“Training a Language of Confidence”

By combining control of the mind and body of your horse, you can safely increase performance.  Training is the language created between a horse and his trainer.  By training languages in a positive manner the horse and the trainer gain confidence in themselves and each other.  The method Kat uses to achieve this language is called “conditioned response training”.

What is the Conditioned Response Training?

Conditioned response training is a gentle way of communicating your idea to the horse using a positive reward.  By applying pressure, physically or mentally, you ask the horse to answer your request.  When he answers correctly, you reward him with a complete release of pressure.  Since the horse will not choose the exact answer you want on the first try, you build on a thought, then a step, then the movement itself asking for slightly more each time.  With repetition, this gradual progression builds a solid cue.  The horse then stays calm because he knows the answer.  Most undesirable behaviors are born from the horse’s confusion; the confusion is born from a deficiency somewhere in the line of communication. 

A way to think about it is getting a grocery list from your spouse on a cell phone.  If you have good reception you can get the entire grocery list.  If you have poor reception you might only hear that you need a loaf of bread when the list also included eggs, milk, and butter.  When you return with only a loaf of bread, your spouse is left disappointed and you are left confused.  It’s the same thing with your horse.  You ask him to perform a certain maneuver and he doesn’t do it; you end up disappointed and he ends up frustrated because he has no idea what your cue meant.  With conditioned response training the answer is clear quickly because a release of pressure is instant gratification.  Also, you do not ask your horse for more until it is clear he understands the lesson.  This training is implemented in three ways: in the round pen, from the ground, and mounted. 

How Is This Training Applied?

Using the theory of conditioned response, you teach the horse his foundation training.  Foundation training is a series of exercises designed to gain control of the separate parts of the horse.  Each exercise is designed with the goal of controlling a specific, individual part on cue.  You teach the horse what part you want to move, where you want to move it, how far you want to move it, how quickly you want to move it, and last, to move it with as little pressure as possible.  Combining the cues that are built solidly in foundation training, you have the ability to perform movements and maneuvers that can be used in the ring and on the trail.

What Happens After Foundation Training?

Foundation training provides a safe, comfortable, and enjoyable ride; performance training is for the horse and rider team whose needs are not satisfied by basic foundation training.  This training includes: lead changes, elevating the withers, choosing your horse’s headset, straightness and bend, advanced lateral work, shoulder-in, haunches-in, piaffe, sliding stops, passage, spins, canter pirouette, and trick training.  Performance training is achieved using the same conditioned response theories and the control and skills gained through foundation training.  At this point you start asking the horse to multitask, with your foundation work you already have control of the separate parts, all you have to do now is coordinate those parts to do the new maneuver. 

Kat’s Background

Kat started riding at the age of three and a few years later became known at the barn and in Pony Club as the kid who can ride the tough ponies, this was when Kat learned she wanted to be a horse trainer.  At this time Kat participated heavily in the Pentucket Pony Club with a main focus competing in Three-Day Eventing.  After a move to Brownsville, Vermont; Kat’s competitive focus shifted to distance riding where she competed successfully in both Competitive Trail and Endurance.

In 2002 Kat drove with her mother, Susan Olbrych, to Parachute, Colorado to participate in a clinic at John Lyons’ ranch to confirm their interest in attending the Certification Program, taught by Josh Lyons.  Josh invited Kat to the 2003 Certification Program because she showed “a fierce work ethic and dedication to horses and training”.  In October of 2003 Kat graduated at the top of her class qualifying her for the elite group of “Select” certified trainers.  This was truly an honor because Kat is the youngest person ever to be Lyons certified.

Today Kat resides in Perkinsville, Vermont with her husband Matt and two dogs, George and Toby.  Kat has a young Trakehner mare that she started and is bringing up in the discipline of dressage.