HERE’S A FINE LINE BETWEEN TRAINING until your horse masters a skill and overtraining. It may seem like the more you practice, the better your horse will be, but I’ve found that too much schooling has the opposite effect. Your horse will start anticipating your cues, resulting in undesirable behavior—or worse, penalties in the show pen. Young horses may lope off too soon. Seasoned horses may stop at every cone without being asked. You want to be in control of your horse during competition, but if the horse decides he knows best, you’ll find yourself out of the driver’s seat while your horse takes the wheel.
