Horse training refers to a wide variety of
practices that teach horses to perform certain behaviors when asked to do so by
humans. Horses are trained to be manageable by humans for everyday care as well
as for equestrian activities from horse racing to therapeutic horseback riding
for people with disabilities.
Historically, horses were
trained for warfare, farm work, sport and transport. Today, most horse training
is geared toward making horses useful for a variety of recreational and
sporting equestrian pursuits. Horses are also trained for specialized jobs from
movie stunt work to police and crowd control activities, circus entertainment,
and equine-assisted psychotherapy.
There is tremendous
controversy over various methods of horse training and even some of the words
used to describe these methods. Some techniques are considered cruel, other
methods are considered gentler and more humane. Some training techniques may
appear violent to people unused to horse behavior, but in practice may not be
as harsh as they appear. However, it is beyond the scope of this article to go
into the details of various training methodology, so general, basic principles
are described below. The see also section of this article provides links
to more specific information about various schools and techniques of horse
training.
While the number of
training techniques is large, and the goals of training too numerous to count,
basic animal training concepts apply to all forms of horse training. The
initial goal of most types of training is to create a horse that is safe for humans
to handle (under most circumstances) and able to perform a useful task for the
benefit of humans.
A few specific
considerations and some basic knowledge of horse behavior helps a horse trainer
be effective no matter what school or discipline is chosen:
Regardless of the end goal
of training, most horses go through a predictable series of steps on their way
to being "finished" animals for a given discipline.
Most young domesticated
horses are handled at birth or within the first few days of life, though some
are only handled for the first time when they are weaned from their mothers, or
dams. Advocates of handling horses from birth sometimes use the concept
of imprinting to introduce a foal within its first few days and weeks of life
to many of the activities they will see throughout their lives. Within a few
hours of birth, a foal being imprinted will have a human touch it all over,
pick up its feet, and introduce it to human touch and voice.
Others may leave a foal
alone for its first few hours or days, arguing that it is more important to
allow the foal to bond with its dam. However, even people who do not advocate
imprinting often still place value on handling a foal a great deal while it is
still nursing and too small to easily overpower a human. By doing so, the foal
ideally will learn that humans will not harm it, but also that humans must be
respected.
While a foal is far too
young to be ridden, it is still able to learn skills it will need later in
life. By the end of a foal's first year, it should be halter-broke,
meaning that it allows a halter placed upon its head and has been taught to be
led by a human at a walk and trot, to stop on command and to stand tied. The
young horse needs to be calm for basic grooming, as well as veterinary care
such as vaccinations and worming. A foal needs regular hoof care and can be
taught to stand while having its feet picked up and trimmed by a farrier. Ideally
a young horse should learn all the basic skills it will need throughout its
life, including: being caught from a field, loaded into a trailer, and not to
fear flapping or noisy objects. It also can be exposed to the noise and
commotion of ordinary human activity, including seeing motor vehicles, hearing
radios, and so on. More advanced skills sometimes taught in the first year
include learning to accept blankets placed on it, to be trimmed with electric
clippers, and to be given a bath with water from a hose. The foal may learn
basic voice commands for starting and stopping, and sometimes will learn to
square its feet up for showing in in-hand or conformation classes. If these
tasks are completed, the young horse will have no fear of things placed on its
back, around its belly or in its mouth.
Some people, whether through
philosophy or simply due to being pressed for time, do not handle foals
significantly while they are still nursing, but wait until the foal is weaned
from its dam to begin halter breaking and the other tasks of training a horse
in its first year. The argument for gentling and halter-breaking at weaning is
that the young horse, in crisis from being separated from its dam, will more
readily bond with a human at weaning than at a later point in its life.
Rarer, but still not
uncommon even in the modern world, is the practice of leaving young horses
completely unhandled until they are old enough to be ridden, usually between
the age of two and four, and completing all ground training as well as training
for riding at the same time. However, waiting until a horse is full grown to
begin training is often far riskier for humans and requires considerably more
skill to avoid injury.
After a young horse is
taught to lead and other basic skills, various tasks can be introduced to the
horse as it matures while it is still too young to be ridden. Some schools of
training do a great deal of work with young horses during their yearling and
two-year-old years to prepare them for riding, others merely reinforce the
basic lessons taught to the horse as a foal and simply keep the horse
accustomed to the presence of humans. Many times, a young horse did not have
all necessary basic skills described above taught to it as a foal and its
"adolescent" years are spent learning or re-learning basic lessons.
Several ground training
techniques are commonly introduced to a young horse some time after it is a
year old, but prior to being ridden. All horses usually have some or all of
this ground work done prior to being ridden, though the time spent can range
from hours to months. While a foal or yearling can be introduced to a small
amount of ground work, a young horse's bones and joints are quite soft and
fragile. So, to prevent joint and cartilage injury, intense work, particularly
intense work in a confined circle (such as advanced roundpenning or longeing),
should wait until the horse is at least two years old. Common ground training
techniques include:
A horse is not ready to be
ridden until it is accustomed to all the equipment that it needs to wear and is
responsive to basic voice, and usually rein, commands to start, stop, turn and
change gaits.
For some disciplines,
ground work is also used to develop specific types of muscling as well as to
instill certain behaviors. When ground work incorporates both mental and
muscular development, it may take considerably longer for the horse to be ready
to be ridden, but advocates of these methods maintain that the additional time
on the ground allows the horse to advance more quickly or with better manners
once under saddle.
The age that horses are
first ridden varies considerably by breed and discipline. Many Thoroughbred race
horses have small, light riders on their backs as early as the fall of their
yearling year. Most stock horse breeds, such as the American Quarter Horse, are
ridden at the age of two. Most horses used in harness have a cart first put
behind them at age two, and even some horses not ridden until age three will be
trained to pull a light cart at two, in order to learn better discipline and to
help develop stronger muscles with less stress. The vast majority of horses
across disciplines and throughout the world are first put under saddle at the
age of three. However, some slower-maturing breeds, such as the Lipizzan, are
not ridden until the age of four.
The act of getting on a
horse for the first time goes by many names, including backing, breaking,
mounting, and simply riding. There are many techniques for
introducing the young horse to a rider or to a harness and cart for driving,
but the end goal of all methods is to have the horse calmly and quietly allow a
rider on its back or behind it in a cart and to respond to basic commands to go
forward, change gaits and speed, stop, turn and back up.
Ideally, a young horse will
have no fear of humans and view being ridden as simply one more new lesson. A
properly handled young horse that had adequate ground work will seldom buck, rear,
or run away when it is ridden, even for the very first time.
Horses that have never been
taught to be ridden can learn at any age, though it may take somewhat longer to
teach an older horse. An older horse that is used to humans is easier to put
under saddle than a completely wild horse caught off the open range.
Once basic skills under
saddle are mastered, the horse is usually ready to go on to more specialized
training for a particular disciplines or set of disciplines.
Different horse training
techniques are far too extensive to describe in a single article. For further
information on horse training and specific disciplines, see the Bibliography
and the Wikipedia articles below, which cover many of the concepts and
different schools of thought on training and handling horses.
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Horse_training&action=history
http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html