The Training of a WarHorse -Part One

Riding Danny to the win at Champs in 2013

This month, I attended the Æthelmearc Kingdom Equestrian Championship which was hosted by the Stormsport event – War Muster and Æthelmearc Academy. The event was held at Albion Fairgrounds west of Erie, Pennsylvania. I have entered this competition every year (except one) since the Kingdom started holding it and won it in 2013. At that time, the competition was also held at Albion and I was riding my buckskin horse Danny .For several years I had been letting my students ride Danny for this event as he had become an accomplished war horse and I wanted them to have a good experience. In 2013, I decided maybe it was a good idea to ride my own horse, who I had spent a great deal of time training, in the championship in a real effort to win. Until this time, I had been competing on greener horses that were still learning. Danny carried me to the win that day.

Rex, my champion mount in 2015

Two years later, I was eligible to compete again (Champions cannot compete in successive years). For the last few years I had been training one of my other horses - Rex, a half-Arabian gelding - and he was showing real promise, becoming a confident and skilled mount. Rex is the type of horse that you don’t bully or push around. He is intelligent, but sensitive. When he makes a mistake, a simple correction is usually enough to let him know he did wrong. A stern word usually suffices where another horse may need a smart smack on the neck. Rex doesn’t easily forgive rough treatment. Hence his training needed to progress slowly, allowing him the time to learn and figure things out himself, without being forced to accept the situation.  Slowly and methodically, he was introduced to the various tests of skill that we practice in the SCA such as the Quintain, Heads course, as well as Mounted Archery and Combat. This method of training for this horse was validated when Rex carried me to the win in this year’s Championship. That success was confirmation that Rex had what it takes to be a real champion.

In these competitions, the rider’s skills are certainly important, but the ability of the horse and its suitability for this work are paramount. A fait rider can turn in a respectable score on a trained warhorse, while the most skilled rider can score low on a newer or untrained horse. As in period, the success of the mounted warrior is dependent upon his/her mount. A well trained war horse is extremely valuable and the time it takes to properly train a war horse is time well spent.

In this blog I will attempt to chronicle the training of a warhorse from start to finish. Because Rex is already well into his training, as are most of my other horses, this series will focus on the mounts of two of my students. These horses are currently under training for use in the SCA. Both, interestingly enough, are mares. This is noteworthy because for the last decade I have kept geldings on the farm nearly to exclusion of the female sex of this species. This is not because I have any particular dislike for mares, but because in the past, my geldings have acted like idiots when I had mares on the farm. Distracted and behaving like pubescent teenagers, they were difficult to train and keep to a routine. Perhaps now that they are older, they don’t seem as interested and have been more tolerant of the mares. And so, for the first time in a decade, mares and geldings are sharing space on the Ravenstar farm, though in separate paddocks.

Mira is a ten year old Haflinger mare who came to the farm last year. She bears the typical sorrel Haflinger coloration with a lovely dark coloration and a bright flaxen mane. Mira is a small mare, sticking at 12.3 hands, but is stout, weighing about 700 pounds. She was purchased through a local horse dealer who picked her up at an auction in southern Ohio. When she came, she was sick, which is not uncommon with auction exposed horses, and was overweight and a bit cresty. Because she is prone to Insulin Resistance (IR), she now wears a grazing muzzle when out on the grass. She had been ridden but was completely unschooled. She did not know how to neck rein and had never been cantered under saddle. Like most members of her breed, she was pushy on the ground and needed to learn good manners and handling. The first few months of her training consisted of flat work in the ring and trail riding.

The second subject of this study is a nine year old draft cross, Luna. This mare is most likely a Percheron/Paint cross. This determination is based on her body shape, confirmation, markings and skin type. The mare is a rose grey with some pied marking; about 14.3 hands and weighs about 1150 pounds. She came to the farm this June from a farm in Maryland. Her prior owner had her several years, using her for trail riding. The mare hadn’t been ridden much and was generally on her own program. Hence she was willful and reluctant to work. Because of this, my student was having difficulties handling the mare and getting her to work. It was determined that it would be best for both the mare and him that she be transported to my farm for a summer’s worth of training. My student, Morien, is an incredibly motivated and enthusiastic rider, but having only begun to ride last year, he is still very green and not experienced enough to train a horse as green as Luna. Green horse – Green Rider, as the saying goes, is never a good combination.

