Guest Blog Post # 32: "Leave Him Wanting More" by the great Bill Woods!

Leave Him Wanting More

I believe I am speaking for the majority of other instructors when I say this: When the lesson I'm teaching is coming to its conclusion, I have tried to tie what we were working on with the horse up into a little package "suitable for mailing." We have accomplished either what I wanted to (or been able to) and the horse is "done."

Occasionally, I will suggest that a rider continue with a certain exercise for a few minutes which, due to time constraints, I can't stay to watch, but that is the exception. For the most part, nothing is more irksome than watching a student leave the arena and then proceed to canter in the field for another half hour or do endless lines of tempis on her own.

Many years ago I was guilty of this very thing. In the mid 70s, I was riding in a clinic with Hans Wikne, struggling to make my horse round and to come through. Wikne rode him for me, and when he handed me back the reins said, "Okay, enough for today."

I took the horse home, and that afternoon overzealously tacked him up and tried to practice what I saw the Major doing. Of course, it didn't work.

At the next day's lesson, I told him what I had tried, and I won't forget the disappointed look on his face. As the ride ended, he said to me gently, "Now take your horse home and just let him think about what we did today. We'll do more tomorrow."

. . . . which is how a European cavalry officer of his generation would say "and please try not to f#%k him up again!"

So how much is the right amount of work when you're trying to teach a horse something? We know, for instance, that draft horses could work long hours in the field, but those aren't exactly "teaching moments." Remember: in learning situations horses are as prone to muscle fatigue and information overload as you are. You will find that certain low impact work—generally the calming, acclimatizing kind—can go on for longer or be repeated a second time the same day. And other exercises which require both muscle memory and cognition on the horse's part—I'm thinking of learning piaffe— can profit by more frequent but brief repetitions.

On the whole, however, Less is usually More—especially on hot summer days. If you've made your point in half an hour, put your horse away or take him for a walk. If an hour of training has gone by and you're still not getting through, that's what tomorrow is for. Another half hour of grinding isn't likely to make it better, and it hardly makes your horse look forward eagerly to your next ride. 


Blog by Bill Woods @ http://www.woodsdressage.com/blaggo_UR8C.html