Woody has been making good progress! He’s able to jump small courses and he’s learning to come into contact. But lately, it feels like he gets stuck when things get hard for him—losing rhythm and impulsion in lateral work, or skittering sideways and bulging his shoulder around around tighter turns. And it’s always been my fault: working him too hard or too long, pushing him to do things without taking the little steps to get there, not giving him time to process, and getting frustrated when he misbehaves.

I'm watched The Road to the Horse two years in a row, and I’ve noticed a few things consistent to the most effective colt trainers.

It's so obvious that you can't force a horse to do anything. It's really important to have a relaxed horse if they're going to learn anything, and if you're going to teach them anything, it's how to problem solve and to cope with new situations as well as new things.

Ground work, manners, and trust come first. You can't establish yourself as a leader without making them feel safe. Gentleness and patience go a long way, because a horse can tell if you’re tense and frustrated, and that worries them. Horses are always telling us how they're feeling, and respecting those feelings establishes trust, and lets you teach them to return to a state of calm.

Learning how to listen to each other means you can figure things out together. You should build on small victories and work up to harder tasks. Insist on correct behaviour and reward them if they do it even a little bit right. You're making it hard for yourself if all you do is punish every mistake without giving them a better option. Go at their pace and learn to back off to get back to keep them in a good mindset for another day, because they remember bad experiences and you can't undo overwhelm easily. Quit while you're ahead.

I haven’t been good at following these basic rules. Working with a green horse is rewarding, but it's easy to rush them along. Woody has obviously been handled well by his previous owners and started sensibly by his last trainer, so it’s up to me not to undo all that. I’d intended to go at Woody’s pace, but sometimes the pressure of meeting goals gets in the way. I get tense, then he gets tense.

I've made mistakes with Woody lately, but I'm going to dial it back and let us both learn slowly and have more small wins. I want both of us to have a good time. Work should be fun.

It’s been humbling, but taking time now with the little things will set him up to live up to his potential.