It's Broke

The english language has a few words that are spelled the same and have very different meanings. In the horse world vocabulary it is no different. One of those terms that is often used and hosts a wide range of meaning is "broke".  The truth is most people use the term "broke" in the horse world right after they buy a winters worth of feed, pay the trainer, or screw up at the show. Today though I want to talk about broke in relation to how well a horse rides.

Often I hear people talk about how broke their horse is then find myself puzzled as they fail to turn in a 40 acre pasture, but hey it did not buck them off, so I guess it's broke. Then I talk with some trainer friends and they talk about how unbroke another trainer get's their horses.  Only to watch that trainer go in and mark big and win the class, yep that thing is fur sure not broke. So in this mangled mess of ideas lets start with one concept.  There is a difference between broke and gentled, then there is physically broke and mentally broke.

So the guy who can get on and the horse drives but never is dangerous has a "Gentled" horse not a broke horse. Pretty simple!

Now the tricky part is the broke concept, here are some simple thoughts.

*On a physically broke horse you can control all his body parts independently. In other words he will flex at the poll, yield his neck, shoulders, ribs, and hind quarters when you apply the proper cues.

*On a mentally broke horse when you go into a scary situation like a show, or trying to pass that big monster rock on the trail, your horse trusts you and allows you as a result of that trust to guide him anywhere you want to go.  Even past the big scary monster rock.

Ideally we want both a horse that is physically broke and mentally trusts us. This level of connection only occurs as both horse and rider come together in a mutual agreement.  To me this is what a truly broke horse is.  When he is looking at something and telling you "no way" and you can control his body,  resulting in him trusting you, and going where you asked at the pace you dictate.

So in the end remember that gentled is nice but not broke, unless it is the horse you hate to ride cause he won't go where you want and still leaves your bank account broke. However just because something won't flex its chin like butter doesn't mean it's not broke, it may be more trusting than your super soft pony with its head bent around to the right running off to the left.

 Until next time get your horse broke before they break you and remember to slide long.

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