I have mentioned in a previous blog that this time of year focusing on quality over quantity is helpful. I might add to this that quality is always a main component of riding. Quantity can, a lot of times, take precedence over the former. I have been guilty of wanting to pack so much into my mounted work sometimes that I never really get a maneuver solid before I move on to something else. As a result, when I would get back to checking up on my work the next ride, I would find that nothing had improved. It's times like these that have left me wondering "what gives?"

The past couple of years I have been doing less and less during my rides. I am not saying that I ride less. Just that I have decreased the amount of things that I work on. I never know when I begin my ride what I am going to focus on for that day. I do know that I really enjoy riding, and that fact alone is why I get up in the saddle on any given day. From there I find stuff that could use some improvement. Maybe my horse is pokey that day. I would begin working at bringing the life up in my horse. I might spend a little time at improving a ground covering walk. Then, when I feel satisfied that the walk has improved, I just ride out for a while on a loose rein.

I like to improve upon things as they come up. There is no need to feel like things need to be perfected, only improved upon. As areas of your horsemanship smooth out the perfection will begin to show up. Every ride then, becomes a journey towards advancement. This is my definition of equine quality. I am going to coin a new term here, E-quality. (Oh yeah!) With E-quality consistency is key. I have mentioned consistency in the past to students in relation to riding. Mostly the focus is put on the amount of riding that adds up to a consistent practice. I want to change the thinking here and say that consistency is in regards to all areas of horsemanship. From how you catch your horse to the way you go about picking up a lead. Including everything in between. When consistency is brought into all areas of being around a horse the quantity piece begins to fade from importance.

Horses are fast learners and amazing studies. They catch on to things very quickly. Once they figure something out, and then see it repeated, they will respond as necessary for their benefit. Horses like to take the path of least resistance. So they really pay attention to things that lessen their effort to get from point A to point B. Consistency here is huge. If there is a slight difference in how you ask for something to be done a horse can become confused. The result of this being, that we may think the horse did not remember a specified signal. When in fact, it is that they did not understand one signal from the next. It was the inconsistency of the cue that misled them.

I have found it beneficial to really pay attention to the way that I act around and cue my horses. Times that I find myself frustrated that maybe some things are not going the way that I would like them. I look to the way that I have been going about asking. Are my cues consistent with what I have done in the past to get results? Or am I skipping ahead? Maybe we weren't ready for the maneuver that I was trying. I often find myself taking it down a notch. From there, the horse and I begin to sync up again. After we have reached E-quality I know that we are done with school for the day. The time then comes to look up, relax and enjoy the rest of the ride.

I encourage riders to find inconsistencies in their ways. Notice the results of subtle changes.

Eric

Easton Horsemanship