Spotlight Feature of the Month: Team Weber Extraordinaire
Team Weber: The Optimal Competitors, continued
Observations on a Training Day
Chester usually works his horses individually or as a pair - rarely does he practice with all four-in-hand. He said that the quality of time spent training and working is better than the quantity of time. He and his staff try to give each horse quality training time at least five days a week, and allows them to rest the other two.
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Weber on verbal cues: Chester has about five verbal cues for his team. It’s not so much what you say, but how you say it and the tone you use, Weber said. A rider has so many different cues to give a horse, examples such as leg pressure, contact and verbal. However, a driver is limited in the cues they can use. Examples: constant contact with the bridle, verbal cues and a touch of the whip.
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One thing that Weber and his staff insist upon from the horses is respect and obedience. Many of the carriages are not made to break away when put in a bind and an upstart horse can cause disaster Weber not only asks his horses to respect both himself and his staff, but also each other. Safety is so important when the team is at an event with so many other horses and carriages. It is not worth the risk to put others in danger because a horse, no matter how talented do not have respect and obedience, Weber said.
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Currently at his farm he has a young horse (Reno) that he started working with and has him well on his way (like a win at Live Oak), but he has turned him out to pasture to let all of the new training and competing settle and marinate. He does not want to have a youngster become overwhelmed or burned out before he is mature.
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When training a horse to pull a carriage, Weber and his team start using a long line, from there advance to pulling an old tire and so on. If the horse is okay with these things, he slowly eases them into pulling a cart.
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