My mom used to call it the “MICOR” method….Stands for “Make IT Come Out Right”. I have spent a lot of my professional riding life working on this, and I am acutely aware that what I do has a huge bearing on the success of my student’s ride. My friend Pam, who taught me to ride, used to tell me that when I rode out with someone that I was riding two horses…not one:  I was responsible for my mount, but also was responsible for my riding companion, to make sure that I set things up to work, and for everyone to be safe and sane.

Years ago, I was hired by a lovely woman to go out for trail rides with her. At first, I didn’t understand why she wanted to pay me to go for a ride in the country with her, when surely she could have asked a friend to go for free. After the first ride, I understood completely why none of her friends would ride with her. Mrs. X was the master of holding a branch back and letting it go so it would smash me in the face, she would get to the bottom of a rocky hillside and canter off without warning, leaving me ½ way down the slope in bad footing. She would gallop and stop abruptly, and was totally clueless when the horses were getting tired or stressed. Her horse would come home fairly happy, but my mount would be trashed physically and mentally.

Now, I’ll be the first person to say, “Train your horse!” If you can’t control your mount in any situation that is presented to him, don’t just blame your partner, or the driver of the car that is going too fast, or the kid on the bicycle. That means that it is time to do some groundwork, some de-spooking, some work on standing and relaxing in the midst of chaos. But, on the other hand, you can also make a huge difference in the development of a young trail horse by how you behave. Some of this just boils down to courtesy and manners.

My most difficult training horses were the ones who I supposed wouldn’t have any trouble with because they had been ridden on the trail by children. Translate this into “They had learned that they could go (or not go) where ever they wanted, never had to stand quietly and wait, and probably could gallop back to the barn”. When you go out for those early trail rides….think carefully about what you need to accomplish and plan to make it happen.

One of the greatest blessings that I have on our farm is that we are located in the middle of a mountain. I could leave my driveway on a nervous colt, and go uphill. That definitely hedged the bet in my favor, and by the top of the mountain, I generally had a horse who was walking with his head down and had engaged his hindquarters for the climb. After riding up and down a few more hills, I’d ride a big loop and the return to the barn was also a fairly steep climb. It is much less fun to jig up a hill than it is down, and my horses tended to return to the barn walking quietly.

A good buddy horse can be a great way to start out. A youngster or more timid horse can follow a horse that knows the ropes a bit. As the ride progresses, give the baby the opportunity to go up front for a while. If his confidence wanes, let him tuck in behind the other horse to regain his courage. With this bit of advice, I’ll offer one caveat…be careful that you don’t just train your horse to follow….I bought a lovely mare one time who appeared to be very well schooled. The seller took me down the trail, across fields and roads and over fences. The mare was flawless, and continued to be so as long as there was a horse in front of her. When her baby sitter was gone, so was her brain, and she went from a quiet packer to a horse that was very unsteady. It is important to know when it is time to break that bond, and a great way to start that is by starting out a ride with company, and peeling off from the other horse and heading home by yourself. Horses tend to be much braver on the way back to the barn!

Remember your foundation work. I watched a man try to open a gate from his horse. They spun and churned the ground, the horse went sideways and backwards and rolled his eyes. The part that was missing was the horse was unable to stand still anywhere in the arena, never mind stand still at the gate. Think carefully about breaking a task down into its individual parts so it is easy to find the missing link. I go back to that mantra of “Forward, Supple, and Relaxed” and I will promise you that ANY performance problem that you encounter from the horse that rears when you try to leave the barnyard to the dressage horse who gets uneven in his pirouette will have its roots in at least one of those three things. When you encounter a problem, take a moment to trouble shoot and analyze what is going wrong.

In closing, one of my trainers said that a horse trainer has to be a good salesman. Basically, your job as the rider is to get your horse in the habit of saying “Yes! I can do that.” Start with simple requests that you know your horse can do, and slowly build on these skills to more complex tasks. Just coming home from a ride alive is not good enough! This is meant to be fun, relaxing and safe for all the participants, including your horse.

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