Hello and best wishes to you all from our winter wonderland at Riversong Ranch in Alberta.

This being my first blog here on Barnmice I’d first like to say what an honour and privilege it is to be invited to join the ranks of such renowned colleagues as Jane Savoie, William Micklem and Tim Stockdale.

I’d also like to say right up front that I believe it is truism that a writer should only express opinions about what he or she has proven themselves to know something about. Having said that I will try my best not to get too focused on training tips for any one specific equestrian sport or discipline because that is not what I do. I am not an English or western rider – I am both and I also LOVE to drive harness horses as well. I am a trainer, coach and clinician, and I’ve won my fair share of ribbons and trophies, but what I am enthralled with and have focused on in my career with horses is not the advancement up the ranks of any one discipline but rather the comprehensive understanding of the body language, psychology and herd dynamics of horses and how this relates to their training and performance potential.

So, where do we start? Well, from my perspective, the journey of a thousand miles with horses should begin with the fact that horses are physiologically hard wired in the bio-chemistry of their central nervous system so that their body, mind and spirit work together as one. Simply, the frame of the body of the horse is also the frame of the mind. So, the truest definition of training the horse to “give to the aids” would literally mean that we use our body language and our “aids” to shape or sculpt our horses into a frame of body that corresponds to their feeling good in the mind.

Or in other words – we connect to the mind and spirit of the horse through their body with our body.

Some shapes of their bodies feel better then others for horses. In fact, some shapes feel heavenly because they create endorphins through the central nervous system of the horse while other shapes produce adrenaline and feel like hell. The idea is that a horse is supposed to be “aided” into feeling “better” with endorphins when “in good hands”.
The bottom line is that the vast majority of both good and bad, positive and negative behaviour and performance from a horse is a direct reflection of how the shape of their body affects their spinal column which affects their biochemistry which, full circle, affects their behaviour.

So, when it comes right down to it, why we still see so much resistance from horses who are handled and ridden by people who truly want to do what’s best for these magnificent creatures is that it’s just not good enough for the horse when a riders speak in cliché’s such as “we must ride our horses every step”. The problem with this statement is that it assumes that the need for clear communication is limited to work in the saddle. Meanwhile the horses are trying to tell us by “acting up” and causing “problems” that nothing could be farther from the truth!

TRAINING A HORSE: requires that with both our groundwork and riding we must always clearly communicate with our aids, our body shapes and gestures, every moment we are with our horses, so that we can sculpt them into the shapes and movements that make them feel better with us then they do on their own!

When a horse experiences consistently that YOU make it feel better then it does on its own then it focuses on you more and more, and WANTS to be with you more and more, and resists you less and less.

As a horse experiences how much better it feels to enjoy the endorphins of a stretching and bending back - instead of the adrenaline of an inverted and stiff/straight back, then the horse chooses to hold these shapes more and more on his or her own and no longer depends upon the rider so much for the “aids”. This concept is often called self carriage. When a horse is reasonably consistent with self carriage then it is realistic to begin to SCHOOL A HORSE.

From catching in the paddock or in the stall, to leading, grooming, tacking up, even mounting, we are always speaking volumes with our body language and every moment they are with us our horses need to see clearly that they can actually feel better with us then they do on their own.

So, if we sincerely want to develop a true empathetic bond with a horse, instead of merely demanding respect and servitude from a beast of burden, then we must remember that when it comes to developing a truly willing mind from a horse there is a significant and critical distinction between how to train a horse and/or how to school a horse.

Far too often people try to “school” a horse for a specific purpose such as a dressage test, a reining pattern, to jump, or to navigate trail obstacles, while the horse has obvious issues of resistance to maintaining consistent relaxation, respect, trust and focus for the rider. Not to leave out the harness horses and driving enthusiasts, this could also be known as “putting the cart before the horse”.

Straightness and collection in a horse is to focus and compress or coil up and thereby amplify the energy of the horse. We hear equestrian terms ranging from “well rounded” to “packaged” but the fact remains that if we straighten and collect a calm and supple horse then he or she will develop greater suspension and all around athletic ability while able to remain calm and willing.

However, if we attempt to straighten and collect a stressed horse showing any signs of fear, anger, distraction or defiance, then we defeat our purpose because we find all the athletic ability of the horse working against us instead of for us. Instead of calm and collected the horse is a ticking time bomb of tension emoting body language such as an irritability coming through a tail that is constantly swishing and twirling in frustration, ears flat back and/or grinding teeth with snarling lips. I often call stressed horses like this, be they English, western or off the track, “victims of the big lie”.

Anyway, my point here is that before a horse can realistically be expected to be straight, focused, and calm and collected, it would first and foremost need to be calm and focused without yet being asked for straightness or collection.

Okay friends, I’m starting to sound like I’m getting “up on my high horse” here so I think I better leave it at that for now.

In closing, I’d like to say once again how honoured I am to be writing this blog for Barnmice. I’m looking forward to having this ongoing opportunity to be able to focus in great detail on this theme of “training before schooling”.

We’ll interpret the “tell tail” signs of the many gestures that horses use to communicate with their body language and then we’ll move on to the fundamentals of equine psychology before beginning to deconstruct the cause and effect of how training before schooling relates to basic groundwork such as leading, work on the lunge line, long lines and yes, even stall manners. Then we’ll move on to how training before schooling relates to work in the saddle and the classical pyramid of dressage. All staying tuned into what it takes to train a horse to discover a willingness to learn how to learn so that true “schooling” of the horse can begin in earnest.

Meanwhile, until next time, all the best to you and yours for healthy and happy trails and remember, ask not what your horse can do for you – ask what you can do for your horse.

Chris Irwin