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Recently I have been building some broodmare bands for a couple of clients. I thought since it was fresh on my mind, I would share a couple of the finer points to picking a good broodmare. One is have a lot of money and patience. Second is give it to me and trust me. Just kidding.
Seriously, first you need to see what event you are wanting to breed for and stick to it. Now days the show pen has become very competitive in specific disciplines. Certain breeds definitely perform better on average in certain disciplines than others. That being said there are also some that cross over well into several events. For the sake of argument the event we will use is reining since it is the discipline I train for. When looking for a broodmare for reining, I ideally want a mare that has bloodlines that will also cross well for cutting and working cowhorse. This is where we have gotten most of our reiners. It also diversifies my selling ability. For example; I would like to find a mare that is an own daughter of Smart Chic Olena. Why you ask? Because he is a producer of world champions in all three events (reining, working cowhorse and cutting). If my first foal out of her works more like a cutter or cowhorse, then I know where I need to promote and breed her from that point on. Now you take an own daughter of Hollywood Dun It and her foal turns out more like a cutter. Good luck on selling it to a cutter. The reason for this is the numbers just do not work in favor of the cutter to purchase this horse. He is going to have a hard time getting a perspective buyer to even come out and look at a cutting horse out of Hollywood Dun It, unless the price is right, and by that I mean low. Now we have established the type of breeding and the event, next is how much is this going to cost me. There are smart ways to do this and sadly they all cost money. But, the first and, I feel the most important, is how much bang for your buck are you going to get. I work on quality not quantity. Lets say that you want to spend, oh lets get crazy and say you have an extra $40,000 laying around that is burning a whole in your pocket. Just joking again, sort of. Lets just start out with $10,000. I just made a whole bunch of husbands with horse crazy wives out there shake a little. Now, most with $10,000 are thinking that I will go out and by three, maybe four mares with decent bloodlines at a decent price and get started. Bad move. Four mares equals four breeding fees, four vet bills, four vaccinations, and four mediocre babies to raise each year. Guess what, you eventually have four to get started under saddle while you continue with paying for the four breedings on the mares. This spreads your money way to thin and gets nothing accomplished. Not to mention this gets you no where because your money is spread so thin that you have no money left to promote your babies. You do not have enough money left over to put any of the offspring in the hands of a good trainer that can explore their potential. This is where the phrase horse poor comes from. Instead take that $10,000 and purchase a mare that has good bloodlines and is proven in the show pen. Now instead of spending $2,000 on four $500 breeding fees, you can spend $2,000 on breeding to a stallion of good quality. This stallion has proven offspring on the ground and has a performance record that gives you something to brag about. Also take into consideration that you have just saved money on not having an additional three more vet bills. Now you have a baby that is from a proven mare and out of a proven father, and the chances of selling that baby and it actually getting to the show pen is much greater. Plus you have increased your profit margin. You will make more money with quality. Let me give you and idea of how I price a long yearling; I double the breeding fee and go up or down from there depending on the quality of the mare that she is out of. If the mare has good bloodlines, the price goes up. If she is a performer in the show pen and successful in the show pen, the price goes up. If she has other babies on the ground that are performers, the price again goes up. Why? Because I am not going to gamble my money on your mares offspring just because it is a pretty buckskin and goes back to War Leo some five generations back. Think of it like a business. If I purchase this mare for $10,000 and put $4,000 into the baby between breeding and a little training, then I can sell it as a honest to goodness prospect at $7,000. It will take me a little over six years to pay her off and have the next two that are on the ground making a better profit. Another plus to purchasing a mare that has value to her, is there are a lot of stallion owners out there that want to get some babies on the ground that will have a chance at hitting the show pen. You have what the stallion owners want, a proven mare and you can use that to get a break on the breeding fee. Which also improves your profit margin. Truthfully, I could go on and on about the importance of a broodmare to a successful breeding program. The broodmare in my opinion is the most important element to building a strong business. I have given you a few key points to consider when starting. However, really do your homework. If you have any questions feel free to contact me. I’ve started a series of articles on what I consider to be the foundation of training in a young horse. I cannot stress enough how important the fundamentals are, and how this foundation is a building block to teach the horse the more advanced maneuvers. In the first articles of the series, I addressed the spins. In this article, I will explain the foundation of the stop.
