Exploding the Myths! Part II - Training

by Cheryl R Lutring, ASAoGB

This article is not a 'How To Train A Saddlebred' feature: I am certainly not qualified to write such a piece. However, in my years of campaigning my five-gaited show mare, Rare Visions, here in the UK, I have been asked a number of questions over and over again about how Saddlebreds are trained. It is a puzzle to me how people who one minute profess never to have heard of the breed, in the next breath are asking about things they've heard with regard to training tactics!! However, it appears that often they are muddled, and are confusing things they've heard about other breeds. Anyway, as little is done in America to forestall the gossip and misunderstanding, perhaps it is time someone out of America made an attempt to clear the muddied waters a little!

I approached some of the difficulties in my first Exploding the Myths feature, so will continue and expand the items from there, but have to say that there are as many ways of training Saddlebreds as there are people training them. I only seek to offer a general description of the mainstream approach.

Myth No.6: Saddlebreds are forced into an unnatural outline and way of performing.

Answer: A young Saddlebred destined for the show ring will display all the right physical qualities as a weanling. The few that do not show those desired attributes will most likely be sold off to the hunter/jumper market - just as will a Thoroughbred who shows insufficient speed for racing! (In fact such Saddlebreds are competing very well at regular disciplines but their identify is not being acknowledged).

Compare these silhouettes:
Saddlebred	Different styles, different talents, different methods required	Thoroughbred

In this way it is pretty certain that only the Saddlebreds with the right breed standard conformation and attitude will become the archetypal Saddlebred Show Horse.

The Saddlebred, although patient and amenable, will not respond well to being 'forced' into anything. It is essential that his persona in the ring is happy and eager - anything less and he will not win - and forcing him will undoubtedly ruin that. At no time in its life does the training of an ASb revolve around endless drilling, or brain-deadening routine. He is taken from his stall and worked for 15-20 minutes if he behaves well and does good, a little longer if a problem has to be sorted out. The rationale behind short training sessions is that the horse will keep his alert and animated attitude and not become down-trodden and bored by the repetition involved in long sessions. Disciplined alertness is the aim, not servile dullness.

Myth No.7: Well very odd methods must be used to produce that posture and motion.

Answer: Motion is inherent in them; so is high neck carriage - being the result of conformation rather than training. Often the anti's can be heard saying "who wants to ride a horse with his head in the air and his eye on the stars", well up-headedness in the Saddlebred context does not mean a star-gazing head carriage: they have superb flexion at the poll and look straight forward through their bridle to where they are going. Training simply enhances these virtues - just as the schooling of other breeds makes their trot more balanced, their jump more controlled etc.

Obviously because the required end result is different to that of a hunter type, so must the approach to his education be different.

A young show Saddlebred is often first introduced to his craft by learning to be an in-hand horse. Adult Saddlebreds are not traditionally shown in hand, but are as weanlings and yearlings. At home the youngster will be taught to lead from the headcollar in the normal way; then he will be taught to show himself off in trot. This is done on a long lead line with the colt allowed to prance around some distance from the handler. They are taught not to barge in front but to remain parallel with the handler. A second handler is allowed in the ring with the 'entertainment' - this can be a white bag on a whip, a streamer in the hand, a 'clicker' device held like a castinet, or anything that at home has been shown to interest the colt. On seeing, say the streamer, the horse will perk up even more, flag his tail, stretch his neck up, prick his ears, concentrate his wide eyes on the streamer. This look is what the Saddlebred world is seeking - and will be the mainstay of the show horse image throughout his life. Please note the horse is not frightened by, or struck with, this device - it is merely waved (or clicked) about some 20 paces in front of him. Tossing a shower of talcum powder in the air works for some horses.

Myth No.8: This approach makes the horses wild and unmanageable.

Answer: On the contrary - who wants a wild and unmanageable show horse? It merely teaches them to present themselves correctly in a proud and alert fashion. They soon learn the look that is required, and then the knock-on effect of the 'entertainment' regime is that they become bombproof over other sudden noises or strange sights.

