“If you improve your horse 1% a day, then in 100 days you’ll have 100% better horse.”

I am typically an impatient person who is so strapped for time. I often find myself rushing through life from one thing to the next, always concerned about getting where I’m going. Where I consciously make an effort to slow things down and enjoy the journey is when I’m working with horses. You have to remember to pay attention to the small things and reward your horse for making even the smallest of improvements. A very well-known trainer who I follow says, “If you improve your horse 1% a day, then in 100 days you’ll have 100% better horse.” As humans in this technologically advanced world, with the idea of instant gratification at the forefront of our minds, we often forget that goals are not reached over night. We get frustrated over not reaching our goals fast enough and, it is easy to fall victim to feeling like a failure and giving up. We must remember that small improvements over time can lead to big results for the future.

I recently took in a 4 year old filly for 30 days of groundwork. Her owner described her as “hot headed.” She carries her head high, is easily distracted, very nervous about everything, and has a hard time remembering to think for herself. It is in situations like this where it is hardest for me to remember to progress with the horse rather than pushing the horse through exercises with the idea of reaching an end goal in the time frame provided.

I’ve had this filly for 5 days now. Here’s what those days have looked like:

Day 1: We started with the process of “hooking on,” working in the round pen off line. Through hooking on, the filly is being taught to think and problem solve for herself while learning to focus on her handler. On this day, she broke one of my round pen panels as she tried to jump out of the round pen multiple times. After this behavior stopped, we worked on desensitizing with the rope to bring her anxiety levels down a bit. Once she stopped flinching over the rope landing on her back we ended our session. Improvement level on this day: 1%

Day 2: We continued with hooking on. Although she spent the majority of time loping circles at full speed working herself up, she was starting to understand when I asked her to turn to the inside. She would not stop and allow herself to rest and focus on me, but turning in towards me was an improvement. During desensitizing she did not flinch over the rope landing on her back, so we progressed to tossing the rope around her legs. She showed some signs of relaxation including blinking and licking and chewing.
Improvement level on this day: 1%
 
Day 3: Again, we worked with hooking on. She seemed like she was really starting to think and put things together on this day. She went around the round pen in a much more relaxed manner turning into the inside. As well, during today’s session, for the first time she let herself stop and focus on me while resting.  She even did some licking and chewing. We continued with the rope over her back and around her legs looking for more frequent and consistent signs of relaxation.
Improvement level on this day: 1%
 
Day 4: This day was blustery and windy with wind gusts greater than 20 mph. I felt it was best to stay away from desensitizing and with our improvements on the previous day during hooking on, I really just wanted to maintain and improve upon what we had. Hooking on went well, similar to the day before with more focus on me, taking her less time to turn in and rest. Then I turned her out, worked with a couple other horses, and left the barn for a few hours. When I returned for evening feedings, I noticed she was pacing around her pasture with her head held high. By the time I got to her, I saw that she was drenched in sweat.  Her head was high, her eyes were big, and she was snorty. I figured the wind had her worked up and brought her into her stall for the night.
Improvement level on this day: 1%
 
Day 5: I went to get her from the pasture I turned her out on that morning and found her in the same sweaty, pacing state as the previous day. It wasn’t as windy, so I looked around a bit more and realized, it was the neighbor’s cows in the pasture behind hers that she was worried about. I brought her up to the round pen, still in sight of the cows, and thought we would work on hooking on with this big, “spooky,” distracting, herd of cows watching us. Given her level of worry about the cows, she did very well. Every time I offered for her to focus on me, turn in and rest, she took it. However, for the first few times, she would quickly look away to the cows. Every time she did this, I sent her back out. I ended our session when she was able to maintain focus on me, without being distracted by the herd of cows watching us.
Improvement level on this day: 1%
 
As you can see, in 5 days, I have a horse that is 5% better. At this rate, given the time period I have the horse for, the horse will be improved 30% by the time she returns to her home. Given where this horse is now, a 30% improvement would be a great thing for this horse. However, I’m predicting more than that. By taking the time up front, to perfect the very initial pieces of groundwork, I think a horse’s rate of learning has the potential to quicken. In the long run, by celebrating and rewarding small successes, I can see time spent training a horse actually being lessened. If you don’t perfect the basics, you will inevitably have to return to the basics. So those who rush through these key foundational pieces of groundwork will spend more time returning and fixing things than those who took the time to do it right the first time. In this particular case, given the 30 day time period and where the horse started, I am not predicting 100% improvements in the horse. However, what I am predicting is that every skill put into this horse will be 100% mastered by this horse.