Before I begin to worry about teaching the stop at a lope, I will first require that the horse have a full understanding of reverse. Not that he will just move backward when I pull on the reins, but that he will get softer on the reins and increase speed when motivated by rocking my legs into his belly. The rocking of the legs does two things: One, it gives him a pace or cadence which also controls speed. Second, it teaches him to lift his belly, allowing room for his hind end to fold underneath his belly. As a result of him lifting his belly, he will lower his head. This is the form that I want for his body to take when I ask for the stop. I will also require that the horse have a firm understanding of following his nose, and how to run a straight line. This is true of the spins too, as I’ve mentioned in previous articles. Why does the horse have to know how to run a straight line? Because if he does not run straight then he will not stop straight. The same goes for the reverse. I want to be able to back in a circle to the left or to the right. Why does he have to know how to back toward both directions? Because if I cannot back the horse to the left or to the right, I cannot correct for the straight. In the stops, it is important for the horse to be at least starting to understand how to break or to give at the poll and at the withers. This is not as crucial as the other requirements, but it is still important. I have found in my teaching that if I stress the importance of having this part of the foundation, people tend to put a lot of emphasis on pulling and jerking a horse around to try to get them to put their heads down and low. This will actually work at times, but gets the horse much more worried about the stop and less concerned with the approach. The approach to the stop is very important in finishing for a big stop. I want to see the horse relaxed in the approach, covering the ground with confidence. To achieve this, I must train for the body–from the shoulders back. Keeping this in mind and the horse’s body correct, the head will go down to a point at which he will be comfortable. Once I have this control, I will add the verbal cue of WHOA–not when I stop, but when I back up. I want my horses to think that I am not wanting them to stop. Rather, I want them to think that I am going from forward to reverse. This is why the backup is so important. WHOA is actually telling the horse to put his body in the position of reverse, which consists of a rounded back and lifted shoulders, with the head in a relaxed position. Without the lifted back, he cannot roll his hind end underneath himself without elevating his entire front end. Increase the intensity gradually from a walk to a trot and then to a lope. If things get a little rough, take a step backward and use the foundation to fix it. But remember, what does not get rough is not being challenged, and what is not challenged will not get better. Like I have mentioned in past articles there are fundamentals that we must have first before starting to teach the more difficult maneuvers. For the lead change I want for the horse to have a good understanding of leg pressure. Not limited to the side pass, but having control of the hips and shoulders independently. Along with leg pressure I want the horse to be moving off of rein pressure and guiding on a loose rein, or with minimal bit contact.