Myth No.9: Saddlebreds are worked very young and ruined as a result.

Answer: Saddlebreds start their education very young - they have such an intelligent enquiring brain that it is best to give them something positive to think about. They enjoy interaction with humans and love to learn.

Photo: Courtesy of Jane A Green

Having said that they start young, it is important to remember that they do not start their education in the same way as is traditional for the hunter type. Their attitude to the show ring, self-confidence and desire to please is established and rewarded in the weanling/yearling stage. They are then taken on further by long-lining. This is not endless walking along the roads with a handler following behind, but active exercise teaching collection and developing muscles and attitude. Almost always carried out in a round pen, this work teaches them to respond to the voice and helps them to develop their powerful motor. They learn about the bit, and listening for voice commands - most importantly 'whoa' . Each day's exercise will last little more than ten minutes.

Once they have gained discipline and understanding in the long-lining work, they are harnessed to a light sulky (weighing no more than 100lbs) and their 'jog' training begins. It can be pretty much guaranteed that all finished show Saddlebreds, whatever their ultimate Division, have done significant amounts of harness work, and most are exercised consistantly this way as part of their training all their lives, with trainers perhaps actually riding them only once a week or even less. The effect of the harness training is that they can now work in straighter lines and at a greater speed than in the long-lines, unhampered by a ground-based handler or a rider. Thus the young horse can work without risk of strain for he is neither carrying a weight, nor pulling much weight. This training is not carried out on the roads or over rough country, but on pre-prepared and surfaced tracks around the barn area, or even inside the stabling barns - most are specially designed to facilitate this.

Myth No.10: Saddlebreds wear horribly cruel curb bits with very long powerful shanks and this is why they carry their heads so high.

Colt with snaffle bridle and martingale Photo: courtesy of UPHA

Answer: No Saddlebred is introduced to a double bridle or a curb bit until the rest of his education is complete. His poise and carriage are developed long before he sees a curb. They are usually worked daily in a little jointed snaffle. They are not taught to seek the bit and 'come on' the bit like a dressage horse, but to have soft mouths and stay above the bit thus creating the very lightest of contact. Once they have graduated to a double they are well grounded in this, and also come to a halt on a verbal command. A good rider on a well trained horse will never need to use the curb punitively. As and when they have to be used, the two bits of the double have different functions: the snaffle (bridoon) is used to remind the horse to keep his neck raised and help him keep his collection, the curb's duty is to correct any tendency to poke the nose. In both cases the lightest and briefest of tweaks is all that is necessary. As Xenophon, the Greek equestrian who wrote way back in 400BC about the rider/trainer teaching the horse to "go with a light hand on the bit and yet to hold his head well up and to arch his neck. …this will make him do just what the animal himself glories and delights in" - what better epitome of those ancient words than the show Saddlebred?

Myth No.11: What about the devices used to teach them to rack?

Answer: Again, Saddlebreds inherit the inclination and right physique to execute this sensational gait. The training only maximises and improves upon that inheritance to ultimately produce the magic of the five-gaited horse. Youngsters are introduced to performing this gait on command once their strength and balance has been established in trot. No devices are used and usually they are started totally barefoot. The trainer, with superb feel for timing, rhythm and balance, pushes up the walk and shifts his weight in the saddle at precisely the optimum moment to 'shake' the horse into the amble, usually using a distinctive voice command at the same time. Soon the horse goes into amble on the voice command alone and then work can begin on improving and refining this amazing four-beat gait into the breath-taking slow-gait and sizzling rack. Much time is spent on ensuring that the horse can collect and balance himself before any duration or speed of performance is demanded. Once these extra gaits are established, work commences on the highly animated canter. All this training is undertaken with the horse wearing a simple jointed snaffle bridle and possibly a running martingale. (I have never seen anything as potentially restrictive as draw reins attached to girths or chambons being used in a training barn - although in the right hands these devices can be useful.)

Myth No.12: The rack is a very strenuous gait and causes much damage to the horse.

