I've seen an epidemic of information on horses and training recommendations and coaching courses crop up like a bad case of measles in recent years. A complete heap of “fresh” training methods have been thrown about and I am really not sure just how effective these techniques were. I never fussed with any of them, because I was rather irritated at a typical feature each one of them had, “they sacrificed finesse”.

Good pony training or actually riding, involves a lot more than just rote words and deeds. By the general standards of most of the training methodologies in vogue nowadays , the job is well done when a pony takes the halter and follows. The task has just begun, and is far from an end. It needs some finesse now, of the kind exhibited by Spanish horse riding customs.

One starting place is when you lead your pony. Your objective for this bit of the training should always be to make your horse follow every single move, nose to your elbow and full slack on the lead rope, wherever you are with him.

Clearly, horse coaching is far more than just getting the pony from point A to pint B.

So far as I can see, the largest obstacle to effective and complete training of horse in today’s world it is a question of time which the majority just don’t have enough of. You can’t train a horse in one or two afternoons over a couple of weeks. It takes some considerable time and a large amount of persistence.

As a coach, you have to be completely concentrated on your horse and your interactions with him. You can’t let training sessions be disrupted by any diversions. When you are focused completely on your pony, the pony will reciprocate. He will give you his complete attention and respond to each move made by you, however slight. Only this level of concentration in both trainer and pony and the perfect coordination it achieves will let you achieve finesse when leading.

When you have achieved that kind of coordination, you can proceed to put the icing on. You can try to get your pony to respond with no lead rope at all. When you achieve that, you have reached the summit.

Now all of what you have read above might lead you to ask just why you would wish to do it all. Why should you take all this hassel?

First, there’s no trouble that is not worth taking if you can achieve a powerful bond and perfect coordination with your pony. When you’re into the exercise, you will find that working at finesse isn’t at all like work, it is a ton of fun.

2nd, and this has more significance, when you have established this type of bond with your horse, it will serve you for good in all the other training. You will find that anything you do with your horse thereafter is a piece of cake.

The best way to finesse is to lead the pony. You don’t need anything more than a lead rope, with a halter. You shouldn’t be giving vocal cues, if you are saying things such as “back” you are not quite there.

Let me wrap up with an illustration. I like going to Ireland’s Dublin Horse Show. I never cease to be surprised by the way that the handlers lead huge horses, a hunter jumper on either side, thru legions of people. I am always left with the distinct feeling that the horses are absolutely blind to the folks around, they are so focused on what they are doing with their handler.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like things about barrel saddles for sale