First, lets talk about the mechanics of the lead change. In order for the horse to pick up a desired lead, the body has to be in the correct position. By this I mean that if we desire to pick up the left lead, the hind quarters have to be shifted to the left and the left shoulder has to be up and open. Having the shoulder up and open allows the horse to freely reach and stride out with the lead leg. If we attempt this with his head facing too far to the left, and with the rider looking down at his left shoulder, we are impeding free movement of the left or lead shoulder. Let me explain in more simple terms. Get on all fours, (hands and knees) put your child or some else’s child on your back like you are going to give a pony ride. Have the child whisper in your left ear and tell me which of your arms is easier to pick up. Now have the child sit up straight and look slightly to the left. Now you know what your horse feels. That is a lead departure which is the same as a lead change. Now have the child pull on your ears and say Whoa! Just kidding. When first teaching the lead change there is something that you have to keep in mind, and that is that a proper lead change starts in the hind quarters. In order for this to happen a young horse will sometimes increase speed in order to attempt a lead change. The last thing that you want to do is rush them into a lead change. The reason that they will sometimes increase in speed is to gain impulsion with their hind end, causing an increase in speed. If the lead change occurs and the speed is still there then quietly bring them down to the speed that you desire. If you continue to show them that slow comes after the lead change, they will begin to relax all the way through the lead change. Now for the hard stuff, the dreaded approach. Do I tip the head and hold the outside leg then switch legs and kick my hips and do it all at the count of three? No, the most important thing to remember is to RELAX, don’t tense up your hands and impede forward movement. Second, thing to remember is that change in lead does not require a change in direction. In fact, if you constantly change lead and direction you will eventually get your horse to dive his shoulder into a lead change which will lead to dragging his hind lead. Instead, approach the lead change (from left to right) by continuing to guide the horse to the left with the neck rein all the way through the lead change. You should be asking the horse to change from the hip with the left leg. If you are going to practice in an arena, then I suggest that it be done going down the long side of the arena. This will allow you time to change and not rush you into changing directions. Remember, you can stop at the other end instead of turning, especially if you have a tendency to wait to the last minute to turn the other direction. If your arena is not real long you can also practice doing this going from corner to corner. I am starting a series of clinics that will focus on the elements of the reining pattern, designed to aid the non-pro or rookie in their training and showing. The format will consist of a three “class” series, with a class being held and a week or two in between until the next class. The reason for the design of this series is to leave the rider with not only information, but implementation as well. In other words, a one day clinic will leave you with a tremendous amount of information. However, when you go home to work on it are you doing it correctly, or did you just not get it? The idea is to not only insure that you received the information and are doing it correctly, but that it is in small enough pieces that you can implement it. For more information feel free to call me at (210) 825-1114 or email me at todd@toddmartin.net. This is the last of a series on conformation, but do not mistake this as being all that you consider in conformation. If I were to cover everything, I would have to write a book. I will be the first to admit that I do not know every single thing there is to know about confirmation. However, I am confident in what I look for from a performance perspective.
Let’s begin with conformation of the back. We have all heard that we should be looking for a short backed horse. It is not necessarily important to me that the back is short, but it is important that the back and underline match. When I refer to the back I am talking about the distance between the withers and the rear flank. The rear flank is where there belly meets the leg, it is also where the hair swirls or changes direction. When looking at how long or short the back is you need to compare with the length of the underline. I do not want to see a horse that has a short back and a long underline. Why? Because this body condition makes it very difficult to obtain collection. I will have to work against his natural body conformation to obtain collection. Likewise I do not want a horse with a long back and a short underline. It is a bit easier to obtain collection, but the horse will not be as free moving in its stride or as pretty of a mover. Although, If I had to choose on condition over the other, this is the one I prefer. Ideally, I look for a horse that is balanced in his back in relation to the rest of his body. I like some depth to its heart girth. This is the place where your cinch goes around the chest when your horse is saddled. As for the hip and hock, I am looking for a sloping hip and a low hock. In common terms, I want the hip to be round and the ham muscle to tie into the leg low. I do not want to see a horse that has a bubble butt and look like his legs are just sticks coming out of the bottom. I also like to see the tail head sets down inside the muscle, not protruding out. This is mainly because it is distracting to the look of the horse and takes away from the appearance. When it comes to the hock, I of course like a horse that is low hocked. To identify what is low hocked you have to look at the hock in relation to the rest of the body. An easier way to identify low hocked is to look at the angle of the leg. I like to see a horse that naturally stands with its legs underneath its self. Preferably his back feet are standing just underneath his rear flank. This creates a natural angle to the leg that allows for easier stopping and creates less stress on the hock joint when performing more difficult maneuvers. Which hopefully will cause less chance for injury and more longevity in the performance pen. To wrap this all up in a nut shell. I am looking for a very balanced horse. You have to keep in mind that this is just one part of looking for a great horse. You also have to have a good mind and a want to perform and learn. These things are just as important and once again that is where the balance comes in. I will forgo a short back for great athletic ability and a strong desire to learn. Remember, there is no perfect person and likewise there is no perfect horse. Essentially, I as a trainer, am looking for the best employee. I want the horse that likes his job, has a desire to learn, the ability to perform, and has a good work ethic. After talking last month about how to start your horse on cattle I thought that it would be an opportune time to explain the benefits of working your horse on cattle, regardless of whether or not you are aiming towards training your horse for a cattle event. Not all of the reining horses that I train have a lot of cow sense. But it is to their benefit to be worked on cattle for the sole purpose of giving them something new to do.
