hi it's Josie and today I'd like to talk to you about the easiest way to train your horse not
only is it the easiest way it actually will help you troubleshoot problems when you have problems
with your horse when things aren't going as they should be you'll be able to use it to troubleshoot
and what am I talking about I'm talking about a thing called the training scale now if you use the
training scale no matter what it doesn't matter if you're a show jumper cross-country person sure a
barrel racer does it I'm not 100 sure because I don't Barrel Race but the training scale is
how you train your horse and if you stay with me until the very end I will put some footage in of
a young horse that I'm starting under the saddle for someone at the moment and I will show you how
the training scale fits in with groundwork it fits in with everything we do with our horse it's it's
the building blocks on how we train our horse it has been very dressage orientated because that's
I think where it came from but it fits in with everything so I just let this girl do a little
warm up and I'll tell you a little bit about her because I'm hoping that she will show you how when
things are not going right and then how we use the training scale to fix it so there's six pieces
to the training scale they are building blocks remember they are they are Rhythm and relaxation
suppleness contact straightness impulsion sorry impulsion straightness collection I've got those
two mixed up all the bloody time so and they don't they don't work independently of each
other you need to use them they sort of work all together and one makes the other a little better
but if you have a problem you go back right back to the bottom and you'll work your way through it
to see where that problem is with your horse so today Rihanna has been out of work for a couple
of years she's now come back into work this is her third week under saddle and I will only be
using the bottom three parts of the training scale because that's where she's at at the
moment and most young green horses are there so that's Rhythm relaxation suppleness and contact
so what you'll see is you'll see a mare that becomes quite anxious and runs and loses her
Rhythm so rhythm is the the beat of the the gait that you're riding so a walk is a four
beat gait one two three four one two three four one two three four one two three four so
it's a four beat Rhythm the Trot is a two beat Rhythm and the Canter is a three beat rhythm
but within rhythm there is tempo and that's how fast those beats are so I could slow her walk
down so she could be one two three four one two three four one two three four one two three four
one two sorry not quite accurate but you can get get my meaning um and also with in so this Rhythm
Tempo together and relaxation and relaxation plays a major part because a horse that is anxious and
a horse that is not relaxed through its mind will not be relaxed through its body and both of those
um uh antagonists of the horse and a horse is not relaxed mentally can't learn anything it just
can't your horse has to be relaxed mentally to be able to learn and then there is um the suppleness
suppleness is just the bendability of your horse basically how easy it is for the horse to bend
both laterally that's laterally and longitudinally which is up and down and contact is actually the
contact with the hand with the bit so this mare came to me with a contact problem so you will
see a lot of unattractive looking I'm not going to hide a lot of unattractive head messing like
this and what will be happening is I will just be following her with my hands I will be imagining
that my reins are two pieces of cotton and if I pull if I pull they will break she can take
the contact because you've heard it before haven't you the horse Takes the contact she can take it be
okay I'm not allowed to take it and I'm telling you this because you'll see her come back sure
and you'll see my hands come backwards a little bit but I'm not pulling on her mouth I will be
following her mouth wherever it goes if it comes back here there I actually short I've got the
lightest feel on her mouth and that's all I will have if she takes the contact that's different
and I think that is one of the parts where most people were not most pardon me a lot of people
go wrong is they pick up I mean I remember being taught at Pony Club pick up pick up your reins and
take up the contact well you don't the horse takes it I've got a light subtle touch on her mouth here
and and if she comes back I'll see if I can there I'm just I'm keeping that
um contact the same I'm keeping that feeling the light feeling the same all right I'm going to take
her and work her and give her a proper warm up in walk and then I'll come back you don't have
to watch that I'll come back I'll show you her in Trot because that's where she runs and loses
her balance and loses her Rhythm and Tempo and suppleness and you'll see it all working together
okay so she's had a good walk warm-up walk I'm now going to Trot her off what you're probably going
to see if she's going to maybe run at too fast a Tempo so she still have a two beat trot although
sometimes she'll lose that but the tempo maybe way too fast she'll be running forward and losing her
balance and therefore she cannot be relaxed in her body can she because if you're losing your
balance you're not nice and relaxed in your body you will probably see her bring her head back
and you'll see me trying to follow her with my hands we'll see how we go here all right let's go
so you can see heads back here and she's a little bit uh choppy actually she's not really
got the nicest Rhythm so I'm going to put her on a circle to help circles will help with suppleness
sorry sweetie there we go I'm just following her mouth with my hand I have a light contact
a light like I've got a um cotton reins try that's better there's the tempo is coming
better and not only that but she actually went into the contact yep she's back off of her I'm
not gonna I'm gonna show you all of this this is not unusual for some horses especially anxious
ones so I'm putting it on the circle they're good just to help her and with the suppleness that she
gives me on the circle comes and she's heads up again so we're just going to and it's not the fact
