Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back to the Optimal Equestrian Podcast.
Speaker: This is a podcast where me, an adult amateur, is delving into how we can optimize ourselves, our horses, and our businesses.
Speaker: So today we are going to be talking about Warwick Schiller.
Speaker: Once I discovered horsemanship, I started looking at a lot of different well-known trainers,
Speaker: and tried their methods.
Speaker: Some of them would work, some wouldn't.
Speaker: I would pick up little tools here and there.
Speaker: I was learning how to effectively use my body language.
Speaker: I was enhancing my leading, lunging, and ground skills, which I thought were pretty good until I really started to dive into horsemanship, and I realized they could use a lot of improvement.
Speaker: But some of these different trainers, I had to kind of decipher what they were actually trying to achieve.
Speaker: Some I didn't really understand at all what the goal was.
Speaker: They weren't very well at communicating.
Speaker: Others had some tactics that just looked a little too aggressive for me than was something that I wasn't really comfortable with.
Speaker: But then my trainer, I had found this one trainer that I
Speaker: was following and so I told my personal trainer that I was really liking his methods and she was like, oh yeah, his is good, but I use Warwick Schiller.
Speaker: And she started making huge grounds very quickly with my horse.
Speaker: So I decided to kind of dive into Warwick.
Speaker: He was Western, so I just kind of had brushed him off as like, oh, well, that's not going to work for my dressage horse, which...
Speaker: is silly now thinking back on it.
Speaker: But so I started diving into his YouTube and that alone provided so much value and knowledge and I was finding his techniques really useful, just the way he thinks very useful.
Speaker: So then I decided to order his book, The Principles of Training, which really laid out his method and theory in a very cohesive manner.
Speaker: Not that his YouTube didn't, but it just really explained all his principles and really tied all of the YouTube videos together.
Speaker: And so I think that his book just really gives you a really good understanding of how your horse thinks, how we can communicate with them, and honestly, the mindset that you need to be successful in working with your own horse.
Speaker: I had started making a bunch of really good strides with my horse.
Speaker: As you all know, Opie is, well, he's getting older, but he's a young horse and not a lot of training.
Speaker: He's not, I wouldn't say fully broke, but my trainer helped me a lot as well.
Speaker: I can't discount that.
Speaker: She's made huge, huge strides and making him a well-behaved young man.
Speaker: But now I have moved facilities, I'm on my own a lot more, and I had this new issue pop up.
Speaker: So Opie began rearing when I was leading him, and I think what was happening is that he, I mean, he's very food motivated, he's a chunky boy, he doesn't get a lot to eat, so all he wants to do is graze.
Speaker: And so I would do the typical pulling your head up, make him keep walking,
Speaker: And so his response to that was like, okay, well then I'm just going to rush ahead so she can catch up and I can get a few bites in.
Speaker: And, uh,
Speaker: So then I would pull on him, tell him, no, you need to walk by me.
Speaker: But he was usually already past me.
Speaker: And so he would get frustrated.
Speaker: He would rear up, which was never at me.
Speaker: So I never really felt like he was trying to attack me or anything, which I think is an important thing to note.
Speaker: He wasn't like aggressive towards me.
Speaker: He was just clearly frustrated, wanted to eat, and my goals did not align with that.
Speaker: And so...
Speaker: I wasn't really trying to address it.
Speaker: I just wanted to get to the arena and on to my task for the day.
Speaker: So I had just kind of blown by that.
Speaker: But then we would be in the arena and I would be on him.
Speaker: He started giving little bunny hops when he was under saddle, which also, if you know my history, I've had a really bad concussion.
Speaker: And so I deal with a lot of fear around stuff like that, any kind of misbehavior when I'm
Speaker: on their back.
Speaker: But it was whenever we would be by the arena gate, he wanted to go out the arena to the grass and towards his friends.
Speaker: And so it just kind of scared me and that left me a little confused on how to handle it.
Speaker: I would just jump off and
Speaker: I wanted to be safe first and foremost, and I figured I could maybe I would do some things where I would address it on the ground then at that point because he was still trying to do it on the ground even.
Speaker: I thought, well, maybe that will work.
Speaker: But I knew that I really needed to dive into what the solution was, and so that's when I decided to sign up for Warwick's online library.
Speaker: And I very quickly learned that I needed to work on connection and mine and Opie's relationship along with how to deal with this.
Speaker: But that was the first issue that needed to be addressed before I could even start addressing the rearing.
Speaker: So I think his main issue is he just didn't enjoy being with me or in the arena.
Speaker: He wasn't on the same page as me.
Speaker: His only focus was being with his friends and eating grass.
Speaker: And so I need to address that first.
Speaker: So Warwick's book is a great beginning to explain the why behind training and the basic rules to training a horse.
Speaker: But his online videos really show you how to implement that.
Speaker: And it is so thorough.
Speaker: He not only explains the techniques and why and how, but he also shows you with multiple horses that all have different tendencies or problems or personalities that
Speaker: And it really helps so you can find the exact examples of similar horses and some horses that have similar problems to you and how Warwick has fixed them, either like his personal horses that he's training at home or at clinics.
