I was asked recently to ride a string of ponies who had begun to unravel. The string is a mixture of Argentine and American. All had been ridden by professionals during training and up to their sale to my new client. She had bought the horses at different times and each time been hugely satisfied with her purchase. Now she is not and in fact has begun to consider a new equine pursuit.

So what went wrong? This player had ridden for many years and comes from a pony club back ground. How could she have taken these horses backwards in their training?

The wicked truth is that training never really ends. You’ve hard it said of riding that we never stop learning, and indeed it is true for the horse too. Unfortunately the horse can learn bad habits therefore, and if the stimulus is constant and consistent it will learn very well! The translation is that if you aren’t getting it right the horse won’t either.

One of the main problems with this particular string and something I have found in other problem horses is what I term being “behind the leg.” A horse that is behind the leg feels like it constantly has to be pushed up and into the bridle. What it is doing is evading the leg aids and being lazy. It’s lack of impulsion will eventually lead to a work ethic that is so bad that the pony might not even want to leave the trailer. Being behind the leg gives the horse the advantage when it comes to discretion. So when there is a play that the horse feels should go a certain way, then that is the way the horse will take the rider. Most novices will accept this and some even call it a name like “tracking the ball” or something, whereas in fact the horse is making the decisions for the player and as such it is in charge. Not good. Sooner or later the horse will realize it’s new position of power and then it will take the path of least resistance. In some cases that could mean dispensing with you and returning to the comfort of the trailer.

Recognizing that the horse is beginning to take control is not easy. We spend more time on our game then we do on the horses, expecting that the horse will improve as we do and the horse takes a back seat to the perception that hitting better will improve our game. That is a fallacy. Trust me when I tell you that even Memo can be stopped if you can ride as well as him. It does not take great hitting skills to execute a hook, but it does take riding skills to get to the best place to make the hook, or ride off. It does take riding skills to stay with your man, and you may have to do that more then hitting.

Other holes began to show up in these horses when I stick and balled them for the first time. The near side back hand was the most apparent with the horses all showing the same ill traits on approach to the ball and as I swung. They would change leads infront during the swing and on the off side they would turn either left or right after the shot depending on if it was a tail or open.

These traits are mostly due to a lack of precision in practicing the shots. If you consistantly throw your weight to the left as you swing a near side the horse will change in front. If you always turn after making a back shot when you stick and ball then you will do that on the field. If you never pay attention to short working your horse it will do things in a lackluster way similar to your approach to the schooling. Training is repetition, and it is worth remembering that repeating the wrong thing on a good horse will re train it. Luckily it is possible to reverse that too.