Both these mares underwent similar ground training. This training covered basic obedience from the ground – how to walk next to the handler quietly and calmly, responsive to their cues. The most important thing both needed to learn was to stand patiently at the halt, and not to crowd or push the handler. Both mares had a tendency to do this, attempting to dominate the handler. Horses are herd animals and rank in the herd is an important aspect of their existence. Horses need and want to know where they stand in that hierarchy, and this includes their relationship with a human who they see as part of their herd. Just like in training dogs, who are also social animals, it is important that the horse see the human as being at the top of that hierarchy. This is not achieved though harsh physical domination but by consistent handling and establishing clear boundaries which the human will not tolerate the horse violating. Hence, when training both mares, I consistently rewarded appropriate behavior and corrected undesirable behavior. When the mares walked quietly, at a respectful distance from me, keeping pace with me, I rewarded them with a soft voice and pats to the neck. Willful or resistant behavior was met with a stern word, a sharp tug on the lead, or even a smack to the neck. Within a few short sessions, both mares responded well.

Mira is still working on patience as she tends to get restless when standing.  Like a hyper-active child, she fusses and moves around and has to be reminded to stand patiently. This is an on-going training for her which will have to be continued for some time. She will likely always have a tendency to be inpatient as this is part of her personality, but with consistent handling, she will do just fine. Luna, on the other hand, possesses the draft’s cooler temperament, and is content to stand for long periods of time, enjoying the occasional petting and soothing word from her handler.

This ground handling it critical to the training of a war horse. Obedience, patience, waiting for the rider’s commands – these are all important when handling a horse on the ground; and equally so when riding a horse. In riding a war horse, where the rider is handling weapons such as a long lance or sharpened spear, these qualities become critical. As a Classical Training, I relay on the principles of classical conditional and time-honored traditions and techniques. Rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior is the cornerstone of this training.

Reward comes in the form of a gentle soothing voice, a scratch in a favorite spot or a gentle pat on the neck. I do not believe in bribing horses with treats especially as I think that hand-feeding leads to nipping and lets the horse know that it is appropriate to mouth or put their teeth on a human. Therefore, I do not use treats as a reward. If students want to give their favorite mount a treat, I will allow them to place an apple in the horse’s manager after the ride, but not hand feed it. In this way the student feels good about how they thanked the horse for a good ride, and the horse gets the treat, but no bad behavior are reinforced.

Reward is just important as punishment, perhaps more so.
A gentle pat or caress goes a long way to reinforcing good behavior.

Punishment is immediate, short and clear, but humane. A stern word is sufficient for some horses, like Rex, to remind them that they have over-stepped a boundary or been forgetful. Some horses need a sharp smack to the side of the neck, while more sullen or spoiled horses may need a sharp rap with a crop or whip. None of this punishment should be delivered in anger, but only as reinforcement of a request by the rider or a reminder to the horse to stay obedient. This reward and punishment needs to be consistent.

I also follow the Rule of Three, or Progressive Stimuli. In other words, the first time I ask a horse to do something, such as to take the trot from the walk, I ask nicely, with the least amount of stimuli. In this example, I use a gentle pressure with my calf on the horse’s flank. If the horse responds appropriately and trots, the aid is stopped. The removal of the stimulus is a reward in itself. If the horse does not respond, I ask a second time, more forcibly. In this instance, I would apply a stronger leg aid. If the horse fails to respond a second time, the third stimuli is much more sharp and demanding. In this instance, I would strongly kick the horse, demanding the trot. The stimulus is sharp, quick and to the point. With consistent repetition, the horse learns to respond to the lighter cue or aid and the rider does not end up flailing the horse or constantly and annoyingly battering their horse’s sides with their legs.

Working the mares in the ring with their owners,
my students Rowena (Crystal) and Morien (Stephen).

Both mares were worked on the ground in this manner, taught to lead, stand quietly, tie and cross-tie. They learned to be patient during grooming, tolerate fly spray and learn trust. On the ground, I expose them to a variety of potentially scary objects, such a tarps, blankets, plastic, rattling things, etc. This starts their war horse training and reinforces good manners on the ground. I introduced these objects to the mares, reassuring them with my voice and hand, and expecting obedience in the form of them standing quietly and not fussing. The mares learned that I would not harm them or expect them to confront things that would harm them. This training on the ground carries over to work under saddle. This begins to establish a trust relationship with the horse so that when faced with a scary obstacle under saddle later, the mares would rely on that established relationship to confront new obstacles in the future.

The next installment will cover the beginning ring work with both mares. Like the ground work, this type of training would provide a foundation for the mares’ later war horse training.