Speaker: So I definitely plan on making his online platform my first stop when new issues arise.
Speaker: And I love that it's a monthly subscription because you can...
Speaker: Like if I'm dealing with a lot of issues, I can sign up for the monthly subscription.
Speaker: If you, everything's going great, you can pause it.
Speaker: Don't have to pay for it during that time.
Speaker: And then if you need it again, pick it back up.
Speaker: And I find that very useful and very helpful.
Speaker: But your horses are always going to, I mean, at least my horse, is he's smart and he's always looking for weak points in me and how to exploit those.
Speaker: And so I always think that new issues are going to arise.
Speaker: And eventually, hopefully, you can figure them out and know the principles and the flow chart and be able to figure those out on your own without having to sign up for the subscription.
Speaker: But it's a great tool to have in your back pocket.
Speaker: Now, as far as Warwick's upbringing and his path to becoming a trainer, I don't know too much about it.
Speaker: It's not something that he really dives too deeply into in his book, which Warwick, if you're listening, I think most of us would love an autobiography about your entire equestrian journal, how you grew up, learned about writing, the influences.
Speaker: And you talk a lot about working on yourself.
Speaker: And I think we would all love to know exactly what that entailed, but also how you discovered your own training method.
Speaker: I did listen to an interview of him on the art of the horseman podcast.
Speaker: And in that episode, he goes into it a little bit, but I would love a deep dive that a book could actually give you and all the details and a full life story.
Speaker: Anyways, in his videos, he mentions a lot about most of his leaps in his horse training came from working on himself.
Speaker: And I gather that a lot of that is just him being able to evaluate himself, seeing his flaws, fixing them.
Speaker: He talks a lot about meditating and learning to control his emotions and all that.
Speaker: So...
Speaker: For us, for now, I think that's where we kind of need to start and just work on that.
Speaker: And that's a process, which if you're listening to this podcast, I'm sure that you're already on that.
Speaker: That's kind of what this entire podcast is, is me working on myself, trying to improve my flaws and portraying that to you all and how we can apply that to the equestrian industry.
Speaker: But these are just guesses and assumptions based off my own experiences and the little snippets that I've heard from Warwick.
Speaker: So I would love to hear it straight from his mouth.
Speaker: He does talk a lot about meditation, like I said, and how it can help you as an equestrian.
Speaker: He talks about the power of being able to notice your thoughts and be able to control them, all of which can be
Speaker: begin, you can begin to master through meditation.
Speaker: Um, but yeah, I would just love to know all the other personal growth things that he's done, worked on journeys he went on and so on.
Speaker: Anyways, the book doesn't focus on that, but it does give you a tiny little insight, which is that Warwick, um,
Speaker: had when he was becoming a trainer in his early days he had noticed clinicians would tell students how to fix the problem but never the why and so the why is the part that really helps the student the most to see how horses work and how we can fix future problems so it makes them independent and they can think on their own and how they could fix a problem when a problem arises and
Speaker: which I think is the most valuable part.
Speaker: And I don't know if trainers are specifically not including that because they want to keep making money, which makes sense.
Speaker: But after traveling and watching many of the clinicians, Warwick said he realized that they were all using 12 main principles.
Speaker: And so that's what the book is about.
Speaker: And then he also identifies a 13th that is unique to him and how he trains horses.
Speaker: And so this little bit of information is insightful to me because it seems like he noticed a problem or missing link in the equestrian industry.
Speaker: And that was the why behind the horse training, which if you're a business person, you know that the basics of starting a business is identifying a problem and providing the fix better than anyone else.
Speaker: So he made it his mission to identify those principles and teach them to the public.
Speaker: And so he does that through his book, his YouTube, and his online catalog.
Speaker: And it just provides so much clarity in how to train your horse, why your horse is acting the way that he does.
Speaker: and what you should do about it.
Speaker: And in my opinion, Warwick is one of the best, if not the best, at explaining and communicating horse training and horse behavior.
Speaker: I've never heard it in a way that actually makes sense and clicks the way that Warwick explains it.
Speaker: And not that he dumbs it down, but he uses normal language and he doesn't do... I mean...
Speaker: Some people just are like too abstract in how they explain horse training and what the goal is that you're like, what are they actually trying to say to me?
Speaker: The biggest difference in how Warwick communicates is he gives you very clear instruction.
Speaker: He repeats it often.
Speaker: That way it sticks in your head and he gives you a vast array of examples.
Speaker: And of course, he's going to tell you why you're doing it so that you can understand how
Speaker: horse training from the horse's perspective and i've researched and looked at so many horsemanship trainers and programs and warwick is by far the most comprehensive and easy to understand method that i found and that personally works best for me i mean i guess it could differ for everyone but to me i think that he is the absolute best hands down
Speaker: So my biggest takeaways from him that I want to talk about today are how you are the best person to train your horse, how we can become part of the horse's herd, that training, when training, it doesn't have to be an A, a B plus will do.
Speaker: And then his saying,
Speaker: First you go with them, then they go with you, then you go together.
Speaker: And then finally, I'm going to talk about what makes Warwick different from other trainers from my personal observation.
