In Focus: What You Need To Achieve Your Riding Goals

Goals. Do you have them? In my opinion in a life with horses, we all need to have a clear cut goal during the training process. This doesn’t mean you have to spend hours thinking about what discipline your horse will excel at, nor does it mean you must have any aspirations beyond just becoming proficient at living with horses. Horse ownership is about creating a partnership with your horses. That partnership could be as complex as wanting to win a World Championship in the show ring, or as simple as being able to confidently enjoy your horses as companions.

In this installment, we are discussing goals for riding your horse, so we’ll concentrate on that idea. When my day begins, I always have a game plan, so to speak, regarding what I am going to be doing with each horse on that day. It could be getting the horse used to standing to be mounted…it could be to have nice, calm and forward trot circles…it could be teaching the horse to navigate trail obstacles…whatever our goal for the day, that’s what we focus on after warming up. I’ve discussed this subject before, but it never hurts to revisit.

Warm-up time is essential, no matter what you’re doing with your horse. That’s a point I can’t stress enough, a lack of warm-up time can create many unintended issues because the horse may not be either physically or mentally ready to begin work. Just as a marathon runner needs to warm up his muscles before undertaking a marathon, so should a horse be allowed to warm up those huge muscles in order to comfortably carry us riders and be able to concentrate on the job at hand.

Let’s get started. My first order of business (after catching the horse, of course – if that’s something you are needing assistance with, a difficult to catch horse, we’ll visit that subject another time!) will be the daily grooming process. If you have followed this blog for any amount of time, you might be familiar with my DGP. If not, you can search the blog for ‘daily grooming process’ to read up on my routine for preparing each horse ahead of the day’s work. I use the DGP to not only make sure my horses are clean and presentable, but also to get my hands on each horse before tacking up. Many times you can catch small issues before they become a major problem.

When I finish grooming and tacking the horse, it’s time to begin that warm-up. My preference is to free longe in a large round pen, though you can just as easily (and harmlessly) longe them on a line, jog them out while ponied by another horse, or let them loosen up while mounted. There really is no right or wrong way – whatever works for you, and most importantly, for your horse. Warm-ups should be for as long as necessary to feel the horse’s body become ready to perform at the level required by the rider.

At this point, I want to stress having the ability to differentiate between a sound horse and an unsound horse. While there are some obvious signs of lameness, “head bobbing” during the trot being one of the most commonly noticed by laymen or those new to horses; a shortness of stride, dropping of shoulder or hip, and any of a number of other telltale actions by a horse that’s in some kind of discomfort should be noted. If you have a hard time spotting these things, spend some time observing horses and talking with either your veterinarian or a skilled and knowledgeable trainer, or both.

Now it’s time to mount up, or if you’re already on the horse, get the real work started. What is your defined goal for the day? This is when most problems arise, and the reason for this article in the first place: Having that game plan outlined long before you swing a leg over your horse. If your homework was done, you know exactly you need to proceed. So, get out there and enjoy this time building a better relationship with your horse, all while strengthening the horse’s foundation.

~SFTS