06/14/2023
I have said this about 5,000 times already, but because it is so important, I will say it some more---
Let's say that you are training a horse to improve in some special skill sets. It might involve jumping, or dressage, or reining patterns, but the training that you are doing involves repetition of some sort.
If you turn training into drilling, where you practice relentlessly, the horse will probably get uncomfortable physically, and at least a little "fried" mentally and emotionally.
What if 2, maybe 3 days a week, you either worked for only 15-20 minutes on the skill set, and then just went for a nice walk in the woods and meadows? Or, better still, did no practice work some days, and only went out for a somewhat long but low stress hack?
The walking does two things. It builds a base of fitness, and it creates an educational atmosphere that is low key and low stress.
It makes no sense to me that so many upper level riders "farm out" all the hacking to others, because it is out on the trail that horses learn to deal with terrain, with footing, with crossing water, with seeing all sorts of weird "stuff."
It is just as educational outside the ring as inside the ring, only about different situations. So, for a better, sounder, fitter, calmer horse, break it up. Less drilling, more quiet hacking.