Speaker: So let's get into the first one.
Speaker: You are the best person to train your horse.
Speaker: This is one thing that Warwick talks about often, and I could not agree more.
Speaker: I know it's so nice to
Speaker: give your horse off to a trainer and have them deal with it, especially as adult amateurs, if we're working and trying to train our horse at the same time.
Speaker: I'm not going to lie.
Speaker: I am sending my horse back to the trainer, but I am going to approach it differently this time, but it's mainly because
Speaker: I don't have time.
Speaker: I'm working.
Speaker: I'm running a business.
Speaker: My barn is 50 minutes away from me each direction, which makes it even more difficult.
Speaker: And so just to save time and he's six, like he needs to get going.
Speaker: It really, I just, it's so much easier for me to send him off to a trainer, but I'm going to approach it differently this time because I want to go see a
Speaker: and check in with him, take lessons on him, and learn how she's training him so that it can be translated more fluidly back to me in our training.
Speaker: There's just no, there's not going to be any bumps.
Speaker: But still, I think it's so important to learn how to train your horse, be able to have these resources that Warwick's providing.
Speaker: That way, I mean, he's going to come home and she's
Speaker: a couple hours away.
Speaker: So that's not going to be something that I can just easily take them to the trainer.
Speaker: So if it's something that I can fix on my own through the help of Warwick or understanding how to train horses and the principles of training horses, that's invaluable to me.
Speaker: So if you're going to be the rider, handler, owner, there are going to be issues that arise.
Speaker: And yes, you can take them to the trainer, but wouldn't it be able to just be able to figure it out in the moment before they become bigger issues?
Speaker: And that way you don't have to spend money and travel and time taking them to the trainer.
Speaker: So his program really empowers owners to see the how and the why their horse is misbehaving and how they can fix it.
Speaker: Now with Opie's rearing issue that I told you about earlier, I couldn't find the exact issue that I was dealing with on Warwick's platform, but by using his principles and a little creativity and trying a couple different methods, I quickly realized how I needed to fix it.
Speaker: So the fact that I know my horse better than anyone else also made it easier for me to see the whole picture and where Opie's usual tendencies and motivations lie, like his motivations are food and friends.
Speaker: And that ended up leading me to the right answer.
Speaker: But if your horse is rearing because they're nervous or scared, that's going to be something completely different, completely different answer.
Speaker: And if you're curious, the solution that I found started with Warwick's videos of working on grass, where if I've asked him to walk and he stops to eat.
Speaker: You don't just keep pulling their head up.
Speaker: I think it's just going to start causing an issue.
Speaker: And in general, Warwick doesn't really like to just be pulling on their head all the time.
Speaker: So what he does is he uses his flag behind him to say, no, no, keep up.
Speaker: And this was great, but then he would rush past me.
Speaker: And sometimes he would circle around me.
Speaker: And so then I would go through the flow chart.
Speaker: I would try to go towards his hind end.
Speaker: But Opie would just keep doing circles, and it would just kind of escalate to where he was rearing.
Speaker: So my solution was when he went forward, I would use a flag in front of me to say, no, you can't go that far ahead of me.
Speaker: And so it's kind of creating these clear boundaries of where he should be next to me.
Speaker: And that was all I needed.
Speaker: And he would walk calmly next to me.
Speaker: Like how easy of a fix was that?
Speaker: But I was trying all these different things.
Speaker: It was escalating.
Speaker: You get frustrated if you're just trying to do a tug of war with their head.
Speaker: The horse is then getting frustrated.
Speaker: And I honestly should have known this because before my trainer had showed me where when he first came to the barn, he was trying to touch everything on the sides of the aisles.
Speaker: If I had him in the cross ties, he was trying to touch everything around him.
Speaker: And she was like,
Speaker: No, just give him a clear box of where he can be in this box.
Speaker: He can't touch that on the left.
Speaker: He can't touch this on the right.
Speaker: And it was like magic.
Speaker: Within minutes, Opie would stop trying to touch everything.
Speaker: He would stop trying to lick the floor and he would just kind of calmly fall asleep.
Speaker: in the aisle way or the cross ties wherever I was and I was just amazed at how he was just like it's almost like he's just testing boundaries and once he knows those boundaries and knows that you're going to be consistent he's like okay I can relax now like she has these rules with me and once I behave I like everything's fine and I can calm down and just rest
Speaker: So by thinking of Warwick's principles and going through his videos and seeing how he dealt with other issues, it gave me little ideas on how I could fix this issue.
Speaker: And literally within a couple hours, I mean, not even, I mean,
Speaker: It was like the first day I probably tried three or four different things.
Speaker: It took 15 minutes to get to the arena and we had it basically figured out he was behaving for the most part.
Speaker: And the next time I, the next day that I went, I just worked, used what worked and he walked like pretty much normal.
Speaker: So it's really within 15, 20 minutes of trying a few different things.
Speaker: I had it figured out versus, uh,
Speaker: him getting worse and worse and I have to be on a wait list and I have to travel two hours to get him to my trainer which then costs extra money
Speaker: And so even though Warwick's online subscription costs $30 a month or whatever it is, that is relatively cheap, fast, and gave me confidence in myself and my ability to handle Opie and future problems that arise.
