful, strong, and featured light and springy movements. Today, the breed is commonly used in dressage, show jumping, cross-country and eventing.

The Selle Francais is a breed with a lot of trotting bloodlines, but is able to outperform most of the competition in Grand Prix and Olympic level show jumping. This horse was developed after World War II in Normandy from the Trotter-Thoroughbred crosses and several light French breeds. The breed was officially recognized in 1958 and resembles that of a big-bone Thoroughbred. The breed has excelled at international level competitions and has become a star in a number of other disciplines as well. The breed has been defined as "the epitome of what a sport horse should be." The breed is strong and bold. They excel at all equestrian sports and disciplines with exceptional talent in show jumping.

The Trakehner has two histories associated with the breed. The breed began in 1732 when the finest horses at the stud of Frederich Wilhelm I of Prussia were gathered to produce a new breed of cavalry horses. Arabians, Prussian horses and Thoroughbreds were bred and by 1940 there were approximately 80,000 Trakehners in existence. The breed has a string of Olympic gold medals from all over the world associated with it and the breed is one of the premier breeds for three-day eventing and dressage.

The second part of the breed's history involved the Red Army in 1945. East Prussia was invaded and many of the horses died. By the end of the war there were some 800 animals of the foundation stock left. The handlers of the breed went to western Germany on foot. Only 100 of the horses survived the trek across the frozen Baltic Sea. The breed was scattered throughout other parts of Europe and through several other evacuation attempts another 1000 horses were saved. Over the next ten years, the breed was slowly rebuilt. Today, the breed is one of the purest of all Warmbloods and stallions undergo rigorous testing and evaluations before being entered into the studbook. The breed is one of the toughest in the world and excels as dressage horses and show jumpers.

If you are looking for a horse that will outperform the rest then look towards the Warmbloods for the athletic animal that you need to beat the competition.

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