After a year with Yazan, I am reflecting on the time we have spent together, recalling all the things we have worked on and improved. It has been a year full of ups and downs, with some interruptions in training due to various causes such as temporary lameness and saddle fitting issues. Today, after one year, I am trying to find a way to quantify what we have achieved together, but as we are not involved in any competitions, there are no measurable accomplishments for us to reference.
Over the past year, I have tried to focus on various aspects of our training. I tend to get easily bored with routines and am a very hyperactive person. Looking back, I can see how this has influenced our training sessions. We have done a wide range of activities, including object and noise desensitization, lunging and groundwork, western arena patterns, basic maneuvers, and desert hacks. While both Yazan and I have benefited from this variety, I must admit that we have not become proficient in any of these areas.
It is worth noting that I tend to be one of those people who will try a challenge briefly and then move on to something else. At the beginning, I thought it would be straightforward to learn how to run the barrel pattern, which was my top priority in October 2022. However, I quickly realized that my horse was not even ready to trot in a close circle, and I had to take a step back and work on some foundational training. In retrospect, our first year of training was more about training me than my horse.
Where I am now
As I restart training with Yazan after a 3-week break while he recovered from an eye ulcer, I find myself unsure of where to begin. It’s not that I lack inspiration; in fact, I’m bursting with ideas. I’d like to focus on groundwork, help Yazan improve the duration of his canter under saddle, teach him the one-rein stop, try again with the barrel pattern, and work on more advanced desensitization exercises while he’s in motion. However, I need to create a path that makes sense for him, both mentally and physically. As I mentioned before, I can’t teach him to fly if he’s struggling to walk.
Additionally, like 90% of the readers who will land on this page, I have a full-time job, which inevitably means less time to spend at the stables. I typically go around four times a week, spending about two hours grooming, stretching, riding, and doing groundwork with Yazan, and the rest of the time I either hang out with him or my stable friends.
Our first training program
After spending almost four hours figuring out how to structure the entire program, with both long-term and short-term goals in mind, I’ve decided to start with the first month and see how it goes.
In this summary, I’ll outline the activities and end goals for just the first month of training. I’ll also provide a link to the spreadsheet I used to document everything, and later on, I’ll upload an empty template for others to use with their own horses.
This first month of training takes into account the fact that Yazan had a long break from training due to health issues, as well as the fact that he lost a lot of weight after his hospitalization. As a result, he’s also lost muscle mass. Additionally, we’ll be working on recovering from a sad accident that we had, where I fell while Yazan got super scared.
Here’s what I’ll be focusing on:
Balance and coordination:
I’m gonna start with some basic lunging work to help Yazan get his strength back. I’ll teach him how to trot and canter with a low head and in a collected manner. We might need to have some separate sessions just for groundwork. I’ll throw in a couple of poles for him to trot over, which will help strengthen his back and core and keep him focused during the exercises.
Groundwork is great for Yazan for a bunch of reasons. For one thing, whenever he’s been asked to pick up his energy levels in the past, all he knows how to do is go into a full-speed canter. But I want him to learn how to control his energy and eventually calm down enough to maintain a good pace without getting too worked up about it and overusing his canter.
I try to keep these sessions short and sweet, giving Yazan long breaks after he reaches specific goals, like getting his head lower. And I usually finish things off with 10 minutes of free time in the arena.
I’ll mix these sessions up with some hand walks around the farms. And that’ll bring me to the second point of our first month of training.
Desensitization from objects and noises:
I’ve always prioritized desensitizing Yazan from objects and noises since he’s a naturally anxious horse. Even walking him outside the stables used to be a daunting task. Although he’s come a long way, he’s still far from being my ideal trail horse. To address this, I’m planning dedicated sessions for desensitization exercises. My strategy is to use the most ridiculous objects and invite people to make fun of us. Yes, that’s the plan! In this video, I used an Ikea bag and a metal measuring tape, which initially scared him but he got over it after the session.
During a saddle fitting session, I discovered that Yazan was especially afraid of the noisy measuring tape. After we worked on it together, he became less scared of it.
The stable I go to is usually crowded between 4 and 8 pm. Once, I used a plastic bag to work with Yazan and almost all the horses in the nearby arena freaked out, causing their riders to nearly fall off. It was a discouraging experience, so I stopped trying. This time, I’ll change my routine and specifically train him with scary objects without disturbing other riders by going to the stables around 8 pm.
One rein stop and small circles:
The last thing I want to focus on during the first month of training is the one rein stop. I know they say “better late than never,” but I’ve tried it before with Yazan and all I got was him running in circles with his head facing my knee. But we’ll get there eventually.
In addition to the one rein stop, I’ll have Yazan walk, trot, and eventually canter in circles. We’ll start with following the arena perimeter and progress to circling around a cone with a 2-3 meter diameter. This exercise will help him (and me) drop his shoulder and keep his head towards the inside of the circle instead of looking like a giraffe trying to escape the pressure.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I’ll probably do about 80% of the sessions with a training halter and only have him wear the bridle once he’s comfortable with the circles. I don’t want to ruin his mouth by pulling sideways while he’s still learning how to control his body.
Envisioning the end results of the first month of training
This is probably the most important part when following any schedule, training, or even a simple diet. We must envision where we want to be at the end of the program. This is what success means to me, and where I want Yazan and me to be at the end of this first month of training:
- Comfortable with one-rein stops at both walk and trot. Canter is a plus.
- Completely at ease trotting with bags hanging from the saddle, with noises all around, and stepping over scary objects.
- Maintaining a consistent pace at trot and canter for more than three consecutive circles, both on the ground and under saddle.
I hope this isn’t too much to ask for. I prefer to keep my expectations low and experience the excitement of reaching a goal, even if it’s small, rather than setting impossible objectives that will only frustrate me and my horse if they’re not met.
I will keep you updated on how this first month goes. In the meantime, here’s a copy of the training program that you can download and use with your horse. If you do, please let me know about your experience and give me feedback to improve this schedule for future readers. Just drop a comment below!
