The Progression of Learning

If learning anything was as simple as getting taught one time by an expert, we’d all be experts at everything.

But learning is not so easy. We have to take steps.

I’ve used an example in my lessons quite a few times, likening learning how to ride to learning something when we were in school.

When you had your first math class, you learned how to add and subtract first.

Because without knowing addition/subtraction, then multiplication and division would be abstract and nearly impossible to learn. But once you know how to add, then multiplication makes much more sense and you can learn it and apply it easier and quicker.

Without multiplication and division, you wouldn’t be able to learn algebra. You wouldn’t know how to “solve for x” in 3x + 5 = 14. 

And so on.

Riding is the same way.

When we first start to learn how to ride, we are taught to steer by pulling on the reins. We are taught to squeeze or kick the horse to go, and then to pull both reins back to stop. 

This is because the more advanced ways to ask a horse to steer, go, and stop would be too mentally and physically advanced for us to understand and apply. They would be too abstract to understand and we weren’t physically capable of being more subtle and in control of our body.

But once we become better, more knowledgeable and more physically capable riders, then we can start steering by turning the outside of the horse, and more specifically, controlling their shoulders. This results in a much straighter horse. And once we become better riders, we can use our seat as 80% or more of a woahing aid, instead of our hands.

But if you were to try to teach that to someone who just started riding, it wouldn’t work. It wouldn’t make sense and they wouldn’t have the bodily awareness and control to enact it.

Another key realization in my life was when I took AP Chemistry in high school. I promise, this relates to riding, just bear with me and don’t roll your eyes when you hear the word Chemistry.

My teacher would, at times, teach us some sort of topic in order to understand how chemicals react, or whatever the subject was. But after we mastered that concept (Concept A), he then told us that it was all not actually very true. But that he needed to teach us Concept A in order for us to be able to then understand Concept B which is more advanced and closer to how things actually work. 

But we wouldn’t be able to understand Concept B without having learned Concept A first.

This is reflected in the image I created. Some foundations we use to learn stay solid, while others crumble as we learn more and progress further.

Again, horses are the same way. 

Nobody is able to just get on a horse and ride like Charlotte Dujardin. We have to go through a process of learning, understanding, application, and then learning some more. And sometimes that 2nd learning process also entails throwing away old knowledge because there is better, more advanced, more correct knowledge and abilities to possess. 

Read that part again:

Sometimes that 2nd learning process also entails throwing away old knowledge because there is better, more advanced, more correct knowledge and abilities to possess.

Think about what that means for your riding. 

That means that just because you were taught to do something one way, that doesn’t mean that you should keep doing it forever and ever that way. You may find or be taught a better way to accomplish even more. Maybe it’s more subtle. Maybe it gets a better response. Maybe it is more effective. Maybe it lends itself to further progression.

This means that we have to be open to new ideas, methods, training tools, etc. The worst disservice you can do to yourself and your horse is to assume you always have it figured out and that there is no better way to do something. 

After all, if you aren’t currently riding like multi-Olympic champion Charlotte Dujardin, there are several reasons why. One of the main reasons is that you haven’t found the best way to do something yet. So keep experimenting, keep an open mind, and take every opportunity you can to progress your education.