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Few animals have ever been put into the service of humanity more liberally than the horse. Cows, pigs, steers, and chickens have been domesticated, sure, but non have been so completely used, first as the muscle and the primary mode of transportation before the internal combustion engine, and then purely for sport, and non of them is held in such high esteem. There is something noble and elegant about the animal, and these characteristics are transferred to the rider and through evolution and selective breeding the horse has become a magnificent instrument of power, strength and speed, and the rippling of muscles beneath the skin are constant testaments to that fact.
What horses like more than anything else, though, is to be free. They don't want to be ridden or to jump. Consequently, they have to be backed and trained before being ridden. It used to be called "breaking," a word which implied physically overpowering the animal and subduing the wild will and breaking down the spirit, but now they speak of a less aggressive "backing" of the animal which means getting a rider on the horse. One person who is a master of taking the horses from the raw state and teaching them discipline, is 33-year-old Barbara Hutcheson. Barbara grew up in Milton, in the heart of horse country in souther Ontario, right in between two racetracks. That's probably why she so easily fell in love with horses, her first memory being of riding around the countryside in her parents' car and making them stop so she could go up to the fence, hang over the railings and hold out handfuls of grass.
She went through the local riding school route where she says: "I went. I learned. I got training. I believe, when I was 13, I got very very seriously involved in the competitive aspect of it." Following graduation, she continued her excursion into training at Humber College where she took up Equine Studies Management. A world of opportunities opened up for her when she coupled her education with her show jumping competitive experience and she got a lot of offers from around the world.
One of these ventures took her to the west coast, to Fohlenhof Equestrian Academy in British Columbia where she started into the process of backing horses. Backing takes skill, knowledge, and infinite patience, and she soon found that she had an abundance of all of these traits as well as an intuitive sensitivity that helped her carry out the process successfully, so successfully that today she's often called on to prepare many fine horses and the success of the results of her work justify that effort. You will likely never see her standing in the winner's circle wearing a wreath of flowers around her neck, but she's there in spirit and she's very much a part of getting the winners there.
Next she travelled all over Europe when she again found herself working with backing and training "because every place I went to in Europe, I started horses." Barbara credits her experiences riding at the Capt. Mark Phillips Equestrian Centre at Glenagles in Scotland as rounding out her experience. "I trained a lot there. I had coaches as well, that were developing me as a young rider."
In Germany, she worked with one of the top stables owned by Paul Schockemohle which supplied Grand Prix horses to the world. She points out proudly that some of the horses she managed went straight from her hands to auctions where they sold for up to $1.5 million. It was in Germany that she had to make a decision about what she would do with her life. "I just took a good hard look at myself and thought, yeh, that's what I'm good at." So, she continued backing and starting.
Her interest was a fascination and it continued to this day. She now primarily trains horses for show jumping and racing, including working for the high profile stables of Cathcart-Bristow/Melnyk Racing Stable and the long established and highly respected Sifton Farms in Cheltenham.
Of all her traits, her strongest asset is patience. A slight figure at a little more than 100 pounds, she's wiry, small but with enough raw power to control thoroughbred and Quarter Horses' headlong rushes. She notes that the horses are almost like big kids, and just as frustrating. "Sometimes I tend to hit my head against the wall, thinking, oh my god, this horse is never going to get it and one day it just does." As someone who had trouble keeping a horse from running back to the barn, or swimming in the lake, or rolling over me - I can respect that.
"When you think about it, a horse in the wild, basically their natural paces are walk, the trot, the canter, the gallop" says Barbara. "They will go out and do that on their own. In the field or whatever, a horse will not deliberately go out and jump. They will try to avoid things as much as possible. They would rather go around something than jump it. So that I have a lot of respect in the people that actually get these horses to jump over obstacles because that in nature is not necessarily what they will go out and do."
One of her biggest challenges while in Europe was in training a horse genetically linked to the famed racehorse Nijinsky, which was noted for its wild streak and unpredictability. "Nijinsky was a real stinker. He used to dump a lot of people. This horse was a stinker as well. He tossed off quite a few people." However, he was being trained to be a show jumper "and I was the only one that could get him to concentrate long enough between his bucking to get him around the courses and to compete with and we did fairly well."
Barbara notes that horse training in Europe differs from American practices. There they are more interested in developing the whole horse and rider combination. The Classical European Training System is characterized as a matter of finesse over fast, style over speed, where the rider's pedigree is as important as the horse's lineage. This takes a few years longer to carry out, so racehorses in Europe are being readied at three and four years of age and show jumpers at seven to eight to early teens. They are often dealing with a better animal, as well, a more finely bred beast. She says there is even a suspicion that they keep the best prospects for themselves, and make fewer of the mounts available in North America.
