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Now that you are familiar with the options available for sessioning your horse, as well
as the basic functions of the energy bar, I'm going to take you through a month of sessioning
with a few different horses so that you can get an idea of what it would be like to session
horses at various levels in their training. Afterwards, I will discuss popular methods
of training as well as some helpful tips.
Before I begin sessioning I would like to discuss a few things that can affect your
horse's training speed and progress.
A horse's learning speed is affected by primarily by two things: genetics and age. Some horses
are more willing than others and will learn more quickly. This is often referred to as
their trainability. This is a genetic trait, and like any genetic trait selective breeding
can improve or worsen it. Age is the second factor. The earlier you begin working with
a horse, the quicker they will learn. If they are used to people, and being handled by people,
they won't be as resistant to training. Age effects learning during ground and green training
and has no effect on discipline training. A common misconception is that the intelligence
trait effects a horse's training speed. This is not true; a horse with higher intelligence
will not learn more quickly than a horse with low intelligence. However, a horse's temperament
will have an effect on how quickly it learns. A foul-tempered or high-strung horse with
higher trainability will not learn as quickly as an even-tempered, willing horse who has
slightly lower trainability.
Now that you're more familiar with what does, and does not effect a horse's training speed,
I'll begin sessioning.
To get to the sessioning area I can either scroll down Bob's page or I can use the "Sessioning"
link to jump quickly down to the appropriate area.
Since I'll be doing groundwork with bob I am going to take this opportunity to hide
the discipline training options by clicking on the "X" placed above them. Now I can't
accidentally click a discipline option. Hiding the discipline options in this way can be
a very good way to help prevent against unintentional clicks that could result in an injury to a
young horse not prepared for discipline training. When I decide to begin discipline training
I can click the "+" sign and expand the discipline options to full again.
First things first. Before I can do too much with Bob I have to get him used to his halter.
So I'll start by clicking on the "Introduce Halter" task in the ground training section.
Pay special attention to Bob's energy bar as I do this. Well, it's very obvious that
Bob wants nothing to do with me or the halter, and as you can see his energy has dropped
quite a bit. Since I'm new to Bob and Bob is new to me, I'm going to quit training after
this first session since it took a lot out of him and I am unfamiliar with how much stress
he can handle. You'll notice now that his "Time Worked Today" is 10 minutes because
I used one session, and I have gone from 10 available sessions down to 9. Note that because
I began training with 30 days remaining Bob's "Days Sessioned This Month" has not changed
from zero. As soon as I begin working him with 29 days remaining, his "Days Sessioned
This Month" will begin to tally. Since I still have several sessions available to me
I'll take this opportunity to groom Bob. As we discussed in part 1, you'll notice that
grooming requires no energy from Bob, but still requires a session to complete each
grooming task. Each time I perform a grooming task Bob's time worked increases by 10 minutes
and I lose another session. Bob has no been handled for 40 minutes and I have used 4 sessions.
I still have 6 left, but I would like to continue training Bob, so I'm going to click on the
"Next Day" button and begin a new day.
You can see that I now have 29 days left available to me and my sessions have been reset to 10.
Bob was rather tuckered out from yesterday's sessioning and today he has started with less
than full energy. This is nothing to be alarmed about and can happen from time to time. I'll
keep it light today and only try introducing the halter to Bob once. You can tell by his
reaction that he is still not very pleased with the halter, and his energy has dropped
a good deal. I'll spend a few more sessions and groom Bob, as I do not feel it would be
wise to continue training him today.
Bob has now been handled for 1 hour and 10 minutes. I have used 7 sessions, and his "Days
Worked This Month" has changed to 1. There isn't much else for me to do with Bob today,
so I'm going to click the "Next Day" button and begin a new day.
Now you can see that I have 28 days remaining and my sessions have reset to 10.
Bob had a good rest last night and his energy is full. I'll attempt to introduce the halter
to him again and see how he handles it. Well, he's still very shy about it, but today he
didn't expend quite as much energy as he did the day before. I think he can handle another
training session with the halter so I'm going to try introducing him to him once more. Still
shy, but he is making progress. I'm going to play it safe and stop training for today,
as Bob's energy is now a bit low.
