Training with rewards

I come up to Mark's to have a lesson on Gally. Mark puts me on a 20m circle. 10 circles in walk. 10 circles in trot. 10 circles in canter. Change rein. Repeat the exercise. Then, halt, and park in the middle.

"Has your horse walked, trotted and cantered well?", Mark asks.

"Yes".

"So now you halt. This is his reward."

Then Mark goes on to have a laugh about something or other. As usual with Mark's lessons, there is something much greater going on, than he lets on. I don't know, maybe he does't even realise it. The halt is not just a reward for the horse. It's a reward for the rider too. It's time to relax, to reflect and to hang out with your horse.

In a minute or two the lesson resumes. We do turns on the forehand. Heaps of them. One step at a time first. Then 180 degrees at a time. In between each turn we halt. We relax. This is the reward for the horse. This is the reward for the rider.

The next stage of the lesson covers turns on the hindquarters. And again we halt in between each turn. The reward.

Finally, we put the turn on the forehand together with the turn on the hindquarters, and get a side pass to the left, and side pass to the right. Then, halt. Relax. Reward.