Great Teachers

One of my goals on the horsemanship journey was to find a great riding coach that could help improve my technical riding ability. Last summer one of my former students/now friend, invited me to watch her lesson with Ruth Ratcliffe, at Moose Hill Ranch in Bragg Creek.

My friend Dar bought Echo as a 2 year old - Echo is a big, beautiful black mare who, as a youngster, was quite strong willed. There were times when Dar doubted that she was the right person for Echo. Seeing their harmonious riding partnership was truly magical and Dar attributed much of her success with Echo to her riding coach Ruth.

Just last week I started taking lessons with Ruth and have already acquired a better understanding of western riding after only two lessons. I've been fortunate to have many wonderful horse and human teachers along my journey and Ruth will be right up there for me. Ruth Ratcliffe is a truly gifted coach; compassionate, funny, knowledgeable and very accomplished. It came as no surprise to learn that Ruth has also been awarded Coach of Year.

I've never been delusional about my riding ability - while adequate I'm not a great rider. However, now that I am doing more rehabilitation work with horses that I want to re-home, I want to be able to bring them to another level under saddle. Not to mention I would like to bring my own personal horses, Dexter and Nevar to another level.

Leopold has also been a great teacher for me. Riding Leopold has been rewarding but his fidgety, nervous behavior in the barn was frustratingly irritating. I tried hard to stick to more traditional training methods with Leopold knowing it would likely be more in line with his future when he finds his perfect person. However, after one extremely annoying evening in the barn with him, I heard Linda Tellington-Jones in my head saying he doesn't know how to be any other way - so show him another way to be. Even trying to do TTouch on Leopold was irritating because the bugger simply wouldn't stand still so the other day I reverted to clicker training. The change in our interaction was profound. Instead of dreading another barn session with Leopold, I now happily anticipate playing with him and thinking of new things to teach him. When I read articles or hear folks saying that clicker training is a bad thing, I can only think they don't understand the power of operant conditioning and they haven't seen it done well, if at all. Just like any training method or tool, used badly, it can get ugly. Leopold is now standing quietly in the barn with his head relaxed and giving me each foot nicely without falling out of position. This may not seem like a big deal to some folks, but I do my own trimming and when a horse doesn't stand still and balanced, it makes the job so much harder.

Leopold's bravery is beginning to emerge now that he is relaxed and thinking rather than being fidgety and reactive. Anyone who has handled many horses knows that training a relaxed, curious horse is much more effective than training a tense, worried horse; as well as being much safer for the rider/handler.

Ruth is teaching me to be a more effective rider and Leopold is teaching me to trust what I know to help him be a calm, happy horse.

Tovie and Leopold

Is there a Difference Between a Horseperson and a Rider?

A horseperson has time, knowledge, and skill; or the desire to learn, to help a horse through an issue or prevent undesirable behavior before it becomes habitual.

A rider is somebody with a very busy life that simply wants to ride once a week on a safe, uncomplicated horse.

Determining which of the above realistically applies to you is important to know before buying a horse. Horses that do everything we want in any weather or circumstance; and can handle our mistakes are rare - if they exist at all. They are typically the older experienced horse that has been there done that; or they can be a younger horse that someone has put hours and hours of time into.

My experience with folks buying horses is they don't want to buy an older horse because of the potential for health issues, such as worn out joints and teeth, that can accompany them; and they don't want to pay the amount of money required for a really well trained younger horse that someone has put hours and hours of time and experience on. Although, even a young horse that has received hours of good training and consistent use can easily develop behavioural issues when mistakes are made by an inexperienced horse owner or they are neglected due to busy lives.

It is my belief that once we become horse owners, it is incumbent on us to become the best horseperson possible, for the horse's sake.

I went to see Fonzi and his new owner last Sunday after learning that things had gone from bad to worse over the past couple of weeks, due to an ill fitting saddle. Fonzi tried to tell her by not standing still for saddling and mounting; and when he wasn't heard, things escalated into him bucking her and the property owner off. When I saddled him with a saddle I knew was comfortable for him, he didn't disappoint and I was happy to discover that he hadn't learned to buck from this small incident.

However his new owner doesn't feel she can overcome her jitters; and then seeing how well Fonzi did for me, she is now convinced she isn't the right person for Fonzi after all. Fixing horses that are mistrustful of people is a far easier task than fixing people that mistrust their horse.

Since my mission in life is to help folks get started well with horses, taking Fonzi back was never a question. If I don't take him back, what would become of him. How can his new owner sell him if she isn't comfortable demonstrating him and he is way too good of a horse to become a pasture ornament.

Tovie & Fonzi