If the objective elements of assessment of the relationship between the training behavior and performance are rare in the literature, it is very easy to perceive their importance. This perception is possible if a dialogue between the rider and the breeder is set up. The first can effectively enable the latter to assess these parameters and taken into account in its choice of crossing and, conversely, the breeder can help the rider by informing on the breeding behavior parameters that can guide its work.
The first element of performance at work is courage: one with which the horse approached a training session or a simple walk. One with whom he agrees to reproduce an exercise that went wrong, one with which he accepts "bodybuilding sessions" which are imposed. A courageous horse is "pain tolerant" and agrees to work in suffering. Courage, is also the attitude with which the horse faces new situations (it is, as such, linked to the temperament and attitude at the stud). It takes courage to jump for the first time a new obstacle, to mount in a dimly lit van, etc...
Courage (whose absence is characterized by 'shyness') is a predisposition that can be transmitted by the sire and which may also be the common point between individuals of a same mother line. It is inheritable and useful for the rider. Courage spreads but it is developed also in the relationship of trust which must settle with the rider. Attention: if it is cultivated, it can also get lost... it is then so hard to take back! The second parameter is the carefulness. There are sires that produce more "environmentally friendly" than others. It is a characteristic that can be quantified for sires with a large number of descendants, through their score at breeding shows, and on the basis of their horse show records.
Carefulness is, with force, one of the two essential qualities for success at a good level of competition. Insofar as this does not affect his courage, a horse cannot be "too careful." On the other hand, a 'viscerally' careful horse is easier to discourage than a careless horse: he will prefer to stop rather than get hurt.
A careful horse will be easier than a careless horse to evolve in his jumping technique, and more able to take the best advantage of its morphological characteristics, locomotion and over fences natural gesture.
Carefulness is a natural predisposition that the rider’s work must highlight and preserve. Carefulness can also be obtained by using tricks (see above) but, beyond considerations of ethics, this is still on a provisional basis and at the expense of the physical integrity of the horse.
In this small book, we do look at this 'inheritable' side of the characteristics, which the only one to steer the breeder in its choices and the rider in his work. Performances obtained in too "artificial" way in breeding shows and young horses horse shows are not useful information and could even be considered for potential breeding stock as a "cheating on essential qualities.
Finally, the criterion "intelligence" appears as useful to choose a cross breeding. Intelligence is not here as a Faculty of analysis and deductions unlike other animal species, but as a capacity to produce and to reproduce an appropriate response to a request from the entourage.
An 'intelligent' horse gives his other 3 feet to his groom spontaneously after having been asked to give the first, he is able to rectify an error in a training exercise (cavaletti line, lead change, etc...) and especially not to reproduce it a few sessions later. He very quickly became able to reproduce without solicitation or almost, a movement he learned: rock is weight on the hindquarters in a straight line, bending in a turn...
Not only an 'intelligent' horse is a more pleasant companion on a daily basis but it is, as all things equal, an athlete more effective and more efficient.
Intelligence is unquestionably 'heritable', although it is still poorly known and it is a quality to look for, even if in excess, it can become counterproductive if it is not accompanied by sufficient courage.
The behavioral parameters allow to better understand how the horse uses its morphological characteristics, locomotion and over fence natural gesture to perform the exercise or work that is asked. All mechanisms of interaction and compensation between those characteristics, which some have been highlighted in this book, are implemented through complex "behavioral softwares". Experience allows the rider and horseman to understand them but science should in the future help us to decode them.
In the meantime, and empirically, the marriage of the behavioral characteristics to get a proper attitude at work, is one of the aspects of the choice of mating that the breeder must take into account with the highest interest!