"Breaking" with Tradition:
Changes in American Horse Training
by Alejandra Abella for Equestrian Services, LLC
 Hundreds of people, lines of adoring fans, ooos and aaahs and even tears. Scenes from a rock concert? No, this is the latest backdrop for an equestrian clinic and the latest star is the horse trainer. Well deserved? We think so. The changes that have taken place in horse training over the past fifty years, and specifically in the United States, have been simply astonishing.
Horse training isn't new, and much has been written about the prowess of Xenophon, Gueriniere (born about 430 BC, who wrote the earliest obtainable work on training horses, titled Hippike, translated to The Art of Horsemanship) and the Cadre Noir (this riding academy was set up in 1593 as a way to reorganize the French cavalry, and the Cadre Noir was the teaching body of the school that took on the role of training the instructors) among many other influences to early horse training. The horse has helped mankind change the geographic and political landscape of the world many times over, yet for years we reserved the cruelest treatments for this noble animal. "Breaking" was the term commonly used to describe the action of habituating a horse to being ridden, with its origin stemming from the belief that training a horse necessitated "breaking" its spirit. It was not uncommon to using forceful submission through beating, roping and jerking the head.
Today we want nothing to do with "breaking," except when it comes to breaking with tradition. This upheaval has taken over most of the developed world, but the American phenomenon is unique in its sheer strength and magnitude, and its roots are not foreign; they are firmly planted right here at home. The seed? Observers seem to agree on one man: Tom Dorrance.
Born in 1910, Tom Dorrance quietly but deeply changed the way horses were trained by taking into consideration their gregarious and sensitive natures. He chose the horse's mind and instincts over domination, and by doing so found a much stronger bond with the horse. Among his supporters were his brother Bill, also one of the forefathers of modern American horse training, and one man we are still lucky enough to have amongst us, the man who realized that the methods of the Dorrance brothers needed to be brought to light: Ray Hunt. In fact, if you have ever been to a horse clinic, you've witnessed Ray Hunt's brilliant vision. Ray Hunt is the forefather of teaching training concepts to the general public through the venue of an onsite clinic.
From then on the list of equestrian stars/disciples is comprehensive and forever growing: Pat Parelli, Linda Tellington-Jones, Monty Roberts, Richard Shrake, John Lyons. Most of these trainers come from the Western disciplines, with the western United States being where this revolution was born. All favor humane training methods as well as the basic principles of horse training that tradition once embraced, but that had been obscured by brutality. These techniques are based on ask and reward, pressure and release.
 Today we "ask" a horse to move by gentle pressure of our legs or the tap of a whip, and we "reward" by releasing that pressure. We pressure with our presence to move a horse over, and we reward by taking our presence away. Training has become so captivatingly simple, and yet a myriad of fascinating combinations and permutations are available through a plethora of books, videos, and clinics. Throughout it all one simple truth is here to stay: when it comes to horses, it turns out we didn't have to "break" anything, we just had to ask.
*For further reading on this subject, pick up a copy of The Revolution in Horsemanship , a new book by Dr. Robert Miller and Rick Lamb.
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We are pleased to announce that we have joined forces with the Equestrian Land Conservation Resource as a Lead Partner. As an equestrian consulting and design firm, as well as lifelong horse owners, we wholeheartedly support the preservation of open space for equestrian use.
For more information on ELCR, please visit their website: www.elcr.org.
This Land is Home to Us
When we came to look at what would become our farm, I had no plans to buy it. In fact, I stayed in the car with the kids and fed our infant son. It was Richard who fell in love with the land and who led the campaign to farm it. Distracted with children, impatient to work our horses on land of our own, worried about leaving the home we had, I felt like the Muppet character Beaker - lab assistant to Professor Bunsen Honeydew. Like Beaker, I was powerless and had to go along with the experiment. "Sign here," I was told by Richard, by the banker, by the realtor. I turned my mouth down and made squeaky Beaker noises. Again and again, I signed where they pointed.
In spring we moved into the house. We harnessed our teams and plowed. Resting the horses I could look across miles of countryside and rest my eyes as well. When it was time to cut hay, we learned how mowers work and got our horses to the clatter. I suppose it was then, in the field we call the high field, that I fell in love too. Close to the sun in lonely lands, Tennyson wrote, and that is how I feel up there.
We can love a place as we love a child, and for a lot of the same reasons. We can wish to protect our children - there is only so much you can do, unfortunately - and we can wish to protect our land. Richard and I decided to protect the land that is our farm so we put it under a conservation easement with the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust.
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