By Sylvia Loch

On two occasions when I had really important people visit my yard – the differences in our attitude to training and schooling was striking – and the outcome at the time, very disappointing.  Looking back now however, I realise I wouldn’t change anything.
The first time was many years ago, when we lived in Suffolk. I had a wonderful 7 year old Lusitano stallion for sale which had been bred by good friends of mine in Portugal. With impeccable breeding lines and a lovely flamboyance of movement, I had high expectations for him. Not only had I broken him in and brought him on carefully to about medium level dressage, he was already showing talent for changes and a promising piaffe. The decision to sell had not come lightly, but with publishing deadlines and altogether too much on my plate, I knew it was the right thing at the time.

The second occasion was several years after we moved to Scotland.  A European publicist was planning a trip to connect with various British writers and together with one of her authors – a dressage trainer , like me – she wanted to meet up. Apparently, both were familiar with my books but wanted to meet the horses too.  Although I did not know them at all, I did what comes naturally with foreign visitors of similar persuasion and invited them to stay since they had made no prior booking and living far from the city, as we do, it seemed inhospitable not to offer.
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Back to my experience in Suffolk…. the first serious person to view the stallion for sale – was a Dutchman but lacking (I soon assessed) much knowledge, he had brought along his trainer, a Frenchman.  What was my mistake? Well, some might have given the horse a good lunge first before the visitors arrived, put him back in the stable, groomed him up again and then started the ridden work when they arrived – as though from scratch. That is not my way. Like all young stallions (I call 7 young) this one was hot and always frisky first thing, so the first ten minutes in the school is generally the fun time.  I generally start the warm-up in walk with some bend and stretch work, lateral exercises of very short duration, e.g. a few steps of shoulder-in, ditto travers, ditto half pass on both reins, 90 degree turns on the hocks and half circles to ease the joints and lots of long rein.  This is then followed by forward and straight work ridden off their backs in a light seat.  Only, then – do we settle down to the work proper.  This gets the horse foward-thinking, loose through the shoulders and ready to concentrate.
And that is what we did. It was a beautiful morning and my stallion was full of the joys of spring. When it came to the canter down the long side, he was light on the bridle and happy as a bird. I often take the reins right forward until they are totally slack and hold a horse in this balance with my body to show the horse is not reliant on the rein – before taking it up again.  The visitors were not impressed.  By the time we had settled to start the serious exercises of the day, the horse eager but relaxed with a a lovely wet mouth, I was amazed to see the trainer and his client walking back to the stables.
The disinterest was plain. I can only imagine they did not read the situation. Was it possible they thought that because I had not yet ridden several long diagonals in extended trot (sitting), collected canter with changes, several full half-passes from one side of the long arena to the other, etc etc…. we could not do them? The thing was we could! But not straight out of the stable. I like to warm up first.
It was no good protesting – ‘hey, now we are going to show you all the movements!’ – I’d lost their interest. They were clearly ignorant. End of story – no sale. Just as well.
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The publicist’s visit was something else. I only knew them by name but since they were from overseas, we were more than happy for the pair to come and stay.  My husband knew the area where the trainer had her yard, so thoughtfully produced from his cellar the very best of their national wine to make them feel at home!  Two rooms were made up and I went to some trouble to produce a 3 course dinner for their first evening in Scotland.  The next day dawned bright for showing them the horses on the yard. At that time, I had 3 schoolmasters, one young stallion (Prazer) to bring on and a lovely young livery horse recently arrived from Portugal which I was helping a talented teenager to learn to school and ride correctly.
The visitors watched this combination first, and then it was time to work Prazer before my other students turned up for lessons.  He was still a little weak in the back at this stage and inclined to buck with too much pressure, so off we went into the warm-up routine in walk but he was too distracted to settle.  In the end, I worked him in a light seat in trot – to ‘blow the cobwebs away’.  He was determined to canter so after a while we compromised a little and basically had some fun.  I do not believe in rigidly insisting on a particular exercise, particular gait at this stage of the proceedings.  Generally it is better to go with the flow to get the horse comfortable and supple.  The real discipline required for later, will naturally follow – which it always does – but I never force it.  It has to feel right first.

The expression on the faces of the visitors was unique. I always give myself one hundred per cent to the horse as I work, but you’d have had to be blind not to pick up on the looks and asides. There was even barely concealed laughter, and it was not complimentary. Often they turned their backs.
That evening my daughter and I took our guests on a tour of the local town, the abbey and the castle.  That evening – another sumptuous dinner – only this time my husband brought out some champagne!  I had even arranged a lift to take our guests back to the airport, but have to confess I was not altogether sorry to see them go.
Unfortunately, the horsey world can be very impolite. We never received a thank you note or even an email.  Word got back to me that they were not impressed despite the fact my older horses were immaculate in their work which was of a high quality.  I had done them the honour of seeing the horses before they were warmed up… not afterwards. It is all too easy to show off – but I had allowed them into my home and into the preparation – thinking they really loved horses and might want to learn a thing or two.
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All this goes to show that we are all different. I believe in making the schooling process a joy for horses. I am not rigid in my outlook when we first come into the school, I make allowances, especially for young horses.  I am very disciplined in that I will ask for an exercise again and again until I have honed it to be as good as it can be – but not necessarily in the same moment or even the same lesson or even the same week.  There will be times when one just diverts the attention elsewhere and uses the energy to do something else.  I want schooling to be a joyful time for horses even though I am a perfectionist for myself.  This may sound contradictory, but it is quite possible to combine the two.

I always end on a note of triumph so I choose wisely what I will ask of the horse.  There will be times I know, he is not capable of offering something at that moment in time.  I accept this.  The wisdom of schooling is to know when to ask and how to ask.  Clearly in a dressage test, we have to do something at a particular moment and in a particular way, but you are much more likely to get a good result if you have taught the horse to enjoy his work in the first place.
With repeated reward and praise, horses begin to glow in the presence of their trainer or rider.  They will try and try again – often offering everything in a quite inspiring way.  To work with zest but without stress is a great compliment from the horse.  The psychology of training is just as important as the training itself.
Looking back, it didn’t really matter about the two sets of people who did not understand.  There are thousands of people I have taught over the years that do.  We were just very different