While training horses to perform the maneuvers required for reining, there is a lot of repetition and times of pushing to get better and excel. However, not all horses learn the same way, much like people. Some learn best with repetition and that is all that is needed. I kind of equate them to the kid that is taught how to shoot free throws in basketball, but practices on his own and finds his rhythm. But, many horses are different and need to find a reason for the maneuver. Lets look at a couple of maneuvers and see how we can use cattle to give them a purpose for the maneuver. Basically another reason to perform besides, “because I said so”. Let’s use the stop for the first example. When you are working your horse on mirroring the cow and stopping him when the cow stops, you are giving him another reason to stop beside you just helping him with your hands. The other important thing to remember in doing this is, you are also taking some of the man made elements out and putting more of the natural stop back into the horse. Meaning that if he has any natural ability in his stop, he will use it more willingly. This is due to the fact that he is not trying to understand your cues so much and resist, rather he will start to gradually use his natural ability to help him stay with the cow. Another area where this helps a lot is in the roll back. While mirroring the cow in the roll back or change of direction you will find that through repetition your horse will start to read this and start to let the cow pull him through the roll back. As this instinct builds in practice you can use this to help you teach your horse to roll back on his hocks and push off with his hind end. He will get quicker on his roll backs with less encouragement on the riders part. Where this helps the most is getting a snappier roll back with out having to manually instill a rush during the roll back. This also helps the horse understand that he needs to stay on his hocks in the roll back and not fall out to early. This also allows you to get softer on the reins and create a prettier and more willing look to your rollbacks. While mirroring and tracking cattle you will also help on your control of speed, which gives them a reason to rate their speed. Using your seat to help adjust speed can be better achieved while tracking cattle. The biggest thing to remember while doing this is to stay out of the mouth of the horse if he is rating with the cow. The horse will not learn to rate his speed and work willingly if he is not taught to be held accountable. Just remember, while working a horse on cattle you need to spend more time out of his mouth than hanging on the bit. When they are doing well, show them by releasing pressure off the mouth. Put them in the position that you want and then let them go. If they fall out of position again, help them by putting them where they should be and then release. I would recommend to the inexperienced rider or to someone who has not worked cattle before, to get some help from a pro. If you are wanting to move into doing some cattle events, it is important that you start your horse right, and not allow them to start off with bad habits when working cattle. Some of the bad habits can cause them to loose advantage of a cow, and they are often times harder to re-teach than to teach correctly the first time. The most important thing to remember is to start slow and correct and not just run around like a chicken with your head cut off. You should have a purpose to what you are doing. You have purchased a breeding stallion and now the fun begins! First and foremost you have to define what kind of client base you are trying to market. In doing this you need to research and find out which direction is going to me more profitable for the stallion that you have chosen. In the example that I will work with we will talk about a performance stallion. Working towards the ideal way to promote your stallion but keep in mind that it can be done towards any event or breed.
