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"If your horse says no, you either asked the wrong question, or asked the question wrong." ~Pat Parelli


Since my return from Florida I've had the chance to practice what I have learned on a few horses back home which I have in training, and I'm happy to say that it worked.  I'm not only happy that the horses are going better, but I am more thrilled that I am able to apply what I have learned on one horse to the ones I have in training with me.  It's tricky sometimes because I've seen trainers in the past learn a new tool and apply that to every horse that they work and I've found with my training that can't be the case.  


Every horse is different in it's own way; each has it's own form of evasion, and each has it's own personality and if you force one method of training upon every one, the results usually aren't that successful. I have some horses that evade through their shoulder, and I have some that evade more through their haunches, and then I have some that evade through both!  Being a good trainer is about listening and feeling exactly what the horse is doing and not getting stuck in a rut of "thinking" you know what the horse is evading from.  


Although after saying this, I do believe in order to be a good trainer you have to be aware that you will make mistakes with your training and you will not know the answer for every question the horse asks...however it's how you go about figuring out the answers that is most important.  For example, I rode a horse a few years ago that always gave me trouble about staying soft, and I remember always coming off of him frustrated that it never felt 100%.  It just so happened that the owner asked me to ride him again for her, and when I got back on I realized I never was fixing the problem before.  He rode the same way he did in the previous years and instead of getting so fixated on his mouth, I realized that his problem was in his shoulder.  After I fixed his shoulders everything else came together so fluidly.  I even gave the owner a lesson on what I had been working on with him and she was ecstatic about how he felt and now the horse is in training with me.  I think riding that horse is the most rewarding (besides my own) because I can really see how much I have learned and grown as a rider/trainer to help progress the horse and owner as a team.  


I didn't really intend on this blog going in this direction...but I guess that's where it ended up.  I guess the bottom line is, good training is important, listening to your horse is more important, and learning from your mistakes is the most important!


On a side note 2 of the girls are making their show debut on their horses this weekend! Fingers crossed all goes well :)