Speaker: And it really just instilled a belief in myself as an equestrian.
Speaker: And I mean, if you can get that for 30 bucks, who wouldn't do that?
Speaker: Now, I do think it's really important to note that with this particular issue, when I was trying those different things to fix it, he actually got worse for a little bit.
Speaker: And it's almost like he was giving a last-ditch effort to get his way or to find the weak spot in my training attempt.
Speaker: But when I kept asking in the same calm manner without escalating my own emotions or body language...
Speaker: and give it maybe trying different things getting giving him unclear body language he realized oh I guess I should just do this simple thing and it'll be much easier than fighting and we can get this done and then I can go back to my friends and Warwick had noted in a video that it's normal for them to get worse before they get better and I'm really glad that I heard that little
Speaker: piece of advice because it did encourage me to keep trying.
Speaker: So sometimes all we need is just that little bit of encouragement to stay the course, even when things aren't going great or getting worse, just stick with it.
Speaker: And I think the horses will surprise you sometimes.
Speaker: On to the next big topic that I took away from him is the idea of connection and becoming part of your horse's herd.
Speaker: So much of Warwick's training philosophy and his methods relate back to connection and being part of the herd.
Speaker: Yes, they know that we aren't actually a horse, but if you can observe the herb dynamics and horse behavior, then that gives you a really clear way of how to react and behave around our horses in a way that makes sense to them.
Speaker: So we need to notice and see the world and our interactions with our horses from their point of view.
Speaker: And this is the 13th principle, which is relationship before horsemanship.
Speaker: But in my eyes, it's really the first thing that you need to work on as an equestrian.
Speaker: And it's the principle that sets Warwick apart from all the other trainers.
Speaker: This is the one that he came up with that he thinks really ties all the other ones together.
Speaker: And so connection is a word that's thrown around a lot these days without much of a concrete definition, which I am planning an entire episode on this so we can save the deep dive into that for later.
Speaker: However, in Warwick's book, he begins to define it in the following way.
Speaker: And this is a direct quote.
Speaker: He says, to build a relationship with your horse, you must notice, release pressure and pause when you see the first sign of
Speaker: no from them.
Speaker: Stop and observe their behavior, body language, and relationship before preceding.
Speaker: He then later goes on to say a no from a horse could be anything from running away, blinking, raising their head, tilting an ear, holding tension, or even pushing into pressure.
Speaker: So Warwick has this flow chart that he came up with, and this is the main objective of it.
Speaker: So most of the flow chart is just being there and reacting to how the horse is acting and waiting for the horse to tell you that he's ready to do what you want to do.
Speaker: And so this is only possible if we're paying attention to the horse.
Speaker: We notice where their attention is and we react in a way that tells them everything's okay and we can be a role model for how they should act.
Speaker: I highly recommend if you don't do anything else after this podcast, looking up his flow chart.
Speaker: It seems really simple and easy and you think like, oh yeah, obviously you would do that.
Speaker: But I found that I really had to memorize it.
Speaker: And Obi would do something.
Speaker: I took a screenshot on my phone.
Speaker: And so when Obi would do something, I'm like, well, what am I supposed to do here?
Speaker: I had to keep going back to it until I had it fully memorized and down-packed, which you can't always, like, if you have a really...
Speaker: dangerous horse.
Speaker: I mean, you obviously can't do that, but OP is happy to just sit there and graze while I'm figuring out how I should react to him.
Speaker: So that's definitely, if you don't do anything else, I would highly recommend just looking that up and trying some of his stuff out.
Speaker: But anyway, so if we notice that our horse is giving us a no, which again, he says, could be things like running away, blinking, raising their head, tilting an ear, holding tension.
Speaker: But if you ignore those, then it will become bigger, like bucking, rearing, biting, refusing, pinning their ears.
Speaker: And these are all major issues that nobody can ignore.
Speaker: And they're the issues that most people are trying to fix.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But when we notice them, he talks about pausing and not proceeding until they're gone.
Speaker: Until the horses relax, they lick and chew.
Speaker: And that's how they show you that they've processed that and they're over it.
Speaker: And so you're not, I'm sure if you've heard anything about him, he talks a lot about the 13th rabbit.
Speaker: And so that's basically, you're just building all these tension things.
Speaker: issues up and you're not letting them process it and release it.
Speaker: So yeah, they saw 12 rabbits, but on the 13th one, they blew up.
Speaker: And so that's kind of where that's headed.
Speaker: But once we begin to do those things, we start noticing those little, the blinks, the raising the head, the tilting in the ear.
Speaker: That's where you're communicating to the horse that you see that.
Speaker: You're acknowledging it.
Speaker: You're taking a break.
Speaker: You're not going to push past it.
Speaker: And that's going to start laying the groundwork for a positive relationship and a deeper connection with your horse.
Speaker: Now, it's not always easy.
Speaker: It's not always a quick fix.
Speaker: This is going to be something that you have to gain the trust of your horse and that you're going to continue to listen to them.
