Breaking in
One of the first steps in the collaboration between horse and man is breaking in. This is a step during which the horse will learn to collaborate with man. However, it is not as simple a process as it might seem. What is breaking in ? We talk about it in this article.
Breaking in: what is it?
"Working" is a human social activity that animals have shared with humanity since the Neolithic. "Working" means investing one's biological body, but also one's psyche (Christophe Dejours, 2003). A study by Jocelyne Porcher (INRA) demonstrated that domestic animals are capable of taking initiatives to cooperate in the task (Porcher, Lainé and Estebanez, 2016).
For the young horse, the moment of breaking in is a moment of breaking away from the known breeding environment to enter a new life. He will have to face 3 new challenges: breaking away from the world of childhood, some breeders define breaking in as a second weaning; learning new things; managing new relationships with humans.
This is why successful breaking in involves building a coherent and stable mode of communication between you and your horse.
Breaking in a young horse means introducing him to real work situations by breaking down the learning as much as possible to ensure that the horse is able to succeed in the exercise, without smoothing over the real difficulties that he will have to face throughout his career. Breaking in also means getting the horse used to the accessories that will be useful to him, such as the kidney sheet, the riding rug, etc. and other items available on La Sellerie Française .
On the other hand, entering into work also involves an emotional investment in the learning situation. The educator's responsibility is to build a caring relationship with the young horse who is in a situation similar to a human apprentice, that is to say, an accompanied worker.
The basics of breaking in
Riding or harnessing is an end in itself. There are common basic principles between these two ends. The common feature is close work. To ride or harness, nothing should be undertaken with the young horse without going through ground work. This ground work always requires, whatever the discipline, consistency and determination. These common principles are found in the use of gaze, voice, position and touch.
The methods used during breaking in
The position
When working on foot, there must be a rapprochement of bodies between the human and the horse, that is to say a proximity between the two partners, either in a face-to-face posture or in a side-by-side posture.
The hand
The proximity between the human body and that of the horse will allow the hand to act, that is to say to touch the horse and prepare the hand-mouth relationship.
The voice
The voice guides actions, it reassures and it sanctions.
Human attitude towards young horses during breaking-in
The rider must engage in the relationship through his gaze, his voice and his touch. Nicolas Blondeau illustrates this well with the phrase: "Without a soul, the voice is nothing but a sound."
Consistency and determination
The horse must feel the human's will to accompany him with all his conviction in the completion of the task. The strength of the human is determination, and the gentleness of the human is consistency.