Finished?

Yesterday while driving to the barn I was doing some thinking about what we considered a finished horse. Everyone has their own ideas and everyone has their thoughts on the matter so I don't know that there is one answer.

 What got me thinking about this topic was last week when I was talking with a friend about Navi. I was telling her that I have to stop comparing Navi to Pixie. When I think about working with Navi most times I think about everything she doesn't know, but then I realize it isn't that she doesn't know a lot it is just that she doesn't know as much as Pixie. But that is ok and I know that now. I realize that expecting Navi to be Pixie will never happen. One because they are two very very different horses, but also because I haven't invested near the time into Navi that I have Pixie. But that being said it dawned on me that Navi can do a lot of behaviors that "finished" horses cannot. Okay so riding isn't one of them, lol, but that is besides the point. But seriously for a 4yr old horse she can do very advanced ground work behavior . She is getting better and better at liberty work and she is a safe calm horse to be around. Just don't brush her she might get a bit nippy then...she still hates it! I was thinking about how difficult it is for her to respond to just verbal cues of walk, whoa, and back. Because I am not putting pressure on her to push her into the behavior it is being all shaped. How many finished horses can walk and back in a straight line with you behind them with no pressure or physical cues given. I have to give her the credit she deserves, I am not asking simple behaviors from her. I am asking her to be independent and think things through all while paying attention to the slightest cue given from me. I guess thinking about it my horses will never be "finished" because there is always something to work on and I don't ever want a "robot" horse that is scared to move because of a threat.

As I have stated before I think the opposite of what most people think. I feel like a truly "finished" horse is one that doesn't have to have the big bit, spurs, or other equipment to do their job. If you need those "aids" to have your horse respond are they "finished" or are they so dull to everything around them that you have to use strong threats.  If you are going along in your training and having to use stronger "aids" you are going backwards instead of forwards. Isn't the point of training to get lighter and lighter?? One simply does not need stronger equipment to teach more complex behaviors and if a trainer tells you that you do then they don't know how to effectively teach behaviors without the aid of threats.