Just like people, horses’ attitudes and abilities vary from one individual to the other. Some horses are more naturally talented at a certain task than others. Sometimes the hardest thing for people to realize is that not every horse suits every course. For example, I used to breed reining and cow horses, but not every horse I bred wanted to be a reiner or cow horse. Some of them wanted to be barrel racers and others wanted to do team penning and still others wanted to be trail mounts. Just because a horse is bred to do a certain job doesn’t mean that individual wants to do that job. Your task is to find a course that fits the horse.
Horses are a million times happier in their partnership with you and performing their jobs if they like what they’re doing. A horse that loves the challenge of working cattle on a ranch probably wouldn’t be well-suited at performing a dressage test. A horse that dreams of jumping fences isn’t going to be happy doing a reining pattern. People are the same way. If you like crunching numbers and analyzing problems, you probably wouldn’t be happy teaching an art class.
Don’t set your horse up to fail by forcing him to do a discipline he has no desire to do. It’ll make him cranky and will be no fun for you. If your horse doesn’t like the discipline you’re training him in either switch to a discipline he’s naturally suited for or move on to another horse who does share your same interests.
Have a horsemanship question or looking for more training tips? Check out the No Worries Club.
