A Reflection of Recent Inspiration - Thank you, Lester Buckley!
Last week, we had the pleasure of doing a series of lessons with the renowned trainer and instructor, Lester Buckley. Lester is an eclectic horseman with extensive experience in both natural horsemanship and classical dressage. He has an impressive resume filled with Equine Science, studies with Ray Hunt, colt starting, training dressage in Germany, international jumping and dressage certification, and multiple cutting horse titles. Not only does Lester have a very unique set of training skills, he also proved to be an incredible teacher. He helped us gain insight, learn new combinations and sequences of exercises, and improve our precision and lightness with our aids.
I of course loved this opportunity to learn and be inspired. It came at a much needed time as I was struggling with winter training blues. I took extensive notes and really enjoyed not only my lessons, but also watching his approach with my students. But there was one thing Lester said that stood out to me. He said it while working with our pace mare, Skreppa, in hand with the bridle.
“… Wasn’t what I was asking for but is where I’m going…”
When I typed this into my phone notes, I knew this was a sentence that would stick with me for awhile. I knew it was something I would want to remember and contemplate.
Good trainers always have a vision in mind. They have a feeling, an idea, a moment, that they are always training towards. They never assume that the vision is instantly achievable but they always keep it in mind. It is always there for reference and to give context to the horse’s training progression.
Good trainers notice any progress toward that vision. If the horse offers even a small piece of that goal, they reward for that moment. In this way they encourage a horse to contribute more in our interactions with them. Horses should know that small offerings - even the slightest approximation of a behavior- will be noticed and rewarded.
Rewarding for any approximation of a desirable behavior - even one you weren’t necessarily planning on - builds momentum. The more often we can reward, the more quickly we can move towards our goal. Each sequence of cue-response-reward can build on the prior one. The more often you can cycle through that sequence in the direction of your vision, the more quickly the full formed behavior will take shape.
The major pitfalls in training usually occur when we don’t have a vision in mind, and we don’t recognize and reward all the small building blocks toward that vision - even if they don’t occur in the order we planned. Being positive and flexible in our attitude towards our horses’ efforts as we progress through training is one of the most powerful training tools we have. Lester’s words were a perfect encapsulation of these principles in such a short and eloquent statement.
Thank you to Lester for teaching us and huge thank you to Lisa Davis for hosting this opportunity for the Taktur team.