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That means staying at a lesson as long as necessary for horse and rider to make their responses unconscious actions.
Few grasp that I am not even slightly exaggerating when I say it will take 2,000 repetitions for the horse to start to understand a single request that the rider is making.
Then one night I stopped the channel surfing on "Biggest Loser" and Bob, one of the trainers, said something that blew me away.
He said that if they get 50% of their participants, that's right, only 50% to follow through with the program after the show ends, Bob and Julian are thrilled.
They are happy with a less than 50% success rate.
And theirs is a matter of personal health and sometimes life or death situations.
He went on to state the obvious, that people get bored.
It is hard to stay fit.
If people who embark on a journey to better their own health, fully aware of the impact it has on their life, have less than a 50% success rate on average, I began to realize the odds are stacked against me when asking clients to follow through on their horse training.
We are talking about an issue that is staring a person in the face, literally, every time they look in the mirror.
It goes with them everywhere and there is no dodging the issue.
Now consider the horse owner that many times doesn't see their horse every day and if they do, can get away from the issue by walking away.
Not looking too good for success on follow through.
Yet, not unlike personal weight loss, horse ownership and horseback riding has the full potential to harm and even kill a person.
On the surface it appears as a pleasure and privilege, but down deep these animals hold that same life altering potential if not trained and handled correctly.
This too becomes a hard point to enforce as people tend to think of and treat their horses as they would a dog or cat.
But that is for another day.
Follow through is the key to the success of all training programs.
Doing the boring repetitions and being 100% consistent 100% of the time is crucial.
As one person aptly put it, we cannot lie to our horses and expect to gain their full potential performance.
It's hard work to stay focused even when you get bored.
It helps to remember your horse is trying to learn what you already know.
Focus on teaching him the new language and don't give up on him.
When you quit before he knows it then you will begin correcting him for things he hasn't learned and the corrections won't be understood.
The horse will begin to resent you and you the horse.
Some helpful hints to get through the boredom.
1) Count the repetitions.
This will keep you focused on getting every response and will give you and solid understanding on how long it takes your horse to learn.
2) Listen to music.
When you decide to work a lesson for 15-20 minutes, you will be surprised how soon you are ready to quit.
What seems like an hour may only be 10 minutes.
Albert Einstein said, When courting a lady and hour feels like a minute and when you are sitting on a hot cinder a minute feels like an hour.
3) Praise your horse when he responds correctly.
Not only will he enjoy the encouragement you will see he starts learning faster and trying harder.
4) don't feel like you have to spend hour long blocks of time on a lesson, break it down.
AS long as the time you spend with your horse is spent asking for at least one thing to improve, it will be far more productive then fighting with your horse for hours trying to make everything perfect.
Most importantly, remember that teaching you and yourself is hard work.
You will find, however, when you follow through all the boring and monotonous times the rewards for your follow through are exponential.
You develop a rewarding relationship when it's based on a solid foundation of training.
You will install a true and working communication line with your horse that will allow you both to grow and develop in your training.
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