Training
We don't believe in "bad" horses.
When a horse behaves in ways we don't want, it's not defiance, it's a gap. Unwanted actions and reactions come from a lack of communication, a lack of body awareness, a lack of understanding, or a lack of strength. Our job is to bridge those gaps.
We help the horse clarify what's being asked of them. We help them find calmness in their body and their mind. That calmness doesn't come from force, it comes from education. And education is what leads a horse to feel genuine comfort in their body.
When a horse understands, when they're strong enough to do what's asked, and when they feel good in their body, the unwanted behaviour fades on its own.
No matter what phase your horse is in we are prepared to help you with our knowledge and knowledge of our mentors, because we don't know everything!
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The Three Phases of Training (as presented by Charles DeKunffy)
Every horse we work with moves through three phases of development. Each phase builds on the last, and none can be skipped without consequences down the road.
Restorative Phase — Restoring Balance
We've all seen talented young horses floating across the pasture then we sit on their backs and it's like they've forgotten how to move. They haven't forgotten. They just haven't mastered carrying weight on their back yet.
Horses aren't designed to carry weight on their backs, they're built to pull it. So our first job is to restore the horse's balance under the rider. Simplicity wins the day here: large circles, long sides, and loops. Anything requiring more bending is saved for later.
Our main goals in this phase:
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Establish that the horse will move forward willingly
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Develop proficiency on simple patterns
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Begin building a stable acceptance of the contact, always created by connecting the hind legs to the bridle, not by pulling
Contact through driving should be taught before we ever get on their back, through lunging in properly fitted side reins. True throughness won't come until the horse becomes more proficient in bending, that's for later phases. Mistakes made here can have lasting effects. This phase applies to young horses, but older green horses also begin here.
Therapeutic Phase — Developing Straightness
The horse can now navigate the arena with the rider's weight. Now we focus on straightness through increased bending — in other words, we start developing the horse's ambidexterity.
In this phase we introduce:
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Smaller bending lines, such as 10m circles
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Variability in the gaits — lengthenings in trot and canter
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Smoother transitions — no more running into the canter or trotting from walk with a tight neck
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More advanced transitions like walk-canter, with patience for the struggle that comes with repetition
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Leg yields, shoulder-fore, shoulder-in, and other two-track movements
Throughness will come and go as the horse slowly learns to use their body more evenly on both sides. Patience and thoroughness are everything here, we're laying the groundwork for the horse's entire athletic future. Shortcuts taken in this phase always come back to haunt us.
Roughly corresponds to Training and First Level competition.
Athletic Phase — Elevating Nature to Art
The foundation is set. The horse moves forward willingly into an even contact, is fairly ambidextrous, and has some variability in their gaits. The first two phases brought back the natural balance we disrupted by sitting on their backs. Now we enhance what nature gave them.
This phase adds:
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Suspension and cadence to the gaits
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Maximum variability from collection to extension
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Consistent throughness through a supple, ambidextrous body
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An uphill balance with greater engagement of the hind legs
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The most advanced two-track work, including blending of movements and challenging transitions
The most important thing to remember: always protect the purity of the gaits. As movements become more demanding, we return to the training scale often to make sure our work is still sound.
