K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) - Part 1

The Origins of My K.I.S.S. Horse Training Experience 

      My mother and sister live in Southern Pines and I try to make an annual or bi-annual visit with horses to take advantage of the world class riding instruction available in that small North Carolina town. The majority of the lessons that I have taken in Southern Pines have been with J. Michael Plumb, who at the time was also training my sister, Grace, and her horse, Canoe. Approximately 2 years ago I took an Anglo-Arab pony mare of mine up to Southern Pines to be tried for sale.  On one of the days before the people took her for trial, I took her to a lesson with Mike. This lesson on Starlight, who was a good pony but at the time had mostly been used as a school horse, stands out in my internal rolodex of lessons as one of the more important lessons I have taken in my horse career. The gist of the lesson was that when training a horse it is important to K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid)- my term, not Mike's. 

     In the lesson on Starlight, I was working on trying to keep her bending and moving through her body correctly on a circle. This would seem simple enough but the little mare had a knack for swinging her hips in and out of the circle, lifting her head and hardening her mouth around the bit when she felt you put tension on the reins. She had a recipe for rider frustration that she had honed to an art as a school horse. I in turn kept hands and legs working at a frenzy trying to contain the slippery beast in a frame. I don't think it was a pretty sight despite the pretty movement the horse was capable of and the occasional moments of everything working correctly. Mike immediately focused on my busy riding as a part of the problem. He said in not so many words that I was giving the horse so many different cues simultaneously that she could not decipher what it all meant. He insisted that I break down the problem into smaller parts.

     First, we addressed the horse's understanding of turning- open the inside rein and have the mare follow her nose around the circle. As she began to relax with the simplicity of the question asked, she also softened her mouth, lowered her head and neck and slowed her overall rhythm. When she was relaxed, we then could apply the inside leg and push her into the outside rein. But the first issue was to keep her following her nose through a turn. The lesson stayed on this simple subject until she seemed to understand what was being asked and then the lesson was over. 

     There are a lot of people who go to a lesson or clinic with a "Big Named" rider in hopes of working on the big movements, or the big jumps. They want that instructor to take them from where they are to the next level. One of the things I have learned from my lessons with Mike is that more than often what is preventing someone from achieving the next level in movement or jumps is the gap in the foundation. I feel a great instructor is one who can identify that gap and makes you aware of it. And if they are really good- they can explain how those gaps are preventing your progress. My lesson on Starlight was about turning, and we spent a good hour on it. But more importantly, my lesson was about a philosophy of training a horse where you do not assume that the horse can understand all of your signals and aids at once just because you know how to apply them. Instead, listen to the horse and if you are experiencing resistance, break down the problem into smaller parts and address them one at a time. Allow yourself several days to accomplish something that before you assumed the horse should get in minutes. What I find remarkable is that horses love good communication and can retain so much more when they are not bracing against the rider. Keeping the questions and answers simple allows the horse to be successful and in turn those gaps in the foundation truly disappear.

K.I.S.S. and Springstone Horses

     I have basically two groups of horses that I train at my farm. I have the young warmbloods that I have trained from the start- most of which only knew how to be led from the pasture when I got them; and I have my young thoroughbreds that started their career on the racetrack and are being re-trained for jumping and dressage. Both horses have very different training needs. The young warmbloods only know what I have taught them. Whereas the thoroughbreds are reconciling what they knew on the track versus what I am teaching them now. 

     For example, racehorses are taught to speed against the pressure from the bit. They are asked to run against the rider's hand. No wonder so many ex-racehorses are pullers, right? Also, racehorses gallop onto their forehand. If they have been on the track for any length of time, their entire way of going, including their muscular build, is oriented for this type of balance. When we retrain the racehorse for equestrian sports this previous training plays a primary role in the strategy we take.

      To keep it simple, I try to address the horse's mouth first. From the ground I try to teach these race horses a new meaning of the bit. I apply a soft pressure to the bit and release as soon as they soften to it - the art of which another of my favorite instructors, Buck Brannaman, teaches to specifics in his clinics. As the training progresses with the horse, I have to continuously evaluate which mouth I'm working with- the race horse mouth or the new mouth that I am trying to encourage. Over time, if I continue to reinforce "the good deal" as Buck calls it in his clinics; the racehorse mouth begins to disappear from the horse's way of going. However, heavy hands by myself or another rider will very quickly bring back the racehorse mouth.

      With the young warmbloods I am working with a blank canvas. If I am systematic with how I introduce the bit then they only learn to have a soft mouth. The caveat to this is that at times, as the horse learns to carry its balance it will try to lean on the bit and it is my job not to fall prey to creating that harder mouth by the exercises I address with them.

Going Forward

     Hopefully I will get around to detailing where each of my horses are currently so that I can be more specific about how all of this theory applies on a daily basis. But there is a lot of background to the methods I am using that I also think one has to have to understand where I am coming from in my training. So, stay tuned... I will be coming back to more K.I.S.S. training examples as they come up in our day to day experiences at Springstone.