Speaker: They have to trust you and you have to earn that trust by showing them over and over again that you're paying attention to their fears and worries and that will only take time.
Speaker: but if we can start doing that today you're going to be that much closer to your horse closer to being able to just walk into the arena get what you want to do done but i don't think that we should be asking anything of our horse until we can set that base level expectation
Speaker: Warwick also says on another level about connection that connection can also be releasing pressure when the horse begins to relax after an ask.
Speaker: So to me, that means a lifetime of communicating to the horse that you see them.
Speaker: And yes, your behavior will change and be more subtle as you progress in your training and as you move up the levels, be able to, once you're doing all these fancy movements and all that, but it's still a way that you can keep that bond and connection strong, even when you both advanced in your knowledge and education and education.
Speaker: you're showing goals or whatever it is that you're working on.
Speaker: So these little moments and changes and how you see and interact with your horse can prevent so many major problems down the road and prevent them from becoming those major issues.
Speaker: And Warwick is talking
Speaker: constantly talking about how these signs that we ignore show up in the major issues under saddle.
Speaker: So he gives a example of a horse who anxiously moves around while they're being saddled.
Speaker: And she's like, Oh yeah, every single one of them have this bloodline does this.
Speaker: And he,
Speaker: That it's not an issue, but like the issue is rearing under saddle.
Speaker: But to him, he's like, no, this is the beginning of the issue and you're ignoring all of this.
Speaker: And that's the hole in the training that leads to them rearing under saddle.
Speaker: So if we want to fix the rearing, we have to fix this issue now.
Speaker: The next maxim that I love from him is that first you go with your horse, then they go with you, and then you go together.
Speaker: So a lot of his beginning connection work starts with just being present with your horse, often without any lead ropes or ways to control the horse.
Speaker: And this shows you where the horse's mind is and where they prefer to be.
Speaker: So say you let them loose in the arena.
Speaker: What does your horse do?
Speaker: Do they pace the fence that's closest to the barn or their herd?
Speaker: Do they go out and explore the arena?
Speaker: Do they hang out with you?
Speaker: And that's all about finding out if your horse even enjoys being around you or do they think every moment away from their herd is arduous?
Speaker: Think of when you go to catch a horse, do they walk right up to you and are they greeting you or are they running away when you turn them out?
Speaker: Do they hang around or do they gallop off towards the herd and buck towards you as they're taking off?
Speaker: Like before you can even get the halter on.
Speaker: So all of these little behaviors say a lot about your relationship with your horse.
Speaker: So maybe if your horse is doing those things, you need to spend a little less time telling them what to do.
Speaker: We're just going into the arena.
Speaker: We're working.
Speaker: We're checking things off of our list.
Speaker: And we need to instead spend more time doing what the horse wants to do, just being in their environment
Speaker: being around them and being a part of the herd.
Speaker: And this could look like hand grazing, bring them in just for a groom and a scratch or simply just sitting in the field with them.
Speaker: And so we can use this time to notice what the horse is worried about, where they don't want to be touched, where they like to be scratched.
Speaker: We can engage with them if they're nestling you.
Speaker: I often take Opie on walks where I just let him lead the way and we end up in the middle of hay fields sniffing bales.
Speaker: Like the other day, he found these two bales that were next to each other and they had bird poop on it.
Speaker: And he sat there and sniffed that bird poop for 10 minutes.
Speaker: It was ridiculous, but it's what he wanted to do.
Speaker: And I'm perfectly fine with that.
Speaker: But we'll also go out and we walk by other pastures of horses.
Speaker: We inspect bushes.
Speaker: He spooks up bushes.
Speaker: We pass cross-country jumps.
Speaker: And he hasn't seen a lot of those, so he usually spooks.
Speaker: And then he immediately wants to go touch them and walk around them, inspect them.
Speaker: And these little walks that I do with him, I... Well, I originally did it because I wanted to just practice going to new places on the farm.
Speaker: That way, because he's not great when I...
Speaker: take him to new farms and venues.
Speaker: And so th is is my way of dealing with it at home.
Speaker: I'm like, well, every day we'll just go to a new place on the property.
Speaker: And I'm lucky enough to be able to board at a huge facility with lots of land.
Speaker: And Opie just loves these walks.
Speaker: And I love them because I get to see a side of him that's eager and curious.
Speaker: So a lot of times when we're in the arena, he's really lazy and slow and have to keep him moving forward.
Speaker: But when we go on these walks, he's like covering ground.
Speaker: He's excited.
Speaker: He's...
Speaker: looking out.
Speaker: He likes looking over the hills.
Speaker: And I think that he just gets really resentful and bored in the arena.
Speaker: And so it's a good mental break for him to go out and explore the property.
Speaker: And I just really enjoy seeing that side of him of being eager and excited and exploring.
Speaker: And if he starts getting a little too up and it makes me nervous, perfect.
Speaker: We can just go back.
Speaker: I mean, my goal is to at least take two steps on a different part of the property that we haven't been on.
Speaker: So we're, again, we're very lucky to have a property that big.
