When we ask our horse to do something we want it to search for an answer. The application of pressure is not to make a horse do something but to motivate it to search for a response that gives relief from the pressure. The readiness of a horse to search is what we term a “try”. "Trying" is searching and the more "try" a horse has the more committed it is to search.
But (there’s always a but), there is often a dispute between rider and horse as to what is a “try”. Sometimes a rider thinks their horse is not ”trying” and increases the pressure, while at the same time, the horse is “trying” the best it can and screaming, “I am. I am trying”. Other times, a horse is simply repeating a learned pattern without any mental engagement and the rider is proud to boast how much “try” their horse has.
The problem stems from the fact that different horses have different degrees of “try” – not only from horse to horse but in the same horse from moment to moment. This is often because of the different temperaments and training experiences that can either improve a horse’s degree of “try” or damage it.
Horses are born with a lot of “try”. Their natural drive to problem solve is very acute. As trainers, we can promote and encourage the “try” in a horse or destroy it. Most horses that exhibit shutdown-type behaviours have had their “try” damaged by human intervention.
The second problem is that different riders have different opinions on what constitutes a “try” worthy of reward.
When you have a horse whose level of “try” is constantly changing and a rider who has a firm opinion on what is an acceptable “try” there are bound to be arguments and maybe even hostilities.
I believe knowing when a horse is “trying” is one of the hardest skills to learn. I get it wrong sometimes. I’ve seen Ray Hunt misjudge a “try” and I’ve seen Harry Whitney get it wrong. Every horse person I have ever seen gets it wrong from time to time. If even the best in the business misjudge a “try” in a horse, what chance do the rest of us mere mortals have of getting it right every time,
I think the problem stems from people believing a “try” always constitutes a horse doing something close to what we wanted it to do. This is often true. For example, when we want a horse to back up we often consider a shift of weight to the hindquarters and a foot going back as a “try” – and it is. But that does not mean that something less than that is not also a “try”.
A “try” does not always equate to movement. Remember I said “trying” was synonymous with “searching”. A horse can seem to be doing nothing on the outside, like a park statue, but still searching on the inside. If a horse is thinking about its options to find relief from the pressure it is “trying”. And this is where humans most often make the mistake of believing a horse is not “trying” because it’s really hard to see a horse thinking.
Horses that appear shut down are most often accused of not “trying” because they act as if only extreme pressure will motivate them to “try”. It is fair to say that sometimes a shutdown horse requires a lot of pressure to get them to “try”. But there are other times when they are “trying” and adding more pressure to get them to do something will kill their “try”. When a horse is “trying”, but acts inanimate, it is much better to use just enough pressure that the horse registers it is being asked a question, and WAIT. Wait for a few seconds, a few minutes, or a few hours. Remove the pressure for any change that is not an evasion. It doesn’t have to be what you had in mind to offer the horse relief. I say this because to hold the pressure for what the horse feels was a response created out of a good “try” runs the risk of killing the motivation to “try” further.
If you can’t wait, change the question and ask the horse to do something you know it can do more readily and with less anxiety. Then go back to the harder question.
I said earlier that a “try” could change from moment to moment in the same horse. This is because a horse’s focus and its needs or priorities change from second to second. This results in us always trying to capture its focus and direct its thoughts. But we are competing with the world to do this. It means we can’t rely on a horse’s “try” being just one thing. The amount of awareness and the feel it takes for a human to be good at judging when a horse is trying and when it is not, takes years of work.
You may have heard the saying “reward the smallest try”. It is a great concept and works well in training. However, the effectiveness of this concept depends on people being able to recognize a “try”. If you are not aware of what a “try” looks or feels like it will be a hit-and-miss affair what you will reward. This can only lead to a horse’s confusion.
To make matters worse, a horse’s “try” is always changing. For example, when we ask a horse to take a step back, we might initially reward it for just a flick of the ear or a shift of weight. Those things could count as good “tries” for lots of horses at the start of the lesson and they should be rewarded by removing the pressure. However, if you have been working on the backup lesson for a couple of months and the best “try” your horse offers is still a flick of the ear or a shift of weight, it is no longer a good “try”. It was a good try a couple of months earlier, but now it is just a set pattern of behaviour and nothing will be learned by rewarding for that.
At the risk of disappointing you, I can’t (and nobody can) tell you how to recognize a good “try” in your horse. Nobody can teach you when to ease off the pressure or when to hold the pressure and wait longer or when to apply more pressure. These are moment-to-moment decisions that are learned from experience and experimentation that give you magical powers to listen to your horse. This skill comes from knowing your horse and understanding what it is telling you. And believe me, a horse will tell you. They are always telling us something, even if we sometimes wish they would shut up.
In this video, I point out the process and series of tries that culminate in my mare, Six making a decision. Test your powers of observation by watching the first minute without commentary and then watch a second time at the end with my observations