Saddle Breaking

Saddle breaking and training a horse is one of the most important stages of a horse's life, if you ask me. A horse's future depends on it so it is of high importance that breaking a horse happens in a good and safe way, so that the horse will not experience lots of stress.

My way of working:

The most important aspect of saddle breaking is trust between a rider and horse, which starts right from the first moment of contact. When a horse arrives at our stable, it is important to give him some time to get adjusted and to get to know me, which happens mainly during the first couple of days during feeding and other care-taking. As soon as the horse really gets to know me I will start working and training,  with lunging as a first step. While lunging the horse will get acquainted with basic rules, such as letting himself being led, yield to pressure, recognising voice aid, and the most important of all: collaborating with humans.

 

At the point where the horse starts to understand this concept, we will start using full equipment, starting with the bridle and a lunging girth. If this won't cause any stress reactions for the horse, we will continue using a saddle. All of this together will mostly be enough for the first week. It is important to carefully look after the horse, every horse is different and all new impressions need time to be processed properly, before I move on to the next step. This will prevent excess stress reactions. 

 

Mounting a horse for the first time:

I will start hanging the saddle in the horse's stable, as this is the horse's safe environment, which will prevent the horse from escaping and running off. It is important for a horse to not just run off as soon as new situations and experiences happen, as part of his learning process. A horse needs to learn to trust on its rider, if the horse keeps running off while working, stress will always be a part of working. As soon as the horse accepts a person hanging on the saddle and trusts the process, I will mount, which also takes place in the horse's stable. I will keep repeating mounting until the horse completely trusts what is happening. If it does not cause any trouble walking around in the stable, it is time for the next step. 

 

The first steps:

I will start by riding back and forth through the hallway between the stables, to prevent the horse taking off all of a sudden. This is, again, an important step of the learning process. When a horse learns not to run every time, it will be easier in future stress situations to handle a horse. 

As soon as the horse will be able to trot across the hallway it is time to enter the arena, which will be something that usually will not case any trouble, as the horse already trusts its rider due to what has been done previously. This enables me to start riding the horse right away. The hard part about riding in an arena is the existence of the 4 corners, that is why I prefer to ride in the forest while riding a horse. It is of high importance for the horse to get used to riding big distances, to be able to understand riding and to get in balance. When the horse is balanced enough and used to riding, I start riding in the arena more often. This is the point where further training can begin, which will be easier now due to the accumulated trust between rider and horse.