Speaker: And I know that that's not reasonable for everybody, but still just getting out of the arena and exploring can be so beneficial for them.
Speaker: And I love just letting him lead the way.
Speaker: We're going to go wherever he wants to go, where he wants to explore.
Speaker: The next maxim is it doesn't have to be an A, but a B plus will do.
Speaker: And this is something that I saw Warwick say in a video on his online platform.
Speaker: And I think it's especially important with young horses.
Speaker: Obviously, that's all I'm dealing with right now.
Speaker: So that's my lens.
Speaker: But it can also be vital when you're like teaching anything new or trying to fix a problem.
Speaker: I think a lot of us equestrians have a micromanaging problem and we want the horse to be perfect every time and on the first time.
Speaker: And that's just not a reasonable expectation.
Speaker: And I think a lot of the horse training issues that I personally dealt with come from micromanaging problems.
Speaker: and trying to control too much.
Speaker: So anytime I'm having an issue, that's my first thought is, am I micromanaging?
Speaker: I need to let go and let him do what he wants to do to an extent.
Speaker: But for example, I was watching one of his videos of him getting on a horse for the first time and the horse had a tendency to be lazy.
Speaker: So he was just introducing the leg and asking the horse to walk.
Speaker: The horse walked forward, but it was in a slow, sluggish manner.
Speaker: Warwick pointed out that it was OK as long as his legs were moving forward.
Speaker: He wasn't going to sit there and pester and keep kicking him to go faster.
Speaker: Yes, he would have loved him to have a more forward walk.
Speaker: But he was just teaching him about the legs and that the legs mean forward.
Speaker: And I believe at this point, he was also trying to just instill that if he uses the leg, the horse should maintain that speed until told otherwise.
Speaker: So he was really just looking to see if the horse stopped.
Speaker: He would then use his leg again to say, no, we're still walking.
Speaker: And now many of us probably would have just kept kicking, demanded a bigger walk because, you know, young horses, they have to be going forward.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But instead, let's just take that pressure off and just think about what is a basic thing that I need to teach them.
Speaker: Did we get partially there?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Is the horse kind of doing it right?
Speaker: Okay, well then that's good enough.
Speaker: Like, yeah, it could be better, but we have so many more training does ahead to make it better.
Speaker: And just stopping and rewarding that little try and not aiming for perfection can go a long way with a horse and probably get us there faster.
Speaker: And they're not going to become dead to your leg like in this example.
Speaker: Because if you just kept kicking and kicking, they're like, okay, well, I don't really know what she's wanting.
Speaker: I'm going forward.
Speaker: You know, it just creates a little more confusion.
Speaker: So I think just keeping that in mind that especially when you're dealing with an issue that you're trying to fix or you're teaching something for the first time, it's not going to be perfect and we can't expect it to be perfect.
Speaker: Now the final part.
Speaker: So what makes Warwick different?
Speaker: So if you start watching a bunch of his YouTube videos or his online platform videos, there are countless examples of him going to clinics, the horse is misbehaving or they're anxious or they're acting out with the owner holding the horse.
Speaker: But as soon as Warwick takes the lead rope, the horse almost immediately gets calm, relaxed, they're regulated, and they pay attention to Warwick, what he's doing, his body language.
Speaker: So what is Warwick doing different?
Speaker: How is he immediately impacting these horses' behaviors?
Speaker: Now, obviously, this is an exact science, and maybe not everyone can even learn it.
Speaker: Maybe it's just something that Warwick has in him, and he
Speaker: is innate to him.
Speaker: But in my mind, it has to be his body language, his energy, and his intention.
Speaker: So what does that mean?
Speaker: So let's break each one of those down.
Speaker: His body language.
Speaker: He's relaxed.
Speaker: He's not holding tension in his body.
Speaker: When he gives instructions to the horse, they're clear, concise, and consistent.
Speaker: He always asks for something in the exact same order.
Speaker: In many of the videos, Warwick has given you a step-by-step instruction, and he tells you to do each step for three seconds.
Speaker: And this really instills in us as trainers how we can give the horse clear instructions.
Speaker: It's going to give you that muscle memory on how to ask for it and really instill that in our brain.
Speaker: But it also gives the horse time to react before moving on.
Speaker: So they're going to say, oh, well, after she does this, she usually does this.
Speaker: So I should just move now.
Speaker: And so it just kind of gives everybody a little more time to think, be intentional and react the way that we think we should be reacting or the horse thinks they should be reacting.
Speaker: But you'll see in a lot of the videos that even though someone's told like, all right, point your left hand, Warwick will say, well, why is your right hand moving?
Speaker: Or your feet are moving.
Speaker: Do you even know that they're moving?
Speaker: All of those little details are going to be communicating something different to your horse that we didn't intend to.
Speaker: It's crazy how the details can make such a big difference.
Speaker: When I started doing these things for even simple tasks such as leading, he has a bunch of videos on leading with energy.
Speaker: I was blown away at how quickly Opie picked up on the things that I was communicating with him with my body language.
Speaker: And Opie would just start moving just from me tipping my body, like my upper body forward.
