Take the Time it Takes

Recently, I was scrolling through FB and stumbled upon a post that instantly irritated me. It claimed if a trainer isn't riding your baby horse and getting them outside of the arena within the first 30 days, they're a terrible trainer and wasting your money. Good trainers don't waste a bunch of time on the ground, it said, they just get on and ride. So now that I've had time to put my thoughts together, let's unpack this idea of the "30 day miracle" when it comes to horse training...

We live in a culture that is obessed with instant gratification. In marketing they say you have about 1-3 seconds to grab someone's attention with your ad beofre they scroll by. Studies say the average human attention span is progressively shrinking thanks to short-form videos, rapid content consumption, and constant notifications. We want things fast. We want things NOW. So it's no wonder that mindset plays into our expectations with our horses. But is that fair to the horse?

There's a saying, "slow is smooth, and smooth is fast." If you want your horse to have a successful riding career, if you want them to be a good citizen that you and others can enjoy, it takes time to develop them. It's just like a kid going to school. Would you expect your child to jump from 1st grade to college in a couple of months time? Of course not! They need time to learn. Time to grow. Time to mature. So why do we think it's different with a young horse?

One of my mentors, a tough old cowboy by the name of Cordell, always used to tell me, "Abby, take the time it takes." It's a phrase I believe he picked up from Tom Dorrance. Cordell started a lot of colts in his day and he'd never take a horse for anything less than 90 days. In his opinion, it was a waste of his time and the owner's money to not invest the proper amount of time and effort into a horse to give them a solid start. Most trainers I've worked with have had a similar policy, requiring somewhere between a 2 and 6 month commitment in order to start a young horse.

When I start colts I always require a minimum of 60 days (2 months) commitment from the owner, because I believe its important to give the horse time to really learn what I am teaching them. Now, some horses move more quickly than others in the training process. I had a little Morgan I started several years back that I was on in the first week because of how thorough his owner had been with his ground training. There was very little left for me to do on the ground and he was relaxed, so I hopped right on. But, that is the exception, not the norm. I've had some baby horses come in that are barely halter broke, which means they have a lot of education needed on the ground before I am ever swinging my leg over their back. Other horses may be more emotional about the idea of being saddled and ridden and need an extended period of sacking out. I am usually on a horse bareback around week 3 of training and we generally take our first saddled ride in a round pen or arena by week 4 or 5. But I've had some difficult horses that I didn't get on until week 8 or 9. I don't ever take young horses on ridden trail rides in the first 60 days, though I will often take them for walks on the ground or pony them out, so they can get a feel for what that will be like.

I've had some people make the choice that they won't work with me because of this policy. I can't tell you the number of times I've had someone tell me, oh this horse is great, they don't need very much training, I just need you to be the first one to swing a leg over them. What people forget is that their trainer's life is quite literally on the line. It's all well and good to want your horse started quickly, but the fact of the matter is, if you push things too fast you increase the risk of the horse reacting badly and consequently injuring the trainer. Getting out of the arena and onto the trail is a whole other degree of risk. Do you really want your horse to be the one to put your trainer in the hospital? To potentially put them out of a job?

Impatience with horses can get you killed. And pushing a horse too hard too fast can create a lifetime of problems for the horse. So many horses get labeled as "problem horses" because they weren't handled correctly by humans. So many horses are getting steroid injections at 2 and 3 years old because they're being worked too hard, pushed to compete in things like futurities at a young age. I love showing as much as the next person, but the horse's health and overall development should always come first. Far too many horses have become casualties of their owner's personal goals.

Are there good things that can be accomplished with a horse in 30 days of training? Absolutelty! Are you going to create a broke horse anyone can ride after just 30 days? Nope. I'm sorry if this bursts anyone's bubble, but there is just no such thing as a 30 day miracle. We have to move at the speed of safety. Physical safety for the horse and rider alike, but also the mental and emotional safety (wellbeing) of the horse. So take the time it takes. As J.R.R. Tolkien once said, "Short cuts make long delays."