Barbara's training program takes from four to six weeks. She works the jumpers for about 20 to 25 minutes, five to six days a week, (racers gets around 15 minutes). The horse learns to accept the bridle and steering commands as well as a mount. She says she doesn't spend more time with them per day because the horses are still babies and their attention span is short.
Part of the horse's preparation involves riding the horse for the first time and that is fraught with uncertainty and hazards. No one should be surprised that Barbara has been injured, getting the "odd concussions," but not as many injuries as one would expect. One came from what she calls a "little fluky accident. The horse was spirited. Something scared it and it reared up and hit me in the head just a certain way."
She says that is a hazard in what is essentially a high-risk job, and notes you have to expect "the odd little nicks and hits and kicks." She believes the most important aspect of riding is in the handling. "If you develop a good rapport and get a good trust, I have, touch wood, no real problem of them allowing me on their back." The main problems is getting the steering down. "They can't understand the pulling, the tugging and where's it coming from. That's basically the initial reaction." It is important to have "good hands." Like a masseuse or a piano player, hands are like prized tools. "Good hands on a rider is very very important. The horse feels a lot of tension and a lot of nervousness, or a lot of relaxation though the hands."
Bringing the horse along involves the principle of positive reinforcement. "Just a nice little tap on the neck or a release of the reins to allow a reward on their mouth." It doesn't take much; just a slight move and the horse will recognize the subtle change "they're smarter than people give them credit for."
Training rachehorses differs in that they need a lot of physical conditioning to tone the muscles. They get a lot of hill and track work. "We gallop them up to certain levels," says Barbara. "A lot of interval training which means sprint gallops and a lot of jogging." In this way she is developing the horse's wind power, stamina and muscle tone, everything a professional runner would or should be doing.
Since she is around and riding the horses, she gets a good overall feeling of the horse every day and is always on the look out for medical problems. "I'm not on the sidelines, just watching them. I'm actually on them as well. So whenever I feel a problem it's attacked right away, and we suss out where the problem is." Sometimes, she is the one who is in need of physical therapy to take care of the many aches and pains and a sore back that come from running such a full schedule. She goes to a massage therapist quite regularly.
There has to be a build up of trust and confidence and partnership between the horse and rider. "It's a partnership. It's a trust issue. It's a nice feeling, that's why I like starting with the babies because you know when you get the trust of the horse. It's all of a sudden. Things click. Things start working. You feel that release that yes we finally achived where we were going. It's such a nice feeling."
Barbara has developed a good reputation backing and starting horses. Apart from her goal of having her own stable, she has always claimed she would do this for a living, so she is just where she wanted to be and she is quite satisfied at being there.
Barbara's Seven Goals in Training Horses
The aim of basic training is to develop a smoothly moving, willing and obedient horse. This is best achieved by applying a systematic training approach outlined here.
1)Rythm: After approximately one month the young horse will be accustomed to the rider's weight and training can progress. My next step is to develop rhythm by maintaining a certain tempo suited to the horse's natural basic paces. In order to accomplish this the rider must ride the horse actively forward in the bridle.
2) Suppleness: With the development of rhythm, the horse should be loose and free from constraint by the rider. When the horse is loose, the pace becomes rhythmic.
3) Contact: Next I establish and maintain a steady contact and form a partnership with the rider and horse combination. This steady, unconstrained feeling gives the horse the confidence to re-balance himself under the weight of the rider. Bridal contact at this stage should be soft and steady.
4) Impulsive Energy: Impulsive energy is best created by the engagement of the hind-quarters of the horse. The prerequisite for this stage is a relaxed, elastically swinging back which allows the rider to sit comfortably and roll with the movement.
5) Straightening: The horse's propulsive force which is developed from the hind quarters can only be fully used in a forward direction if the horse is straight. The horse, by nature, is naturally crooked since the shoulders are narrower than the hips. When a horse is straight, the hind feet will follow the same line as the front feet.
6) Collection: The aim of all training is to create an adaptable horse that is willing to perform. The horse must now learn to distribute the rider's weight equally on all four legs. In order to achieve this, the carrying power of the hind legs are increased, which lightens the front end. A truly collected horse gives the impression and feel of riding "up a hill". This stage is referred to as the Haute Ecole - or the high school of the Classical European Training System.
7) Willingness to Obey: The degree in which the horse responds to the rider depends largely on the effective and knowledgeable use of this training system. A horse which is truly obedient will be in complete harmony with its rider and they will move in unison.
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