Rider and horse over the jump © Rubly

The School Horse

In principle, every rider should acquire knowledge about the needs and characteristics of his sport partner "horse" in advance. This knowledge is a basic requirement to understand the nature of the horse, to behave correctly towards him and to achieve a positive understanding with him.

Horses are herd animals
The herd offers protection and security. No horse likes to be alone - it must be carefully accustomed to this situation. In training, the herd instinct can be used, for example, by using older, experienced horses as leaders. Horses have a fixed hierarchy. Rules on how to deal with each other ensure survival in the herd. Fights for rank, which can be observed particularly well in foals, but also in new pasture partners, are part of instinctive behaviour. Horses use their hooves and teeth to defend themselves. They are not always squeamish about it. On the other hand, horses also show sensitive behaviour towards each other, as well as a pronounced curiosity and affection. Every rider must reckon with the fact that horses also clarify their hierarchy within the human/horse relationship. Only a calm, determined and consistent rider will be accepted by the horse as a higher ranking creature.

Horses are flight animals
For herbivores, immediate flight offers the safest protection from any danger. Horses, however, have different stimulus thresholds. Uncertainty can lead to flight behaviour. If horses panic, they can switch off all sensory perception and become a source of danger. For the rider, the horse's avoidance and flight behaviour become unpleasantly noticeable in its tendency to shy away. It is pointless to punish the horse for this instinctive behaviour. Calm, patient familiarisation with as many new situations as possible gives the horse security and confidence.

The horse is a running animal
In their original habitat, the vast steppe, wild horses were on the move for many hours a day to get their food. Therefore, movement, light, air and contact with conspecifics are important for the horses' well-being. When keeping horses in stables and in daily handling, these criteria must be given special attention. Horses should be provided with sufficient and varied exercise, which also includes exercise or grazing. Each horse differs from the other in character and temperament, in likes and dislikes. Moods and behavioural tendencies of horses can be read, for example, in their ears, eyes or tail movements. Horses are not aggressive by nature. They are often roough with each other, especially noticeable in stallions. However, problems in handling can usually be traced back to improper treatment and bad experiences.

Riders need to understand horses
The rider must have enough time, patience and powers of observation to learn to recognise and interpret the horses' behaviour correctly. Only then can he acquire a horse's trust and affection, know how to distinguish between fear and rebelliousness in a stable of doubt, and behave correctly in education and training. Every good training can be measured by the fact that horses not only perfect their movement under the rider's weight, but also maintain their naturalness and individuality. Horses that show satisfaction and willingness to perform in daily work offer the best prerequisite for a stable, harmonious partnership between man and animal. These basics are supported and strengthened by patience, by responding to the psyche of each horse and by frequent praise. In order to guarantee safe handling of the horse, the rider should learn information on how to handle the horse before actually riding it. This can then be used to support practical work and the teaching staff can fall back on various theoretical basics. Such a knowledge base can prevent possible misunderstandings but also misinterpretations of the horse's behaviour.

The school horse

A well suited school horse is one of the most important prerequisites in the basic training of the rider, because it can be a true teacher to support the rider's development. For most riders, it is first of all, important that a school horse is well-behaved and does not react too sensitively to the rider's aids. In addition, the horse should be compatible with other horses, as well as not too jumpy. Apart from these characteristics, a well-founded basic training is also absolutely necessary for the horse.
Ideally, the physique of the training horse should suit the rider. The height at the withers of the horse does not necessarily play a role. Heavier riders should learn on a correspondingly stronger horse (also known as a weight bearer), while for lighter riders, youngsters or children the use of small horses and ponies can be useful. The ability of a horse to carry a larger weight does not depend on its height, but on its overall physical build.

The school horse must be of balanced and calm temperament. First of all, the rider's possible anxiety should be reduced in order to be able to achieve relaxation in the seat. This is more likely to be possible on a calm horse than on a spirited horse.
The more advanced rider should also have the opportunity to ride more sensitive horses that are more willing to walk, and to acknowledge rider errors accordingly. This is the best way for the learner to recognize and correct his own mistakes, because it is necessary to ride as many different horses as possible in order to develop the feeling of riding. But even more advanced riders do not yet belong on a young horse. An experienced rider belongs on a young horse.