| It is common knowledge in professional human training | | | | example. The objective obviously is reached, if the |
| that without clearly defined training objectives training | | | | horse loads. But just the definition of performance |
| cannot be successful. And this is true for the training of | | | | leaves a lot of room for speculation. Is the objective |
| horses, too. This is actually true for any kind of training. | | | | accomplished when two guys tug and push the horse |
| A friend of mine who is the world's most successful | | | | and a third guy slams the gate? |
| author in the training field puts it that way: "If you do not | | | | Here are some examples for possible criteria: "The |
| know where you are going, you never will know when | | | | horse loads into the trailer without hesitation, without |
| you get there." This is very true and has an interesting | | | | trying to back out again and without jumping into the |
| parallel in American history. "Go West" was a good | | | | trailer." Depending on what you want, it also could be: |
| example for a poor objective. Some settled because | | | | "The horse walks up to the trailer, stands quiet while |
| they liked a certain spot, some settled because they | | | | the lead rope is tied to the neck and enters the trailer |
| could not keep going any more - and some settled in | | | | on its own on command." There is no given set of |
| California, because that was the end of "Go West". | | | | criteria - it depends on your use of the horse. |
| If you look at horse training there are very seldom | | | | How about conditions? They can dramatically change |
| clear and defined objectives - even most professional | | | | the quality of the defined performance. Is it ok, if the |
| trainers do not have any. This actually can cause a | | | | horse loads at home where everything is quiet? Or do |
| serious problem - even worse it can cause some | | | | you want the same performance at the end of a |
| serious confusion. | | | | horse show while other horses come back out of |
| A good training objective has three components. First, | | | | trailers like bullets? And you also might consider the |
| there is the defined action or performance. Then the | | | | type of trailer. Horses normally do not have too much |
| objective needs criteria - when is the performance | | | | of a problem with a 16 foot open stock trailer - but a |
| acceptable. And last not least the training objective | | | | small two horse trailer is a different game. |
| needs to define the conditions under which the | | | | The type of performance and the definition of the |
| performance has to appear. | | | | criteria and the conditions can vary a lot - but if you |
| Let me take a closer look. | | | | have no definition for your training, you just do not |
| The performance - or the result of training - needs to | | | | know what you will get at the end. |
| be specified. "The horse loads into a trailer" is a good | | | | |