As I'm sure you've realized from these few days of sessioning Bob, energy loss is not
static. Even for the same task, Bob lost more energy during some training sessions than
he did others.
Depending on the horse's reaction they can lose less or more energy, so it is wise to
keep an eye on their energy bar to make sure you don't push them too far. This is something
you will develop a feel for with practice, so don't feel intimidated if you over-exert
your horse a few times by accident.
Now that you've been able to watch me session Bob a few times, I'll jump forward to the
end of the month and we'll see how he has progressed.
Well, it's the end of the game month and Bob has made some progress. Due to his age it
has been rather slow, but he is a little less worried about the halter and as you can see
from his reaction he is beginning to inspect it and take some interest in our training
sessions.
My grooming sessions have also paid off and Bob's coat condition has gone from good to
excellent.
The next horse I'll be working with is Milly. She is a 6 year old mare who has finished
her groundwork and is ready to move on to basic under-saddle training. She's accustomed
to being handled from the ground, is comfortable wearing tack and being driven on the long
reins. Since being ridden is new to her, I'll begin by simply trying to get her moving out
at a walk by selecting the "Train To Walk Out" task in the under-saddle basics section.
All right, well, she's unsure about this and has decided her best plan of action would
be to not move forward. This request has taken quite a bit out of her, so I'm going to call
it on training for this game day. I'm not concerned about grooming at this time, so
I'll go ahead and proceed to the next day and resume training Milly.
You can see from her reaction that she is rather confused and unsure of what she should
be doing. The stress of carrying a rider, as well as the presentation of this new task
is wearing her out quite a bit. I do not believe she can handle another session of training
today, so I'm going to proceed to the next day.
Since Milly is old enough to handle the weight of a rider and more stressful activity, I
can break up her training routine with various exercises to help improve her fitness. As
I mentioned in part 1, these exercises require varying levels of energy to complete depending
upon how strenuous the activity is and the current fitness of the horse. Milly is not
very fit right now, so I'm going to start with something that isn't too strenuous: lunging
on the flat. This exercise took a lot out of her, so it will be all I do for today.
Milly may not be able to do a lot right now, but once her fitness improves she'll be able
to handle more activity.
Now that you've seen me train Milly under-saddle a few times, as well as demonstrate exercising,
I'm going to skip ahead to the end of the month and we'll see how Milly has progressed.
The going with Milly has been a bit slow. Her temperament isn't the best and she did
begin under-saddle training at age 6, so she has her age working against her. Despite this,
I was able to make some progress. Milly made an effort to move out during some of our training
sessions and I as able to improve her fitness a little with some light exercising.
It may seem like training can take a long time but remember what I talked about in the
beginning of this video. Selective breeding can be used to improve trainability as well
as temperament within your herd. So don't feel discouraged if you begin with a horse
that isn't the swiftest of learners.
When your horse is mature enough to be started under-saddle, you can also begin exercising
it. Exercising your horse and improving its fitness can increase your horse's energy and
enable him to handle more training and exercising each day. However, it is important to note
that a fitter horse will also be able to put more effort into his work, and because of
this, he will expend more energy.
Remember! The energy your horse expends is not static.
Bill is the last horse I will be training for this tutorial. He has mastered his groundwork
and has a great understanding of the basics under-saddle. Today I'll be beginning his
more specialized discipline training. I've opted to train Bill for Dressage, and I've
done research into the discipline so I know what will be expected of him.
On this first day I'm going to work a bit on improving Bill's gaits. By working on his
walk, trot and canter I will help to improve his way of going which will be beneficial
in the Dressage ring.
You can tell by Bill's reactions that he is unsure of what I want, but in time he will
become familiar with my more refined cues. I'll finish off the day by working bill over
some cavalletti, which will help improve his fitness ratings. You'll notice from this day
of training that Bill has used far less energy than the previous horses I have handled. He's
more fit and better able to handle the stress of work, so he can handle more sessions. Note
though that practicing the walk, trot and canter is not nearly as intensive as many
of the other discipline options, so remember to always be careful and pay attention to
how much energy each task is requiring from your horse.
On this second day I will continue working on Bill's gaits and followup his training
with a quick sessions over the cavalletti.
