Brazilians as a possible Olympic discipline, along with formal dressage and jumping. Asked how she develops
a horse’s training to where she can trust these at-liberty performances, often in very large arenas, she responds: “What I always look for before a challenge may present itself, is the relationship I have with the horse. Where are we as a team? Does the horse accept my leadership or is the horse rather aloof and standoffish? After all, we want to make the horse our partner and without mutual respect that can hardly be accomplished. There is nothing mechanical about training a horse. It is more mental and psychological than people give it credit. As a trainer, it is of utmost importance that I maintain my ability to ascertain and recognize the eventual challenge before it becomes a real problem. This varies from one horse to the next, but once we have established trust and respect, any challenge merely becomes an exercise in a meeting of the minds. It’s important to mention as well that as long as there is some kind of resistance on the part of the horse, then we can’t force the issue. We have to take a step back and reassess.” “Problems always
have an origin or cause, as well as a solution,” Laura continues. “In my experience, it is often something very simple but easily overlooked. For instance, the wrong saddle fit or a wrongly positioned saddle, too big or too much of a bit for this particular horse, because when one puts a bit in a horse’ s mouth for the first time, the horse is not going to know
Laura Amandis and her Andalusian stallion Acierto, famous for performing exquisite demonstrations of horse and human in total harmony. They are one of many entertainers at the World Equestrian Games. Photo of Acierto, below left, Casi Weisnicht. Other photos are courtesy of Laura Amandis.
how to yield to it. Never forget that a horse’s mouth is like glass, easily breakable.” Overwhelming a horse in
training with too much or too repetitive training can be counter productive, she says. “Horses have a rather short attention span, especially at a young age. It is much more productive to do two short sessions as opposed to one lengthy session. Never set a time constraint on a session or never
feel you have to be on the horse for a pre-determined amount of time. Recognize where the horse is as far as mental and physical development goes. There is a reason why the Lipizzaners of the Spanish Riding School aren’t ready for an exhibition until they are around 10 years young. Horses need time to develop if we want them to perform the ‘Haute Ecole’ we all strive for.” “Over the years it is becoming easier for me to read
them,” she remarks. To see a horse that “needs a little extra here,” Laura will start with, “I want you to move over there and stand there. Oh, that is good,” rewarding the simplest voluntary cooperation. “The chance to have success is important. You can do things in very small pieces, so the horse thinks, ‘wonderful, I’m doing this!’” “When creating a language you want to create the ABCs first, then we get to words, then we form sentences….walking forward, standing still. The hardest thing to teach is the simplicity of horse training. The basis of it is your ability to break down what it is you want to teach. What you think is one movement is actually five or six, as in teaching the Spanish walk. It is very easy to go wrong in the teaching of the Spanish walk,” she says. “Most amateurs approach it by teaching the front legs
to strike. But that’s not it,” according to Laura. “You have to see it as the hindquarter moving through the toes. You
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