I think that the single most important ingredient to any breeding operation is the quality of mares that you have to breed. Do not confuse this with the importance of the breeding stallion, you have to have both, but it is more difficult to find a top quality mare than it is to find a top quality stallion. Your job as a stallion owner is to entice the quality mare owner to breed to your stallion. Thus producing quality offspring that will be put in the hands of a talented trainer. Sometimes as a stallion owner you have to take an active roll in making sure that these good offspring get the chance at becoming something. Even so much as purchasing your stallion’s best offspring and promoting them yourself. From a business stand point, this is a sound investment in the future of your program. All moneys spent on the training and showing of the offspring are a tax write off, even for a gelding since it is still promoting your stallion/business. Even if you are promoting a stallion that is for pleasure riding, it is important to show not only that he is good minded, quite and easy to handle but that he can put that good mind on his offspring. I would recommend that some of his best offspring be started under saddle with a good trainer and taken and promoted on trail rides by the trainer. Leave nothing to chance, employ the professional of your choice to promote the offspring in the best light to the public. This is not a place to cut corners and save money. You have invested your money to make sure that the offspring of your choice get seen by the public, spend the little extra to make sure that when in public the offspring is ridden and shown well. Advertisement; Marilyn is going to love me for this but it is very true. This is something that cannot be over looked. The key to advertisement is frequency. I cannot tell you how many times that I have seen an ad somewhere for 6 months before I make a call to it. If I see the ad once or twice and never again it is hard to remember where I had seen it. But if I see it every month in a publication that I read every month then I know that I can run down to the store and pick that publication up and get the contact information that I need. I can be low on horses in training because of the time of year and things be lean, but I can guarantee you that I will not cut advertising out of my budget. The other important part to advertising besides frequency is to appeal to your target audience. Lastly, make sure that your ad makes your stud look his best. The ad is at times the first time that a possible buyer has a chance to see your horse. If the picture in your ad is not the best or makes him look different than he does in person, chances are you will loose the client before you ever get a call. I can not tell you how many times I see a stallion photographed in an unflattering way. Hire a photographer, and rely on their expertise and your knowledge of the industry. There are other ways to advertise your stallion. Take marketing ideas that you have seen in normal business and apply it to your horse business. You can sponsor classes at local horse shows for a reasonable fee in your stallions name. This does two things; it shows your commitment to the horse industry and gets your business out there. You can even donate prizes in your stallions name, or go so far as to create a futurity in your stallions name. If you are going to try to hit the big time in the performance horse industry there is one piece of advise that is very important. You win or lose when you purchase the stallion. The cheapest part is purchasing the stallion. The price of marketing, your time, training, showing, saddles, facility, entry fees, all of these things cost the same whether it is a good horse or a bad one. Promoting your stallion is the most important part and it is not the place to cut corners. Think about all of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that have been spent on promoting Smart Chic Olena. If he had not produced horses that could win it would have been a huge loss. The promoting helped enhance what the horse already had, and brought it to the attention of everyone. Lastly choose people to work with that have the same desires to excel as you do. I have surrounded myself with people that compliment me in areas that I lack. I strive to learn more and have the desire to reach higher goals, and I want the people around me to have the same desires. When it comes to showing horses and competing in any event, there comes a time when you have to make a decision as to whether you want to show up and just compete, or do you want to do what it takes to win. In the rodeo world it is called donating. I kind of like that term. What it indicates to me is that you are there to show up and donate the money to be in the pen with the competitors, or the people who are doing what it takes to win. When you are getting started this is something that you have to do, but at some point in your show career you have to make a decision to dedicate yourself enough to become a competitor.