The rack: One foot takes the weight - here it is the near fore; the off hind is about to go down and the near hind is just lifting. The off fore will be on the ground after the off hind. This horse is probably progressing at 30mph !

Answer: Yes and No. It is a strenuous gait when polished to the requirements of the show ring because not only is it four-beat (one hoof on the ground at a time) but it is executed with spectacular knee motion and sizzling speed. But it does not in itself cause damage. The Saddlebred has the right conformation to perform it - inherited from his English Ambler forebears. The whole point of a daily work out is to keep the muscles toned, the lungs and heart healthy and powerful, the brain engaged. When the horse is fit and raring to go there is nothing he loves better than his racking - it shows on their faces and in their willingness to perform it. The inherited ambling gait on which the rack is based, is an easy comfortable ground-covering gait that was prized by those 'in the know' - lords and ladies, military generals, kings and queens. Only the peasants had to ride the bumpy trot and horses that could only trot were known as 'torture horses' by the Romans. It is totally erroneous to refer to it as 'unnatural' or 'man-made', it is most definitely inherited from fine horses in the days when equines were the only form of transport. The fact that this knowledge and blood has been lost in the UK, and amongst jumping devotees, does not make it unnatural, just a very rare and precious ability that needs preservation. Thank goodness the American breeders of the past managed to preserve this wonderful gait, even though perhaps they didn't set out with that altruistic intention!

Myth No. 14: What about the weighted boots they wear?

Answer. They wear boots on the front hooves purely to prevent an injury should they make a mistake and overstride with a rear hoof - this is a possibility particularly at the rack when the animal can be negotiating a fairly tight showring bend at 35mph!!! The boots are not weighted; nowadays most wear simple bell boots just like a jumper.

Myth No. 15: What about tying their front legs together?

Photo: courtesy of UPHA

Answer: the first time I was asked this question it turned out that the query came from a gentleman who had seen cowboy horses hobbled out on the prairie to stop them wandering off overnight. Another time, the questioner was confused by the hopples used on Standardbred pacers. Saddlebred trainers use neither of these, however they do use a device known as 'stretchies'. These constitute well padded sheepskin covered leather straps around each pastern, to which a length of elastic rubber surgical tubing is attached by means of swivelling quick release snaps. The tubing is very easily stretched and acts in exactly the same way as a human chest expander in a gymnasium and is tailored in length to suit the individual's level of fitness and ability. The function of the 'stretchies' is to develop the muscles that lift the leg thus increasing his ability to raise his knees. A secondary function is to teach the horse rhythmic movement, and the pull-and-give keeps him concentrating on what his legs are doing and develops his sense of balance and rhythm. Again some horses like using them, some will not use them. When I say they will not use them, be reminded that they are fitted so the horse has a choice. He can trot normally without using them at all and they will not hamper or bother him; or he can pull against them and develop himself. They are only used once the horse has warmed up and are only for short durations. They can be utilised in either long-lining, driving or riding. In my experience most show Saddlebred thoroughly enjoy them. Once they are removed the improvement in the horse's balance and rhythm is magical.

Myth No. 16: Why are they shut up in dark stalls, is it to make their eyes pop when they step out into the light and give them that startled look?

Answer: I have never seen a Saddlebred kept in a darkened stall - unless he was sick. As previously explained they are taught their show ring expression of wide-eyed alertness in other ways. I think the darkened stall myth became established because when at shows the various barns have what they call 'barn aisle décor' of curtaining which is done in their particular showing colours. An aisle is usually fronted by a hospitality room for visitors and friends and is dressed by these smart curtains. This also gives the horses some peace and protection from the prying public who come around 'wanting to see a horsey'. But the aisle behind is as open and airy as can be with each horse able to talk with his neighbours. At home the barns are airy and bright and the horse's are entertained by watching each other working up and down the central aisle.

The epitome of Saddlebred beauty Phi Slama Jama Fine Harness Stallion (courtesy of Reedannland Farms, Iowa)

I hope the above article - which has been produced entirely from my own experience - helps put a few training myths into perspective. Cheryl R Lutring.