Training Advice - Riding A Quarter Horse with Trish Wettenhall

This article is from the January 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

We teach them to move away from pressure”, said AQHA Board Member for 15 years, Trish Wettenhall and once again we were reminded that the hat you wear does not determine your ability as a rider and trainer. And I promise this is not a set up to tie in with the Andrew McLean article in this issue. We have followed Trish’s career for many years and know her to be a talented rider and trainer and have done features with her and clinicians she has imported to her Triandibo stables over the years.

Many people think the way a Quarter Horse travels, on the forehand, head on the ground, four-beat canter etc is the way they are supposed to go. “Some do go like that,” says Trish, “it is all in how they are trained and ridden.” There are plenty in the dressage arena who are far removed from the “training scale”, but they do not come in for so much criticism.

Horse Deals had the opportunity to sit briefly in on a training session and Trish dispelled a few of the myths. She rode the homebred, Triandibo Inhedynamic by Black N Dynamic out of the Inevitably mare, RQH Infatuation. The three-year-old is a beautiful horse with great expression and a real look-at-me quality.

“Quarter Horses do more, earlier than Warmbloods because I think they mature earlier and also, especially here, we do a lot of groundwork with them as one and two-year-olds. We teach them to move away from pressure; teach them to cross over using our hand and teach them to come forward and back with pressure from the halter or the bridle. He learns from my hand pressure what my leg pressure will do and they learn that the release of pressure is the reward. Therefore when we get on they understand leg pressure. Also, we take them in hand over bridges and poles etc and because we have taught them to respond to pressure, we can do that. Horses going from pressure on their head is important, as is their ability to park. Often in a competition, you may have to stand and wait for another horse to finish or the judges to come to you and you don’t want a horse going off just because you want him to stand and wait. The judges will certainly notice that. To some extent, it is in the breed and this horse will naturally stand, also we teach them to stand in led classes. But if you have a horse that wants to be on the move the moment you get on, then go and work it and soon it will be happy to park. That is teaching it to park. We teach them body awareness and to bend and move parts of their body independent of other parts and all this groundwork makes it easier when we get on board. What horses learn early, they learn well. The Quarter Horse is a compliant horse, but still, I try not to make anything a big deal.

“Under saddle, we start riding in a halter, then a side pull (a halter with a rein either side) then go to a bosal, a snaffle and then finally a bridle, with bit and shank when riding with one hand. Just like a dressage horse, a Quarter Horse has to go in self-carriage, coming through from behind and not on the forehand. To be correct the tips of their ears should be no lower than the wither. Once with showing, the emphasis was put on slowness, now it is put on correctness and if you can be slow and correct, great. This horse is in the later stages of his three-year-old training and he is in self-carriage. If he gets too low, I squeeze with my leg and lift my hand up. People think that our rowel spurs are severe, in fact, they are softer than the long shank dressage spur, as they roll. With the spur, we get in and get out and the reward is getting out. If the horse is good, we stay out and don’t niggle with the spur.

“One of the biggest problems seen in the Quarter Horse show pen is a four-beat canter, that and over cantering where the horse shifts its quarters too much in the direction it is going. Both are bad and both are man-made. In the paddock, a Quarter Horse does not produce a four-beat canter. The four-beat canter comes from a lack of engagement of the hind legs. People try to get collection by simply going slowly, but the horse needs to have lateral and longitudinal flexion and maintain self carriage before they will get collection.

“With this horse at this age, I don’t mind if he pokes his nose a little, that is better than being over bridled and having him overbent. Everything I do in training is leading towards showing an Open horse. I start as I mean to continue. I do not ride with my hands down beside my knee; I have my hands up in the position they will be when I ride one handed because that is the correct position.

“If he comes round the corner crooked and leading with the quarters, I correct him and bend him around my inside leg around the corner. It can be difficult to retrain a Quarter Horse because they learn both good and bad habits at such an early age. If the horse overcanters, I would be sure to make him go straight.

“I give nearly all my lessons on horseback because I can demonstrate what I want the student to do and I can work the horse at the same time. It’s a time management thing. Also, I can teach them the technique of counter canter, whilst educating the horse and we always teach counter canter, before we teach a flying change. We lengthen and shorten the stride, in both trot and lope. We use the rising trot in Hunter and Ranch Horse classes and as soon as I sit, he comes back to a collected jog. The extended lope is asked for in Ranch classes and I always use a forward lope to get lead changes, because it gets his hind end under him more, but I don’t worry about changes until they are four years old. I work at keeping him straight through the corner and if he feels like he is getting heavy, I will raise my hands and bend him around my inside leg.

“Nowadays the emphasis is not so much on under saddle Two Year Old classes and that is through the whole industry. Now, Two Year Old Led classes are popular. But I have always liked to breed a versatile horse, one that can go in five or six classes and people are really wanting that. At Triandibo we aim to breed a tall, elegant, muscular horse that is versatile, like this horse and he is naturally blessed with a lovely expression. We are still showing horses that are up to 20 years old here. If you don’t overwork your young horse they will last forever.”

Article by Anna Sharply.

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