Training

Breaking young horses: 

Breaking young horses is usually more difficult than what most people think, as it is very important to break the horse in a consequent yet friendly way. It's a crucial point as it is the very first beginning of a life full or riding for the horse. Every horse is different and asks for a a different approach. I am trying to look into the horse's character and needs. 

 

The most common problems will be the mistakes that slowly appear right after returning the horse to its owner, little mistakes that do not seem to be serious but will cause problems eventually, such as resistance against leg and hand aids. Every rider owning a young horse will go through this fase, and in many cases it will be hard to work your horse through (on mutual trust), which cases lots of stress. When not handled correctly, things will go from bad to worse and that is why it is good to seek for help, to prevent any further problems.

The hard part about breaking a horse is to get the young horse acquainted with the arena and everything else outside in a playful manner. That is why I think that using bars, little jumps and riding in the forest is essential for the wellbeing of a young working horse. In the end we all desire to be the owner of a "happy athlete".

 

Training "difficult" horses:

Have you reached the point where your horse can not be ridden in a safe way anymore or he won't react to any leg or hand aids? I suggest you to seek for help. My goal is to get the horse back to like riding in a happy way. During this stage it is very important for the rider to be consequent with aids. Good will be good, wrong is wrong. The hard part is to not stick with the mistakes, after correcting your horse it is essential to let go of the negativity and continue the training. That's how a horse will get to understand what's allowed and what's not because now there is a clear distinction between good or wrong. A horse is less likely to do something wrong if he knows the consequences will make him feel uncomfortable. The horse now prefers to collaborate to make sure nothing will get out of hand.

 

Instruction: 

While teaching I realised it is very important to reflect my way of training on to the rider/owner. I do not use a fixed way of training, as each rider and horse have different points to work on. What I do find important however, is that a rider and its horse work from a dressage-based base. From here it is easier to go any way you would like and the chance of creating a gold combination will increase significantly.