The Gap Between Language and Understanding

I spend quite a bit of time observing other equine educators, be it by watching video tutorials, reading articles, watching clinics, tests from horse shows or “winning rounds.”  Basically I’m obsessed and a huge geek.  I’m also jaded and have no time or patience for things that lack congruence.  

Many years ago I went to audit a lesson where my eventing instructor at the time was riding with his mentor.  This clinician was (and still is) a HUGE name.  He writes flowery language about harmony and balance. I mean, it’s the stuff we love to hear about how the process should go.  I expected to enjoy the lesson, but part way in he instructed the rider to “Grind your seat bones into your horse’s back and he will round his back up into you.”  Say WHAT now?!  That one sentence was it for me.  If you don’t understand fundamental biomechanics of the animal you’re training (or the concept of reflex responses in muscles suffering an assault) then I don’t want anything to do with you.

How can it be that a person with this sort of ability to use the language of good training in written work completely misses the basic concepts when it comes to execution?  Honestly it’s a pet peeve of mine, mostly because it is tremendously confusing to folks who are trying to learn.  If the words and the execution don’t match, the student can’t actually learn what good work is.

I see so much of this in dressage, where words like biomechanics, self-carriage, lightness and balance get tossed around while the rider’s bulging biceps and red face tell the truth about what’s actually happening.  Or, the conversation may include concepts like throughness, engagement, and impulsion, when the horse is behind the bit and dropped in its ribcage with hind legs trailing.  How are students of horse sports supposed to understand what is correct when a huge percentage of the teaching population doesn’t know what it is either?

It’s time to do a better job teaching teachers, so we can elevate the quality of work in our industry, and better support the horses who show up every day doing their best to meet our expectations. Remember, they don’t really care if they “progress” or not, so it’s up to us to learn everything we can about them and work to make this process healthy for them.