scats
Well-Known Member
I think the whole language of horse training needs to change. My head is full of a load of phrases drummed into me as a child which I now really dislike:
'Stop tickling him, BOOT him'.
'That's naughty give him a smack'
'Never let him win'.
'Pull his teeth out'
'Give him a bloody good hiding'
'Give him a good old pony club kick'.
Even breaking in is something I stopped using years ago in favour of starting or backing.
I am sure those instuctors were addressing passive, ineffective riders and by 'BOOT HIM' they actually meant: do somethign vaguely effective with your currently wet-noodle-like leg. BUT what did the riders take away from that?
Just recently in the Lucinda Green Foundations of XC training she repeatedly said the sequence was: "Half-halt. Whoah then: "legs on the dashboard and teeth all over the field." Suggesting leaning back, driving from the leg with full strength on the horses mouth. I'm sure she was using hyperbole to make a point, but does some ambitious rider then go away and think no force is too much force in pursuit of what you want?
I have definietely heard 'he needs to be more scared of you than the jump', and 'leather him' from an RI who I KNOW would be appalled if a horse ever was leathered or scared in one of her lessons. It's just a turn of phrase. But I think language shapes thinking and those phrases just need to be consigned to history really.
When I was teaching, I never used the words ‘kick’, ‘boot him’ etc but I was very much in the minority.
Thinking back, that’s how my instructors spoke in the 80s and early 90s. We were regularly told to ‘kick’ and ‘smack’. It just became so normal to hear.
I’ve not done any riding school teaching for a fair few years now, but I do hope things have changed.