Speaker: Literally within probably 15 minutes, I taught him that.
Speaker: And this was so thrilling to me.
Speaker: And I mean, I've done so much lunging, leading.
Speaker: I've dealt with really hot horses, thought I was great on the ground.
Speaker: And it's crazy how these little details can communicate so much to them.
Speaker: But it was really eye opening to me too about how sensitive they are.
Speaker: And it really started to instill how fun Liberty work could be.
Speaker: I've never really had an interest in Liberty work.
Speaker: Didn't think it was that interesting or fun or something that I wanted to do.
Speaker: But I also didn't know anything about it, how it worked, how you could even do it until this leading exercise.
Speaker: And within minutes, I was having him walk off just from my body language, which then I could make him trot and canter just from my body language.
Speaker: That was just wild to me.
Speaker: Honestly, just so fun kind of playing with that.
Speaker: And then I was like, well, all liberty is, is taking this lead rope off of him.
Speaker: Like I'm not using it anyways.
Speaker: And so that was just a little eye opening and cool thing to learn, maybe some tricks to learn, stuff like that.
Speaker: But if you take that body language into riding, you can imagine how they can feel your muscles tense around them.
Speaker: If your weight's shifted to the left or right or more on your butt versus your pelvis.
Speaker: But we have to remember that horses can feel a fly land on them and that's how sensitive they are.
Speaker: So as long as you're giving clear, consistent instructions and are relaxed, there's so many possibilities that we can do with them, whether it's riding or Liberty.
Speaker: So on to Warwick's energy.
Speaker: He's very calm and he's aware of the horse and his surroundings and himself.
Speaker: He says that there's four things that you need to be aware of.
Speaker: What the horse is doing, what you are doing, what is going on between you and your horse, and what is going on around you.
Speaker: Warwick also demands accountability from the horse, so he makes them responsible for their rope and not running over you, which means that you aren't going to be micromanaging them.
Speaker: And like I said earlier, most of us have micromanaging problems, me very much included.
Speaker: And so I would assume that if you're trying to control every movement of the horse, that that would come off as an anxious type of energy to them.
Speaker: because what happens if they don't move that foot perfectly, etc.
Speaker: Like, do you get frustrated?
Speaker: Do you get angry?
Speaker: Do you try to drill the movement?
Speaker: And none of those really sound fun for the horse, which means that they're going to have increased tension and frustration.
Speaker: And we all know that none of that is conducive to horse training.
Speaker: So we have to be present and focused when we're around our horse.
Speaker: We can't bring any problems from the rest of the world into the arena.
Speaker: And I, for me personally, I used to listen to podcasts while I rode, or maybe you listen to music or whatever, but that's going to tune out the rest of the world around me.
Speaker: Literally, I have headphones in, like I'm tuning the rest of the world out and yeah, they can't, I mean, maybe they can hear it, but...
Speaker: Warwick has this saying that he says all the time that he credits to Ray Hunt, but he says that they know when you know and they know when you don't.
Speaker: So they know that you at that moment are not aware of what's happening outside the arena, what's flying above or something hiding in the woods.
Speaker: And if you're not aware of those things, then that means that they can't rely on you to watch out for them.
Speaker: So that means they have to be on guard and they have to protect themselves.
Speaker: Remember, they are prey animals.
Speaker: And so they're always looking for movement.
Speaker: They're tuned into scents.
Speaker: They're on guard for danger.
Speaker: And if you're not present, be it that you're worried about an issue at work, you're going through your long list of to-dos, or you're simply listening to a podcast, that means that they have to be hyper aware because in a normal herd situation, everyone would be being aware.
Speaker: And so they can't fully be present with you and work on what you're working on because you're not fully present as well.
Speaker: The next trait of Warwick's is his intention.
Speaker: So Warwick means no harm.
Speaker: Like I said, horses are innately aware of danger and predators.
Speaker: And if you have this agenda or an ill intent, that's going to be portrayed in your body language, which will cause tension.
Speaker: It also goes the same for having a timeline for the horse.
Speaker: If you're worried and stressed about the horse needs to hit this milestone by this age, then that's also going to show up and tension and stress.
Speaker: which will then be portrayed onto your horse.
Speaker: I mean, the horse doesn't know that it's supposed to be charting down the center line at age five.
Speaker: Your goal as a trainer is to teach one basic task until the horse understands that one task, and then you can build upon that one at a time.
Speaker: So trying to rush past what the horse comprehends or is physically capable of doing only hurts your goal of possibly showing them at age five if they're ready for that.
Speaker: So the training takes as long as it takes.
Speaker: If they catch on and are physically able to at five, great.
Speaker: If not, it's not the end of the world.
Speaker: Isn't their mental health and longevity more important?
Speaker: I mean, to me it is.
Speaker: So if it's not, maybe you should consider a different sport, one that doesn't involve an animal, and you can put all that pressure on yourself and you can handle that pressure.
Speaker: But Warwick also talks a lot about not holding preconceived notions or labels of the horse.
Speaker: So if you're expecting the horse to rear and that's all you can think about, guess what?
