11/08/2022
This was an article i wrote in 2014 which was later published in two magazines. After over a decade of teaching clinics across canada and taking over 2000+ first rides on unbroke horses I still have the same opinion on the subject.
The Misconception of 3 Day C**t Starting Clinics
The horse industry has witnessed the sudden rise and popularity of so-called "3 day C**t Starting Clinics". Based on the misconception of what the term "broke" means, some people are under the impression that under the guidance of a clinician, a horse can be started in 3 days. The word "broke" has also been applied to horses that have received 30-90 days of training. The difficulty of defining what constitutes a "broke" horse necessitates the deconstruction of the training process and applying some science to the discussion.
During a training session, the average horse retains approximately one percent of what is learned during that session--this is assuming the session was successful and everything went as planned. We can thus extrapolate that in one hundred days with an experienced trainer, a horse in the ideal scenario might be capable of retaining a very basic idea of something being taught. This rudimentary foundation is something which then must be built upon and retained for two to five years--minimum. Yes, you heard me correctly, two to five years of consistent training is what it would take for a horse to be considered "broke". Essentially, the horse equivalent of graduating high school, which is still far from being considered a "finished horse".
Which brings us to our next issue, the prevalence of inexperienced people riding horses below this "finished horse" level of training. The notion of "learning together" is fraught with difficulty. The reason why there are so many challenging and messed up horses today is precisely because of this notion. No, you unequivocally cannot learn together with your horse--this would be like throwing your sixteen-year-old teenager in a manual transmission vehicle and hearing him say, "hey, I can't drive but let's hit the road and learn together." If a rider cannot walk, trot, or canter in an effective riding position, or if they don't have knowledge of the basic rein, leg and seat aids for the discipline they are pursuing, then they should be riding a seasoned horse. Period. A green horse cannot help a green rider. It's that simple.
Training horses requires an incredible amount of feel and timing, not to mention experience. Starting horses cannot be taught in 3 days. It is an apprenticeship that takes years. 30 to 90 days of initial training is enough of a start that a professional or experienced rider can continue the training.
In my opinion, these 3 Day Starting Clinics should be banned--unless, of course, the trainer is the one getting on the horses…
