Breaking-in : the beginning of a working relationship between man and horse
This fact sheet presents the basics of the relationship which is established between man and horse in working together. Breaking-in is the first step in this relationship.
« Working » is a human social activity which animals have shared with man since the neolithic ages. « Working » is defined as engaging one’s biological body but also one’s psyche (Christophe Dejours, 2003). A study by Jocelyne Porcher (Inra) demonstrated that deomestic animals can sometimes take initiatives to cooperate with the task at hand (Porcher, Lainé et Estebanez, 2016).
For the young horse, breaking-in is a break away from the breeding environmnt he has known so far, to enter a new life. There are three factors to be faced by the young horse :
Breaking away from infancy, some breeders define this period as being equivalent to a second weaning period (Porcher and Barreau, 2019) ;
Establishing new learning processes;
Coping with new relationships with humans (Porcher and Barreau, 2019).
This is why a suceesful breaking-in period consists in building a coherent and stable communication system (Ifce, 2015).
Breaking a young horse consists in presenting him with new work situations, by decomposing them as much as possible to ensure that the horse can cope with the exercise, without however completely ironing out the genuine difficulties the horse will have to face throughout his career.
On the other hand, the start of this work relationship demands an emotional investment in the learning process. The trainer’s responsibility lies in building a kindly relationship with the young horse, who is in the same situation as a human apprentice, i.e. an accompanied worker (Porcher and Barreau, 2019).
The fundamentals of breaking-in
Riding or harnessing the horse are the end purposes. There are common basic principles between these end purposes. The common point is close-up work. To be able to ride or drive, nothing should be undertaken with the young horse without going through work on the ground. This ground work always requires, for whatever discipline, coherence and determination. These common principles are in the use of eye-contact, voice, position and touch.
When working with the horse from the ground, there should be a closeness between the body of the human and the animal, either when facing one another, or in a side by side posture.
The hand
Closeness between the body of the trainer and the horse will enable the hand to act, i.e. to touch the horse and prepare the hand to mouth relationship.
Voice
The voice directs the actions, it reassures and disciplines.
The trainer’s attitude towards the young horse during breaking-in
The rider should engage in the relationship through eye-contact, voice and touch. Nicolas Blondeau illustrates this as follows : « Without feeling, the voice is merely a sound ».
Coherence and determination
The horse should feel the trainer’s will to accompany him with the conviction towards acheiving the task at hand. A human’s strength is his determination, and his gentleness is coherence.
It is only once the horse is calm that his attention can be channeled to the different requests made by man. Therefore the rider’s attitude towards the young horse should be one of supporting any effort. To do this, the rider or driver must be attentive to the horse, and only the horse. His voice should firstly reassure, but also be a guidance.
Forward going : impulsion associated to control of locomotion
This means teaching the horse a consistent communication means, once the steps in the learning process have been decomposed as far as possible to ensure that the communication mode is assimilated by the horse. This communication mode will also ensure a forward going attitude.
Straight : the principle of lightness
Right from the start, the horse must be made to work in the pace requested, which implies getting the horse to go straight from the very first steps of the learning process.
It all begins with work from the ground
Riding or harness driving are the end purposes, with common basic principles. The first of these is working from the ground. Whether for riding or driving, it all begins on the ground. Here are the first steps of breaking-in which are common to all disciplines.
The relationship between the rider or driver’s hand and the horse’s mouth is the foundation of French tradition equitation. Horsemen speak of this rapport poetically. Nicolas Blondeau says : « We take a horse by the mouth, as we would take a child by the hand ». Louis Batsy compares the action of the driver’s hands on the reins to « the action of a father reassuring a son by placing a hand on the son’s shoulder ». The action is always a combination of efficiency, tact and discretion.
During work from the ground, the horse should be accustomed to moving forward in response to an action from the stick, by demonstrating that the movement of the stick is not negative or threatening to him.
4th stage : placing the horse in a real, potentially difficult work situation
Examples : loading into a trailer or driving through a narrow carriage door for the harnessed horse.
When the young horse has assimilated these first steps in the learning process, he is ready to approach the specific steps of either ridden work, or carriage driving, which starts with the saddling or harnessing process. These steps are presented in specific fact sheets.
Know more about our authors
Florence MEA Directrice générale adjointe de l'Ifce
Translated from french by : Karen DUFFY Translator
Louis BASTY Formateur « Attelage » et « Travail à pied » IFCE - expert fédéral « Attelage » et « Travail à pied »
Nicolas BLONDEAU Instructeur d’équitation BEES2, titulaire du BFEE3 - Ecole Blondeau à Saumur
Sophie BARREAU Enseignante BEES1, titulaire du BFEE2 - Ecole Blondeau à Saumur
Bibliography
DEJOURS C., 2003. Travail Vivant - Tome 2, Travail et Émancipation. Edition Payot, 256 pages.
PORCHER J., LAINÉ N. et ESTEBANEZ J., 2016. Travail animal, l’autre champ du social. Revue écologie et politique n°54, édition Le bord de l’eau.
PORCHER J. et BARREAU S., 2019. Le débourrage des jeunes chevaux. Un terrain inattendu pour la psychodynamique du travail ? Travailler, 2019/1 (n° 41), pages 153-169, édition Martin Média.
