March 2008 • VOLUME 31 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine

Obedience, what does it really mean?

Let‘s first of all look at what the dictionary tells us about obedience:

Obedience is the willingness to do what one is told!

Sounds quite simple, but yet is it really, when it comes to working with horses? This is a much more complex problem than most riders are aware of.

a) Do you really understand the language of your aids?
b) Are you using the same “words,” i.e. aids, that your horse has been taught?
c) Is your horse “educated” in the language of aids, so it can respond appropriately?
d) Is your horse physically able to perform the tasks you are asking?
e) Do you have the skills to explain the task at hand if your horse does not understand the aids?

Asking yourself these questions may change some of your beliefs about your horse and your riding and training.

Isn’t it the truth that most riders get on a horse and start applying certain aids and hope the horse will comply? If you are riding one of those experienced school masters, you may be lucky; they have seen it all, they have learnt to interpret differently applied aids and most of the time they get it right – so you are happy.

But the moment of truth is when -- after having taken lessons on a school horse for a number of years -- you decide to buy yourself this wonderful young, highly talented show prospect. Proudly in the saddle, you very soon realize this horse does not react the same way your school horse used to do. It canters when you want to trot, it stops when you want to ride a transition, and when you try to turn, it reins back -- there is an endless list of misunderstandings that can occur.

What happened? Did you forget everything you learned over the past years and paid so much money for, or did you buy yourself a horse that is not “obedient”?

You are now at a crossroads of your riding career, and a lot depends

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