Since I've already spent a few sessions working on Bill's gaits I'm going to move on to some
other tasks. I think today I'll practice the reinback and some basic leg yielding exercises
that will help to prepare him for the more difficult maneuvers he'll be performing later.
You can tell by his reactions that he is struggling with even these basic maneuvers and it will
be some time before he understands and is able to skillfully perform every maneuver
required for Dressage.
Now that you've seen me session Bill several times as I work on preparing him for Dressage,
I'll skip ahead to the end of the month and discuss his progress.
Well, I've sessioned Bill for 30 game days and he has made quite a bit of progress. I
was able to introduce him to many Dressage maneuvers and I broke up his training with
different exercises to help improve his fitness so that he is able to more easily perform
his job.
As you can see, his fitness ratings have improved quite a bit.
There are several important things to remember when you begin training your horse for a discipline
or for a specific class.
First and most importantly: don't rush! Unlike ground and basic under-saddle training, discipline
training is a much more involved and lengthy endeavor and while it may be tempting to rush
through your horse's discipline training, take a moment and consider what that means.
When horses in real life begin in beginner level competition they are still new to their
work and would not have mastered the basics, nor have they touched upon the more complex
tasks that will be asked of them later. Equine-Ranch is no different. Fully training your horse
to his maximum in discipline training is before you even begin in beginner competition is
unfair and unrealistic. Your horse does not need to even be competent in his discipline
training before he begins showing; he need only have a basic idea of what is required
of him. Remember! Horses in beginner are beginners. This holds the same through all the competition
ranks. Intermediate horses will be a bit older and have more knowledge, horses in advanced
level competition will be even more fluent, expert horses will be adept and higher ranked
horses will be masters. This is very important to remember, as it keeps the playing field
fair, more realistic and it will get your horse into the show ring much quicker.
Secondly, don't forget to do your research. If you're unfamiliar with a discipline or
class, do some research into what is required from horses for that class or discipline.
Remember that Equine-Ranch is based around realism; there is nothing obscure about the
requirements for a class.
Also, don't forget to exercise your horse. If you're wanting to get into showing with
your horses, you'll need to remember to exercise them. Training is important for each discipline
but, as in real life, an unfit horse will struggle to compete with a fit horse. You'll
want to try to get your horse up to his peak fitness so that he can better perform his
job.
Now that you've seen several examples of sessioning horses at various levels in their training
I would like to discuss, and show examples of, the two most popular methods players use
for training their horses.
First, you can simply transition between horses using the "Next" or "Previous" button
on your horse's page. Clicking one of these buttons will take you to the next or previous
horse in the barn or pasture. You do not need to have a bunch of tabs open to utilize this
method. However, all the horses you are working with must be in the same barn for this method
to be effective. Because if they are not, you will have to skip between barns trying
to session all of your horses. If you have a large ranch it can also make it more difficult
to keep track of your horses and their training, particularly if you start moving your horses
between barns. To get the most out of this method, you will want to keep all of the horses
you session in the same barn so that you can switch through them more easily.
The second method is referred to as "tab training." This method utilizes browser
tabs to efficiently maneuver between horses. Often, horses kept in training are bookmarked
or simply opened in their own individual tab. The player will then train a horse and either
click the next tab available or use a shortcut, usually CTRL-TAB in most browsers, to quickly
jump to the next tab and train the next horse. The player's ranch page is kept open in another
tab so that "Next Day" can be clicked without having to leave any of the horse's
pages.
The pros of using the "tab training" method can be argued, and really depend upon your
personal preference. But generally it makes it easier to keep horses sorted and you do
not have to worry about horses being in different barns since you'll be cycling through tabs.
You are also able to pick the order of your horses by moving their tabs around.
The cons of this method are that you will need to have multiple tabs open at a time.
For large training projects this can cause a great deal of clutter, and some computers
may struggle to open many tabs at once. Most importantly, you will need to be sure that
you pay close attention to that "Next Day" button. It is not uncommon for a player using
the "tab training" method to forget to click "Next Day" and accidentally exhaust
a horse, so be careful.
I've talked about the two most popular methods for training, but it is always best to find
what works for you personally. Everyone has their own preference, and there is no right
or wrong method. Do what is most comfortable for you.