Horse Agility has been around for as long as horses and humans have been partnering to make each other’s lives more fruitful. The essence of Agility training is groundwork that includes obstacles, which was par for the course on an average day for most horsemen/women until we adopted the recent practice of keeping our horses in small enclosures and only visiting for recreation.
In the last couple of decades groundwork has again been receiving a lot of attention as a foundation for training. As this has been happening, many individuals have been exploring ground skills as a discipline in their own right and have been developing the tools, techniques, and philosophy as well as pushing the boundaries of what is possible.
We’ve been training Horse Agility for years now and so have many others around the world. It just didn’t have a fancy name on it until the last year or so.
That’s quite a challenging question to answer as the benefits are extremely manifold and varied.
Horse Agility is all about communication. In fact, the mission statement of The Horse Agility Club reads: Horse Agility is about communication, not control. By embarking on the journey of training for Horse Agility one cannot help but learn about horse psychology, reinforcement theory, clear communication, body language, and many other topics.
When horses and humans work together to develop the skills needed for Agility they create not only an amazingly strong bond, they also find themselves empowered as individuals. Horses and humans alike become calm, confident, curious, and playful problem solvers.
While the term Horse Agility was not coined at the time, I joyfully spent the first years of my horsemanship career focusing almost exclusively on developing the groundwork skills that are now the heart of Horse Agility. That is how much depth there is to this material and how much enrichment it can provide.
No, it is not. Maintaining a solid connection with the horse while navigating even simple obstacles requires a fairly advanced level of communication and relationship. Though it is possible to work at liberty from the very beginning (my wife Kali started her Mustang Ilo this way), it can easily get overwhelming, confusing and frustrating for both horse and human.
The Horse Agility Club has adopted a similar progression in the design of our competitions. The starter level begins on-line with simple obstacles and easy transitions. As competitors progress through the levels they are asked to perform tasks of increasing difficulty that test their communication and relationship. Finally, when both horse and human are ready they can enter the Freestyle Agility classes, which are performed at liberty.
This isn’t to discourage anyone from experimenting with liberty work at any stage in the process (in fact catching our horses is a liberty game we play all the time), but just to set a reasonable expectation.
We usually begin on-line with a fairly short rope to develop a solid foundation and then move to longer lines and liberty work. The key here is to think of the rope as a safety net and to always act as though it’s not there, only using it when you need it.
One of the things that I really appreciate about Horse Agility is that it is very open. That is, it is not affiliated with any particular teacher, training method, or style. Therefore, not only can people from all different backgrounds participate in Horse Agility, but an Agility enthusiast has the freedom to work with their horse using the methods that they find suit them best.
Any methods that focus on the relationship, communication, and groundwork skills will be helpful for Horse Agility training. Personally, I draw from a wide range of sources in my horsemanship practice: natural horsemanship (including Parelli), clicker training, classical dressage, and doma vaquero, among many others.
There are not many resources yet for those interested in information specifically geared at Horse Agility. I am currently in the process of developing the first in a series of web-based multimedia home-study courses which should be available by late spring. This autumn Vanessa Bee, the founder of the Horse Agility Club, has a book coming out.
For in-person experiences, there are a growing number Horse Agility Accredited Trainers, including myself, who travel and teach Agility-specific clinics in the US and abroad. As the sport is so new I do not yet have a set annual clinic schedule and I am always happy to connect with people who would like to host an event.
Yes! Agility training is foundational. One of the reasons it has evolved as a discipline is that so many people have discovered the degree to which solid ground skills translate to exceptional performance in all areas of horsemanship, greatly increasing the amount of ground training being done world wide. The connection, curiosity, confidence, and communication that develop in Agility training make everything else more fun for both the horse and their human.
In terms of equipment, the only things that are really needed are a halter and lead. Some people may also like to use tools like dressage crops, sticks and strings, or target sticks in their training, though only the halter and lead are allowed in competition.
In terms of props and obstacles, you can go quite a long way with some very basic items. Things like tarps and ground poles are easy to purchase at a hardware store, plastic drums can be found at beverage bottlers or industrial supply companies, and hula hoops, streamers, and cones are available in toy departments everywhere.
If you want to take your Agility course to the next level, there is a blossoming cottage-industry of individuals building and selling horse training obstacles. Craigslist can be a great source for these connections.
Horse Agility is the first international equestrian sport to be judged on the quality of the interactions between horse and handler and not solely on a set of arbitrary benchmarks.
An Agility course consists of 10 obstacles, each scored on a scale of 1-10. Competitors have a set task to perform at each obstacle with difficulty determined by their ability level. For example, beginners may simply have to back the front legs over a pole by touch while more advanced competitors are required to back all four legs over without the use of any pressure.
No matter the level, the judge is always looking for quality over completion. That is to say that a horse who is unable to complete an obstacle but is handled with exemplary horsemanship could be given higher marks than a horse who is bullied or forced through the same obstacle.
In short, the judging criteria for Horse Agility competition are designed to ensure that the sport is as enjoyable for horses as it is for their humans.
How can someone get started in Horse Agility?
The easy answer is this: just go out and do it! All you need is a space to play with your horse, some basic obstacles (a ground pole or two, a tarp, maybe an exercise ball or hula-hoop), and a dash of imagination. Just play and see what you and your horse can come up with!
To become involved with the sport of Horse Agility is also quite easy. Each month the international Horse Agility Club hosts an online (as in internet) competition. Members of the club are provided with a course diagram, description of obstacles, and a video walkthrough. They can practice as much as they want and then, when they’re ready, upload an unedited video of their best effort to YouTube for judging. It’s a wonderful way for individuals or groups to start getting involved with the competitive side of things.
Horse Agility is growing at an amazing rate. Soon individuals will also be able to join local clubs and participate in local, regional, and national competitions.
Finally, I think it is important to note that one of the major things that separates Horse Agility from other equestrian sports is that the competitions are designed to be fun for horses and humans of all levels. This is quite different form something like Reining, Show Jumping, or even most pleasure-style shows, wherein competitors must have an intermediate to high skill level to even have a chance at a successful day.
Horse Agility really is for everyone, from the novice to the professional, the mini-pony to the mule.
Thank you Les. You and your wife Kali are leaders in a new fun world for horses and humans.
About Kali & Les Kiger's PonyPros and EQxpressionism:
http://ponypros.net
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