Cooperation and good communication with horses

To obtain cooperation and good communication with horses you need humility.

Don't give always the responsability to the horse when things don't go as you would like . Remember to always blame yourself. If something isn't working and you are the trainer or the person responsible for that horse, it's down to you. Very often we need to think why things go wrong and do one step back in the training. Very often it is important to ask professional help to educate a horse. To become a good horse person you need lots of humility and you need to be ready to accept the fact that someone, more experienced than you, could say that what you have done with your horse is wrong. I think that this is not so difficult to be accepted if it is well explained and motivated though.

We think that only a good relationship will create cooperation and good communication with a horse and these elements are essential for reaching good results and performances.

Cooperation can only be obtained if you believe in a not dominating relationship. At Il Paretaio, our training centre in Tuscany, we believe that one of the keys of success is maintaining balance in the relationship: it should be 50:50 with neither side dominating the other. I always say to my riders to imagine to be two friends. Cooperation can only be achieved through skilled communication and negotiation. We think that a very important rule is to give lots of importance to details. It is very important to solve problems with a horse when they are small rather than leaving them until they get much worse.

The importance to be polite to reach cooperation and good communication with horses.

To get a good relationship and cooperation with a horse we think that both the rider and the horse need to be polite to each other. I cannot understand how often riders are not polite with their horses and how often I have seen horse not polite with their riders or trainers. It is important to give the right emphasis to this subject and, again, it is important to be able to see what needs changing, when and how.

It is such a better feeling to get a genuine co-operation with your horse and to work together towards a common goal with positive feelings who will sure make the work progress smoothly.