that just a heads up guy feel her body it's stiff good and a her trot her trot becomes choppy and
she changes tempo good girl we good girl so I'm using the first two parts of the training scale
I'm using Rhythm and suppleness I don't have my rhythm or my Tempo I want she's going too fast and
loses her balance and when she does that I help that Tempo slow a bit by both by doing a circle
good and I also use my body I'm setting the Trot Rhythm I want here I want one two one
two one two one two you can see that she's getting faster there so then I turn her on another Circle
oh good girl you can see there it's coming the rhythm is the tempo slowed
the rhythm is definitely a one two whoops too fast you can see and then
she loses her balance good very good that's better that's better so I know with this mare
that when she gets to go straight she becomes rushed that's better now I got a nice feel
and she's seeking the bit can you see that I haven't done anything I've lost a bit of contact
there so I'm just going to put it back on the circle around my inside leg good girl good girl
there good girl that's it good that's nice so when she becomes when her Rhythm and Tempo
become the correct Rhythm and tempo for her she can relax she becomes a bit more supple
and then I get a nice contact she gives it to me I don't take it any other time when a head comes up
which you'll see there I'm just following her so I've now got a light for you now she's taking the
contact she's taking it it's actually nice but she's taking it spooking at your shadow misses
she's taking it now I'm just following because she's come up high it's very light like a cotton
thread now she's taking a contact now it's just a cotton thread I'm not pulling I promise I'm
just holding the bit gently good girl good girl and now I'm just here that's the girl
good now we'll go straight again and she'll come maybe up a little maybe not yes see I've lost it
here so I put it back on the circle uh yeah and then she takes the contact she takes it
there it is she's taking it you can tell that because I can put my hands forward it's a bit
spooky with things this girl but that's okay it's just the way she is see she's taking it not me
and when her head's back in my lap I have the very lightest feel on her
mouth it actually takes a lot of balance to do this dang hard work
so you just need to watch this mare gets faster and faster and choppier and choppier and then
when she finds her balance when I I'll get her a little Supple when she when the circle
which helps her slow finds her suppleness then her tempo and even her trot looks much better
girl I'm just touching her mouth here I'm just following him now
she's taking the contact now she's taking it not me she's taking I'm
just holding like touching her mouth so lightly you would not believe it oops
spook at a blade grass wouldn't you sweetheart
that's better so she's taking the contact not me how do you know if I put my hands forward she
goes deeper Better not go near that blade of grass again Rihanna it might get you good girl good girl
so the tempo now is her Tempo how do you know because she's reasonably Supple in it
the rhythm is one two one two one and she's not falling on her face so she's Supple whoops I
lost it then I lost it see and now I'm just touching her mouth here good girl good girl
so she is so we'll go back to that she's got a good rhythm a good tempo reasonably Supple until
she gets to the Shadows here on this side okay reasonably Supple and I have a lovely contact
so when your horse is rushing you need to find the Rhythm that's specific for
your horse and all horses have a rhythm that they find their balance in you need to then
if you've got good Rhythm and good Tempo let me repeat that sorry they have a good Tempo
that they find their balance in they shouldn't be running and the way to find that I found is
to slow the horse right down or speed the horse up because some horses can go too slow and not
have the correct Tempo they can be too slow and lazy and they don't get forward enough to take
the contact so when you've got a nice Tempo then you work on suppleness or in this smear's case
the suppleness helped her with her Tempo but it was really because I was doing a circle
to slow her down rather than pulling back all the time it's doing a circle to slow her down
which would then help her with her Tempo she would become Supple she would take the contact
over and now she can come out so we want don't want too fast a Tempo we want a good Rhythm we
want it to be nice and supple and we want when it comes to contact like I don't really I want
this I want her to be connected to my hand and she is connected to the Rope these slow she can
feel that trust me so that's lovely again pretty happy with that but if you have a problem with a
horse you're trying to work your way through an issue you need to go all the way back and work
your way up and work out which bit is missing so in the beginning here this mare was not
um in a good she had a rhythm but her Tempo was way too fast so I couldn't get any suppleness in
her body and she wasn't following my hand which is what I would call that groundwork connection
um so we that they all sort of work a little bit so I worked on the Rhythm and then I got the tempo
okay once the tempo was okay and I asked her to bend a little bit and get some suppleness then I
got the connection so it all works uh works everywhere it's just a fabulous thing to to
think of and to remember so I hope that gave you some understanding of how the training scale can
help you train your horse and troubleshoot and you can see that it's in groundwork it's actually even
if you're taking your horse from the stable to The Paddock and they shoot past you what can you
think about that you've lost your You've Lost Your Rhythm You've Lost Your suppleness as the
horse runs past with his head up and you've lost your contact I'd love to know if you've heard of
the training scale if you know anything about it please let me know in the comments and also
give me a thumbs up if you like this video hit the Subscribe button if you haven't so you don't
miss a video don't forget to come back and watch this mare's progression and thanks for watching
[Music] [Laughter] thank you