Habits of Highly-Effective Horse Trainers

Good trainers:

Insist the horse follows their line.  "Placing" the horse, insisting they follow tiny directional cues, is a very, very powerful tool.  If the rider corrects the horse when he's 10cm off your intended line, the horse never learns he can run away.  It also places the rider in a powerful position of authority.  Controlling where and how the horse goes is the strongest way a rider can demonstrate leadership to their horse.  Maintaining an effective literal - and metaphorical - boundary with the outside rein can have a really startling effect on green or spoiled horses.  Controlling the shoulders with opening reins requires no more schooling or education than following a lead rope so the greenest of greenies can be corrected in this way.

This kind of schooling requires the rider to be able to 'multi-task' - to keep the ongoing placement of the horse as an intrinsic and vital part of every other schooling exercise they are doing.  It also requires planning and commitment.   One student claims to 'see' the intended track of each movement as a shiny blue path which she insists the horse follows.  Allowing the horse to 'decide' where he's going can open the door to him thinking he's allowed to make other decisions too!

Insist the horse maintains the pace.  There's nothing more dis-spiriting that a 'kickalong' horse that shambles to a stop unless it's actively ridden every stride.  It's a schooling problem that's ridiculously easy to fix, though, requiring only a commitment from the rider to not ride like that anymore, and fewer but more effective aids, backed up with a strong leg or a whip.  The horse has to know there's a consequence for failing to maintain the pace.

Shapes the gaits.  Trot and canter, and to a lesser extent, walk, can be influenced SO much by the way the rider sits on them.  An animated seat can elevate the trot and canter, regulate the tempo, show the horse how to collect and engage the hindquarters and create terrifically-balanced transitions.  Riding like a passenger and passively receiving what the horse offers, in terms of stride length, suspension and energy, is tiring and is such a limited way to ride once you know the difference.

Trains the downwards transition thoroughly.  It takes three steps of any pace for the horse to perform a balanced halt transition.  Promising the horse that you will ALWAYS
a) give him three steps to prepare, and
b) insist that he WILL stop in your timing, every time,
trains a very, very good downwards transition.  This translates to a very good half halt, which is instrumental in improving how the horse goes.  Lazy horses can especially benefit from this training, as their usually quick but unbalanced downwards transitions don't prepare them well for accepting the hand, engaging the quarters and all the other requirements for a good half halt and correct weight distribution for collection.

Maintains the horse's attention.  Signs of inattention can include pricking both ears, turning the head and neck towards objects of interest, neighing or reacting to other horses nearby, napping, grazing, etc.  Simply by recognising these signs of inattention and quickly correcting them by flexing the poll inwards, chirping, saying the horse's name, asking for a transition within the pace or a lateral step, the rider establishes that they are the most important thing for the horse to focus on.  Many schooling problems disappear once the horse's focus is developed and maintained.  A horse who is nosy and looking about himself is telling his rider that their leadership is weak.