06/29/2025
Charlesisms explained (part 4)
"WE MUST DO WHAT THE HORSE NEEDS, NOT WHAT THE HORSE WANTS"
I heard this one multiple times when Charles taught, and I love this quote by Charles because it really is a great reminder that when we interact with our horses, we need to be constantly focused on what is best for them and not just what makes them happiest in order to contribute to their ultimate well being.
WHY IS IT SO BAD TO DO WHAT THE HORSE WANTS? DON'T WE WANT A HAPPY HORSE?
We most certainly want our horse to be happy and feel great in their bodies and minds and live a pain free life. Our motivation for how we interact with and train our equine partners should be motivated by a deep love for the horse and a complete dedication to their well being. However, if our only objective is to keep the horse happy at all costs, we are doing them as well as us and any other humans (barn workers, farriers, vets, etc..) that come into contact with them, a major disservice.
The same can be said for parenting our children too. Anyone reading this that has children knows that kids will constantly make "suggestions" about what they want to do, what they want to eat, when they want to go to bed, etc... You will also know that most, if not all of these "suggestions" coming from our little ones are probably not in their best interest at the end of the day. For example, if it was up to Jenna and I's kiddos, they'd be on a screen every waking moment and eating double helpings of ice cream every night for dessert. Would this make them happy? Undoubtedly. Would this be good for them? Of course not. Therefore, we have to step in and guide them towards doing things they need to do that are better for them instead of just things they want to do.
You can probably see where this is headed. With our horses, we won't be debating with them whether they get screen time and sweets, but it's more about setting boundaries with their general behavior and giving them proper guidance in their work.
IF WE AREN'T PURELY MOTIVATED BY KEEPING THE HORSE HAPPY AT ALL COSTS, HOW DO WE DO RIGHT BY OUR EQUINE PARTNERS THEN?
I have heard J.J. Tate say in a lecture that "clarity is kindness" and this couldn't be more true. Horses thrive on consistency, routine, and clear boundaries. Chaos and indecision makes them very anxious and insecure. What horses need the most from us is to be a strong leader that they respect and makes them in turn feel safe and secure in our presence. We all know that part of being a good leader is accepting that there will be times of conflict, but it's how that conflict is handled that determines the effectiveness of the leader. We cannot be a pushover, but we also must not be a tyrant.
Before we talk about the work under saddle, we must first address the horse's general behavior as that's where establishing our leadership truly begins. We must set very clear guidelines for the horse on what is acceptable and unacceptable. We all know that they shouldn't bite or kick us, but there are more subtle behaviors that need to be addressed as well.
They should never be allowed to step into our space for one. This is a safety issue first of all and with more dominant types of horses, it can be a test. Remember, horses live in a herd hierarchy world and when they interact with us, we're another herd member that they're sizing up. When they're together with their herd, other herd members don't dare step into the space of an alpha horse without serious repercussions. Keep that in mind with your interactions with your horse.
Another sometimes overlooked behavior is when we lead them, they should not be dragging behind us or running in front of us. Like when we ride them, they should always go at the speed we desire and the direction we desire.
There can be other things such as insisting that they hold their hooves up well for picking, standing quietly for grooming, standing quietly for mounting, and there's a million other things you can probably think of.
When we set boundaries on different behavioral issues such as those listed above, there may be conflict and that's ok and necessary. The key is how it's handled by us, namely in a firm but fair way, with the utmost consistency and most importantly, with emotional composure.
Getting back to the comparison with parenting, when we don't take our kid's suggestions, there will most likely be conflict there too, but like with our interactions with the horse, we must hold our ground in a firm but fair way and with emotional composure.
HOW DO WE DO RIGHT BY THEM WHEN WE'RE RIDING THEM?
Doing what the horse needs and not what they want extends to our training in the arena as well. Another great quote by Charles goes something like, "there is no neutrality in riding. We either build the horse up or break him down." When we look at it that way, we quickly realize we have a serious responsibility to the horse to ride them a certain way to save their bodies as well as their minds from eventual deterioration. REMEMBER, WHETHER WE COMPETE OR NOT, OUR RIDING MUST ALWAYS BE THERAPEUTIC IN NATURE FOR THE HORSE!
In order to begin to understand how we should ride them, we have to understand what our overarching goal in dressage training is to allow us to do right by the horse. The biggest goal in our training is to systematically shift the horse's weight back to their haunches to save wear and tear on their weaker forehand. By nature, horses want to carry about 60% of their weight on their forehand. When they are unencumbered by our foreign weight on their backs, this is totally fine. However, when we add our weight onto their backs, unless they are balanced by the rider properly, the added weight will add more strain to the weaker forehand eventually causing a physical breakdown over time. Remember, horses are not designed to carry weight, so when we sit in the saddle, it is our duty to teach them to carry themselves in such a way that they'll be built up instead of broken down.
Mentally it is also not good for the horse to travel on the forehand out of balance. It is in a horse's DNA to maintain their balance all of the time as they are prey animals and their anxestors depended on maintaining their balance for survival. Even though our horses are most likely not fleeing from predators, that balance instinct is in their DNA, so therefore when they travel off balance, this can make them feel insecure creating anxiety in their minds. If horses, had their way, they would run on the forehand with a dropped back and disengaged hind legs, but as we're learning, this is far from ideal for the horse's physical and mental health.
There are three phases in training, the restorative, the therapeutic, and the athletic phases. Maybe a future post will dive into those more in depth, but briefly, the restorative and therapeutic phases are about getting the horse to a level balance and the athletic phase is about shifting their weight back towards their haunches and creating AMPLIFICATION of the gaits.
If you've ever ridden a green horse, you'll know that they lack balance, both longitudinally and laterally, tumbling around the arena most likely braced against the contact and motorcycling around turns with no bending in sight.
From the start, we must insist that the horse begins to flex its top line with correct longitudinal flexion and begins to develop lateral suppleness to navigate turns and circles in balance. Naturally, when we first make these demands, the horse will be resistant because falling around out of balance is much easier and in a way, more natural. They may try to convince us in any number of ways that moving in a good longitudinal and lateral balance is simply impossible, but we must be resolute in our dedication to these objectives. Even if it brings about some disagreement with our equine partner, we must see it through because of our desire to do right by them based on our love for them. Some resistance is a natural part of a horse's training process. Extreme resistance indicates we need to rethink our strategy or check for physical problems, but some slight reaistance to our requests is normal aa what we're asking the horse to do requires more effort then they normally desire to exert.
Again, I come back to the parenting analogy that doing right by our kids may mean they are upset with us in any given situation, but we know we have stand our ground to do what's best for them because we love them.
Just like with the training on the ground, we must be firm but fair, consistent and in emotional control when coaching them through resistances. Over time, if we continually put the horse in a longitudinally flexed posture and create more lateral suppleness through logically arranged gymnastic exercises on a daily basis, the horse will develop the strength and suppleness to carry us around more and more effortlessly until we begin to amplify the gaits elevating what nature gave the horse! This cannot be done by doing only what the horse wants. We must do what the horse needs! If you are struggling to create this, I'm available for lessons and clinics both in the Austin area and virtually 😉😃
As always with our work with horses, it is a metaphor for life. I challenge you to apply this in your training with your horse, but also in your life in general! On a daily basis, we must do what we need to and not only what we want to do. It may mean not hitting the snooze when we want to sleep more, having a difficult conversation we've been avoiding or any number of things. Just like we can enrich and better the horse's life by following this mantra, we can do the same for our own lives as well!