Doing what it takes to win can mean many different things. Sometimes this means that you need to make the next move in purchasing more horse power. Sometimes it means that you need to step up your practice. More often than not the first step is for you to step up your practice and get good coaching. Once you have put in your time, and exceeded the level of your horse, then that is the time to step up the horse power. I see a lot of people try to step up the horse power and expect a better result in the show pen right away. Well, you have stepped up in horse, now it is time to step up your riding level. That is where a good coach comes in. A good example is if you have a fear of the lead change coupled with a foggy understanding of how to obtain a correct lead change. The fix is not purchasing a horse with a better lead change, rather it is to learn how to ride better first. Dedicate yourself to taking lessons and get a firm understanding of the lead change. You may actually fix the horse that you have, and in the process become a better rider. I have people come out to our facility and say that they have a strong desire to become a great rider. They want it like nothing before, and would like for me to teach them to become the best that they can be. The first thing that I tell them is that I will put as much time into them as they put into themselves. Dedication is the key to success in anything. That is what horses can teach you, and that is a lesson worth learning because it will follow you into the rest of your life. I will give you some great example of winners: The San Antonio Spurs are a great team, a team comprised of great athletes with skill and knowledge to compete and win at the top level. Why do they have a coach? Can’t they stay in shape and practice on their own. If that was the case there would be no coaches in any of the NBA teams. They need to have someone there to give insight into their game, detect glitches in their execution, to give motivation, and to keep them focused on the task at hand. I just watched a US Open singles tennis match who like wise are great athletes with tons of talent. Each one of the competitors has a coach, not because they do not know the game but for the same reason that professional sports teams have them too. You see a lot of people join a gym to get in better shape each year. They start out dedicating themselves to getting in good physical condition yet, 99 percent of them do not finish the year. Why do you think that most have you sign a contract for a year? Because odds are you wont use all of it and they will still get paid. Why do you think that most sign the contract? Because they really want to stick with it and reach their goal. The ones that succeed at a higher percentage are the ones that have a personal trainer; someone that holds you accountable for showing up, and can coach you to your goals. It takes more than just good intentions. Success takes dedication, hard work, and inspiration from a knowledgeable coach/trainer. Winning or becoming a winner is measured by personal goals. Just because you are not a world champion does not mean that you are not a winner. A winner is one who reaches his or her goals and passes their personal best. I will consider myself a great teacher when my assistant Jeni Phipps beats me in the show pen. Before I go into how to teach a horse to take the correct lead, let me answer the question of, “Why does it matter what lead my horse is on”. The answer is not because that is what the rule book says. It is because it is what is proper and beneficial to the horses movement, and it allows him to use his body in an efficient manner.
Lets look at roping horses first, why do you want your calf horse to stop and back up straight? That is easy, because if he backs straight, he can pull with all of his body and pull the calf back to you which saves you time getting to the calf. The key here is that he can pull with his whole body. So if we relate that to team roping and ask how is it most efficient for a header to turn a steer? The heading horse’s job is to turn the steer at a 90 degree angle and pull the steer so that the healer has a good shot sooner. The most efficient position for the heading horse to be in, is for his body to be pulling straight up the rope of the steer, and that can only be obtained if the heading horse is in the left lead. If the heading horse is in the right lead and turning left then he is pulling with his left shoulder and is not using his entire body. This causes soreness in the shoulders and eventually ducking off to avoid soreness. If he is pulling straight and on the left lead he is pulling not with his shoulders but with his hind end. Why do you think that the old timers rigged their teams of horses in front if the wagons and not off to the side? They can pull best when their body is in the correct position. Ok, now how to teach them to pick up the lead that we want and not the lead of opportunity. Before I explain this, let me just say that this is not the only way, but one way. I use many methods, but this one works for most. You must keep in mind that we are teaching, and teaching is learned best with repetition and consistency. It did not take you one afternoon to learn your times tables in school. Instead, it took days. 5 times 5 was always 25, it did not change to 30 after two days. Also keep in mind the teachers voice did not get louder and scream at you for every wrong answer, which would cause you to get frustrated and quit. Good teachers will encourage participation with repetition and consistency. I like to work on leads while the horse is still in the round pen. Plus for simplicity sake, this will keep you from trying to work on other things like guiding and being worried about making corners before running out of room. First, your horse needs to understand giving to the bit laterally or left