Training on grass - impossible!

Does your horse want to eat grass instead of focusing on you?

This topic is currently being taught by pretty much everyone in our R+niche and yet find a flaw in it - there’s always a flaw. Or maybe we just have a better way to get the results our customers are looking for now.

Either way, we will play off the existing flaw in the strategy and tell you what you can do instead.

We've been training with positive reinforcement for over 20 years now. That means working proffessionally with horses without pressure for a very long time.

However, we have made plenty of mistakes along the way, but  I'm proud to say I've learned from my mistakes and  always come back stronger and more knowledgeable than before.

Do you think, me baring my soul will help you learn from my mistakes?

Let's give it a try. 

Pull up a chair, and let's get into one really embarrasing situation when my horse was just eating grass and not paying attention to me.

At the Horseshow

Let me set the scene for you, the year is 2003, and I have just got an invitation to show horsetraining with positive reinforcement live at a big local event. This day was unusual for me because there would be a crowd of spectators watching our training, all expecting a big trick show.

I wasn't ready for showing off in public because I was still very green behind the show biz ears and my horse has never performed at a bigger event. Because this was one of my first projects on my own, I had a lot to prove.

Little did I know that the "showing arena" was the pasture in the middle of the trotting track. That meant to try to show a horse voluntarily performing tricks while being in a big field of delicious young grass.

How did it go? Not that well, my horse was eating grass most of the time.

 3 Ways that Led to My Failure 

When you look at how I failed at that day, you could easily think the reason I failed was due to my horse being hungry or maybe the grass being more delicious than grass at home.

In reality, there were several things I was doing or missing doing that led to my horse didn´t focus on me.

#1. I was insistent on doing everything by myself

Growing up at my house, I didn't get any help with homework and learned early that Himself is the best farmhand.

This led to doing all "trainingplans" by myself.

My friend Helga had a totally different approach to working her horses on grassgrounds but I didn´t ask her for her opnion.

The Solution: 

Instead of only relying on myself, I now rely on a village of strong people who are here to support me and catch me.

This has led to more often reinforcing the horse I´m working with..

Remember, if you have  been frantically trying to avoid making mistakes], you may be missing out on the opportunities you know are out there for you.

2. A Lack of Confidence

Remember, I was very new to performing in front of public, which meant I hadn't had the opportunity to develop my skills based on experience.

I was nervous and embarrassed while trying to stop my horse from eating grass. I was not able to concentrate on positive training.

The Solution: 

I developed a failsafe way to get horses to focus on me in all situations.

I trained everything in detail, first in the stable, than outside the stable, in the riding arena and later even on grass. With a high reinforcing rate I could change my horses feelings about distractions.

A little introduction to this method can be found here: 

3. Forgetting to train with distractions

It's easy to look back at this and think "why didn´t I train my horses on grass to prepare them for those situations?", but we're saying that with all the hindsight in the world.

At the time I was so used to all training only happening in the riding arena.

The Solution: 

Changing the places we were training..

We startet to train outside, on smalls roads, in the woods and at least even in the pasture.

Hannas first time riding a young horse using positive reinforcement

Perseverance Pays Off

I wish I could say that I never failed in my time as a horsetrainer using postive reinforcement.. That would be impossible, though, because failure is part of life and failure is how we get future successes and innovation.

However, I never failed again once I stopped doing everything on my own. I have now made it my mission to help other horseowners to understand the value of good coaches. Everything becomes so much easier and the training process will accelerate..

That is the reason why we at Willing Horses live and breathe coaching horseowners because it brings everybody the most amount of joy while training horses.

Clients have said:

"Without my trainer I never had been able to take my horse on walks."

"Training has become a lot easier with a focused horse"

"We are happy training using grass as a reinforcer"

Got a question about training with grass as a reinforcer?

Get in touch over here "Willing Horses"  today for free advice.