Speaker: It's going to bring tension, anxiety, nerves to your horse, and they're going to feed off that and be more likely to rear.
Speaker: and so warwick goes into working with horses with the simple intention of building a bond or relationship with the horse and to not treat it as a tool he wants to be seen as a reliable partner as a member of the herd even a leader to be looked up to and so just changing your mindset and your intentions to match that has been incredibly powerful in my horse training journey
Speaker: So when you start taking all those labels, goals, expectations off each training session, the magic just kind of seems to happen.
Speaker: I've also been approaching each session with a curiosity of what can Opie throw at me today that's different, that I can go through Warwick's flowchart, try out his different methods, look up new videos on how to fix all of that.
Speaker: I'm almost...
Speaker: eager to see if there's any issues that I can bring out just because it is so much fun and so rewarding fixing those.
Speaker: And at the end of the day, if there's no issues, great.
Speaker: We explored more, we did new things, we learned new tricks, we got further in our training.
Speaker: We're just playing with our horse a lot more and it's going to set them up to be a more well-rounded and educated horse.
Speaker: So I strive to go and do something new with OP Daily in hopes of learning, even if it's a tiny thing.
Speaker: so many of these ideas and principles run together and that's normal and it's part of learning to train and be around horses there's no horses are very dynamic and there's no clear-cut like this is happening you need to do this because then they might throw something else at you and all the principles and flowchart they just kind of mesh together
Speaker: There's not like work on one here, then you go to this, then you go to that.
Speaker: It's not like a set step protocol.
Speaker: But if you can learn those principles, learn the flow chart by heart, then you're going to be able to handle your horse more effectively and learn to train or fix any issues that might show up.
Speaker: So in summary, I think most people's issues with horses are a predictable cycle that looks a lot like this.
Speaker: So the owners or riders give unclear signals to the horse.
Speaker: They're stressed about their outside life, maybe.
Speaker: Maybe they're scared of their horse because of past behaviors.
Speaker: So they're starting to anticipate and create stress and anxiety in their own body about what the horse might do.
Speaker: Maybe they're unaware of when the horse wants and needs reassurance or touch from you.
Speaker: Maybe you misinterpret that nuzzling as a rude or aggressive act from the horse when all they're doing is just trying to show you that they need some affection and connection with you.
Speaker: Maybe you're too worried about hitting mile markers in training or prepping for a show.
Speaker: And so you start blowing by their needs and blowing by their signals of what they're trying to tell you and communicate with you.
Speaker: So then the horse begins to rear and buck and bite because they're screaming that they need something and that something's wrong.
Speaker: And then the cycle just starts all over again.
Speaker: So then you get mad, you label the horse as bad, you start getting anxiety about the behavior, which then creates more tension in your body that the horse can then sense and they start to get more tense around you.
Speaker: And it's just a vicious cycle.
Speaker: And I've been there.
Speaker: I think all equestrians have.
Speaker: If not, then you've been blessed with very well-trained, docile animals that just do everything that you want.
Speaker: But one thing that Warwick has taught me is to just stop, breathe, let things calm down, give your horse a benefit of the doubt, slow it down, ask in clear set of steps.
Speaker: and wait for them to get back to a zero.
Speaker: Wait for them to be calm, relaxed, no tension, licking, chewing, all that stuff.
Speaker: If that's all you get done for the day, that's okay.
Speaker: They're going to regulate faster next time.
Speaker: They're going to learn that they can trust you.
Speaker: You can start to form a connection that will last a lifetime.
Speaker: And this is vastly different from what I grew up thinking.
Speaker: You know, all those trainers that say, like, you need to make him do it.
Speaker: He's being naughty.
Speaker: Don't let him get away with that.
Speaker: I mean, to me, that's just ridiculous these days.
Speaker: I would much rather, if an issue shows up, stop, breathe, and I'm looking on my phone to see how Warwick says I should fix it.
Speaker: So I didn't really get into a lot of the book, to be honest, and his principles of training.
Speaker: Yes, they're important.
Speaker: I think every equestrian should read that book and learn those lessons.
Speaker: But I have just found so much value from all the videos.
Speaker: And there's just these different things that I'm picking up on that have their maxims that have stuck in my head.
Speaker: And I just thought that those are really important to express to you all.
Speaker: maybe get you a little curious about Warwick and maybe we can start viewing and interacting with our horse in a little different way that is more impactful.
Speaker: So Warwick is a very unique trainer.
Speaker: He has so much self-control, reflection and awareness of himself.
Speaker: So I hope I can keep learning from him using his principles and maybe one day I'll be half as good of a trainer as him.
Speaker: I think he does have something innate in him that is unexplainable, unattainable, and it's just a gift that he has.
Speaker: But hopefully we can learn a little bit something.
Speaker: Grab his book, listen to his podcast, check out his YouTube.
Speaker: And if you're dealing with major issues, you definitely need to get his online platform subscription.
Speaker: It's definitely worth the money in my opinion.
Speaker: So I will see you all next time and please share and like and follow on whatever platform that you're using and leave us a review.
Speaker: It really helps others to be able to find my show.
Speaker: So thank you and I will see you next time.
