Your Horse's First Outing

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By: Anjanette Harten EA NCAS Level II Coach

If your training at home has gone to plan so far and your horse is calm, relaxed and obedient, you may be ready to take him to a different environment to test “proof”. This means that your horse remains obedient to your aids even when challenged with being in a different atmosphere. Your horse’s first experience at a venue other than home is crucial.

The first step is to ensure that he travels well. Your horse may have travelled often in a float as a young horse, perhaps to the vets or to change paddocks, but this may be the first time that he travels to a venue where there may be lots of other horses around and where you intend to ride.

I always ensure that my horse is obedient at home to the basic groundwork skills of stop, go and park. Every time we arrive at a new destination and I unload, I immediately repeat the same groundwork skills. Very quickly they relax as they realise that the same rules apply no matter where they are.

Some horses may be quite overwhelmed by their environment at first, but they all begin to calm as you overshadow the atmosphere with your clear cues. Every horse is different and reacts differently to atmosphere. This can be because of past experiences - ex-racehorses often associate the gathering of a number of horses as race day, and will often return to the habits they formed e.g. fast legs, high head carriage and general increased tension. Other horses may simply associate the competition environment with tension and anxiety because previous experiences were stressful and confusing. This is why your horse’s first experience out at another venue will lay the foundation for a successful future.

If I am working with a young horse having his first trip away from home I may simply take him to a friends’ arena to ride a few times without the extra atmosphere of other horses. If this goes to plan and the horse remains calm and obedient, I may then choose a local Dressage Club Day to go to that does not have a lot of horses attending. I may or may not ride (this would be determined by the horse’s obedience to groundwork) if all is good, I would then ride.

I often never put myself under the pressure of competing the first time. It may be necessary to enter the event for insurance purposes, but you can scratch on the day. Sometimes putting yourself and your horse under time constraints to be ready to do a test at a certain time can lead to problems. The last thing you want to do is put yourself in the competition arena when you are both not ready. The effects of this can last a long time and gaining your horse’s confidence and obedience in the arena is essential for ongoing success.

If your horse arrives at the event and is nervous and is not calm - don’t get on and ride. You will often be setting yourself up for failure, there are riders out there that may be able to stay on the tense and nervous horse that is practicing conflict behaviour (bucking, shying, rearing and running away) but staying on isn’t the only issue (albeit an important one!). It is ideal that your horse never learns to practice this behaviour whilst being ridden or for that matter whilst being lunged. If you have to take your horse out to lots of events before he is ready to ride then I promise you this is time well worth spent.

Once you have decided that your horse is calm and obedient on the ground then you can go through the process of beginning to work him under saddle. Try to never change your warm up routine. I always start in walk testing my horses speed control (shorter, longer steps, stops and step backs) then I move to line control (direct, and indirect turns). Once I have established this in the walk I then move to trot and so on. Ideally it would be good to have a quiet place to work your horse in the warm up area but this is sometimes not possible. If your horse is unsettled don’t take the next step in your warm up. Better to consolidate each step and do what he knows, this will ensure that he remains calm and will grow in confidence with each outing, and so will you! Even if you don’t get out of walk the first time but he is calm, relaxed and obedient you have established a positive step towards his future competition career.

Obviously I have discussed in this topic taking a young horse out for its first event. A young horse that has not had bad experiences and is calm and obedient will nearly always take this in their stride. The horse that has not had good experiences and now associates competition with confusion and tension will continue to practice conflict behaviour, and can in some cases become dangerous. It is far easier to start slow and build confidence than to rush and spend years trying to gain calmness and obedience again.

I have always said to my students “Take the time it takes because in the end it will take less time!” When horses are pushed to compete when they are not ready it can have a lasting effect on their future. If they are not ready for the next step they tell us through tension and nervousness. We simply have to hear them and slow down................... they really are our best teachers.

About the author: Anjanette Harten is a full time Equestrian Coach, operating the long established and well regarded Tooloom Equestrian Centre in the Brisbane Bayside suburb of Thornlands. The Tooloom Equestrian Centre has been in operation for the last 18yrs where Anjanette coaches riders, takes horses for retraining, specialising in rehabilitating horses with problem behaviours and hosts clinics with visiting National and International trainers.

Anjanette and her current horse UQG Alladin are competing at Grand Prix with huge success placing Top 10 in their first year of competition at International CDI competitions. UQG Alladin is one of only a few Grand Prix horses currently in the Australian Top 10 solely trained and owned by one rider and bred in Australia. In 2012, Anjanette and UQG Alladin were invited to compete at the Equitana Australian Dressage Grand Final Grand Prix event, one of only 12 combinations throughout Australia invited to do so.

Anjanette is a current member of the Qld Elite Dressage Squad a position she has held on 4 different horses over a 14 yr period. She has trained 4 horses to FEI level, taking them from the very beginning of their education through to being successful FEI horses at State and National level.

Committed to coaching riders of all levels, Anjanette has regular clients and also conducts clinics throughout Qld.  She is a graduate of the Equitation Science International Diploma Course which enables her to confidently and accurately deliver information directly related to training both in hand and under saddle using scientific evidence based training. Anjanette believes in a training system which is based on the welfare of the horses and sustainable and ethical training practices. For more information call 0402 971 812 or email: aharten@outlook.com

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