I can’t stress enough the importance of training the basics for every horse.

By basics, I mean tasks like leading, being relaxed for the farrier, not crowding the feed bucket, transitioning through the different gaits, being relaxed to mount, being okay to be separated from their paddock mates, being relaxed to ride alone or in a group, loading comfortably and traveling well in a trailer, etc. The list is almost endless.

But it is in the basic training that we establish our relationship with our horse. It is in the basics that we confirm a partnership or a master/slave relationship. The quality of basic education training sets up the quality of training at the more advanced levels.

That’s why so much of what I see under the label of “training” is a mystery to me.

At clinics, I sometimes meet horses that can perform difficult and complex tasks, but they cannot stand relaxed to be brushed or saddled. I know horses that can offer shoulder in and haunches in and lead changes yet can’t be ridden calmly out of an arena. I know horses that can be competitive around a jump course, but they are unable to stop a few strides after a fence without having the bit ripped through their mouth. I know horses that can work at liberty, but they lead like they are on a death march.

We love to see a horse perform high-level movements. We see that as a mark of excellent training. Then we ignore the fact that the horse cannot stand next to its rider quietly and relaxed. At horse events like Equitana, many trainers display their skills with a demonstration of standing on a horse’s back while cracking a stock whip or riding collected movements. But where is the trainer who can show a troubled horse offer a quiet relaxed trot? That’s the trainer I want to talk to.

A few years ago a dressage trainer approached me for help to teach her horse to trailer load. It should never happen that a professional, a so-called expert, does not understand such basic training.

People are in such a hurry to get to the top that they lack an appreciation of the basics. We trainers are the worst because our business depends on wowing an audience and our clientele with what we can get horses to do.

Most people dismiss the importance of “brilliance “in the basic training of their horse because they can get away with it. So instead they focus on “brilliants” at the more advanced tasks because that’s what wins medals, that’s what impresses our friends, and that’s what puts the biggest smile on our faces. But we are setting up our horse for failure if we do not strive for “brilliance” in their basic education. We will fail both as a friend and a teacher to our horse.

We revere the people who are at the top of the performance scale. We don’t care if their horse can’t stand relaxed to be mounted. But we should. We should revere the people who can help a horse relax when mounted. We should praise the trainers who spend enough time teaching horses to lead brilliantly. We should admire those who appreciate the importance of excellent basics and not just ‘good enough’ basics. Without those excellent basics, the training that comes later is often just tricks.

So much of what we train is teaching horses things because we can. And so little of what we train is teaching horses things because we should.