and right, and needs to be moving off of leg pressure at the hip. Once you have these parts you can encourage your horse to trot going counter clockwise in the round pen, or to the left. We will be working on the horse taking the left lead, to work on the right lead just take all of these steps and reverse it. With your horse trotting to the left apply pressure with your right leg, not to take a lope yet, but just to get their hip moving towards the middle of the round pen. Then slightly ask for their nose to point toward the outside of the round pen or fence. Do not over bend them into the fence, you are only asking for the nose to point outside of the circle to open the left shoulder. This allows for them to reach with the left front end or lead leg. With the horse in this position, encourage them to trot faster and allow them to pick up the lope when they feel comfortable. Once they have picked up the left lead, allow for the nose to come back inside of the circle. Avoid pulling or bending the head to far to the outside of the circle because this will impede forward motion, which is needed to break into a lope. If the horse has loped off, but in the incorrect lead, just pull back on the reins to cause them to break back down into a trot and start the sequence over again. To get an idea as to how far to bend their head to the outside, I just want to be able to see their right eye if I am trying to get them to take a left lead. Now, once you have gotten the horse to a point of consistently picking up the correct lead,(like three correct leads in a row) start to relax on the outside rein pressure, and ask with just the leg pressure keeping the head looking straight into the circle. If they go back to picking up the incorrect lead, go back to helping by turning the nose slightly outside of the circle. Remember, that a lead starts first with a side pass. When you are asking for a side pass to the left your horse reaches to the left with his left leg and crosses with his right. It only makes sense that when you increase forward motion in that maneuver that your horse will again reach with his left leg and depart in a left lead. When I refer to the foundation of training I am talking about teaching a horse the fundamentals of body control. We hear this a lot but, why do we go through all of this work if all we want is for our horse to understand stop, go, left and right? For the most part it is because once we get proficient at these things we usually want to expand our ability and our horses ability.
So why is the foundation so important? Why does it take so long for a trainer to take a horse from first saddle to 4th level dressage? Or why does it take me two years or longer to get a horse ready to show in reining? I guess it is the same reason that it took you 8 years to start learning algebra. You first had to learn the basics. If you look at it in another context, one that we are more familiar with like yourself, it becomes easier to understand. I often times explain training by comparing it to math. Mostly because everyone has taken math in school, and have an understanding of the multiplication and division. Think back to how long it took for you to learn your numbers and a basic understanding of addition and subtraction. It took longer than 90 days. If it took only 90 days then our summers would have been longer. Instead, it took years for us to understand all of the numbers and have it solid. That is not to say that some of us were able to count to ten before we even started school, but did you really have a firm understanding of what that number represented. Sure you could count and have an understanding of numbers by seven, but could you be held responsible for getting correct change for a twenty dollar bill? Often times people watch me ride a young horse and see that he can side pass early on and possibly work a little spin. But the real question is does that young horse have a firm understanding of the cues or does the rider have a lot more knowledge in order to help the young horse. It is kind of like the young child when asked how old are you and they look to their parents while saying three. With help and assurance they will get the right answer but if left to figure it out on their own it is a 50/50 chance. The other reason that it is so important to have a solid understanding of these basics is later on in training, you as a rider can help explain to your horse how to do something better. Lets take stopping for example. While teaching a three year old horse to stop and slide twenty feet. I sometimes have one that will have trouble staying soft on his front end and walk while keeping his rear end in the ground. If he does not have a firm understanding of shoulder control or can not collect and drive into the bit with leg pressure, then I have to go back and teach that. To compare it to math. I am trying to teach you multiplication. You have all of your times tables memorized but are having trouble with memorizing your times tables for the number seven. If you do not understand the value of the number seven, then I as a teacher will have to go back and teach you the value of the number seven. Then I will have to teach you the value of adding the number seven, before I can continue. The benefit is that later on when I am trying to teach you algebra and you start to have problems then I can revert back to your basic understanding of the value of numbers to help you understand algebra. This is the reason why we put so much importance on the basics. This is why I do not teach or train with short cuts, because it will hurt me and my horse in the long run. It is also the reason why the basics or the foundation of training is the same for every event. Five apples is five apples whether you are in Texas or Japan. In some places you may not want to eat those five apples, but there are five of them none the less. |