While I have had a passion for horses all of my life, I didn't have the chance to start riding and working with them until my early 20's. I started out working on guest ranches, which were really well run. I was given the opportunity to ride 6 days a week and a different horse each day. I was also watching guests that would come for the week and the change that would happen throughout the week. Some people just wanted to enjoy the rides and the scenery from horseback. Other people were there to satisfy for a week that same passion and desire for horses that I had. Both are great and no matter the motivation I saw a great change in ability throughout the week. People got in a relationship with their horses, the communication increased as they worked together, riding at least 2 times a day. Those that took advantage of the lessons that were offered made exponential improvement in their riding. I witnessed the effect of being able to focus on something that you love for an intense amount of time.
Based on that experience and the dream of what I would have loved as a kid, I was given the opportunity of developing a horse camp within the structure of a larger program. Again I was amazed at the amount of progress that I would see kids make when given a week, or two weeks, to focus on their horse. In this case there was more training and teaching involved than in the guest ranch experience. Even beginner riders would leave being able to confidently work with their horses, and more experienced riders would have a huge jump that weekly lessons couldn't give them. I am in no way indicating that there is not great value in weekly lessons ( I take them as regularly as I can) but it is just not possible to get the same intensity (time is a huge factor here) as spending several days with your horse.
I see several factors at play here. One is that our horses are very emotional beings. While they don't need us to be bonded mentally with them, when they experience it they find they like it and want it. A friend of mine just adopted a rescue Thoroughbred, and within a week this horse's disposition had totally changed. It didn't mean that the training she was lacking was complete, but you could see the change in her eyes that said I have an owner who loves me! So many times we ride our horses like they were motorcycles but when we take the time to connect with their emotions the rewards are many.
Along with the emotional aspect is whether or not we can be the leader they need. Horses with a good leader that they can trust are confident, calm horses. Just like in the wild herd, if the Boss Mare is trustworthy and keeping watch, the rest of the herd can be peacefully eating, napping and playing knowing that the mare will alert them of danger. We need to play that same role with them so that they are trusting us with those decisions. We convince them of our leadership ability by being able to move their feet and giving them the reward of a release when they find the right answer. This starts on the ground and then translates to the saddle.
The time riding on a daily or twice daily routine has benefits that we will never see riding sporadically. Our horse benefits and we are able to develop and hone skills that we might have the head knowledge of, but never the time to practice until it is the natural thing to do.
Finally, the social aspect of new friends made who all love their horses is greatly rewarding in and of itself. Sitting on the deck with a glass of tea at the end of a long, hot day talking with each other about challenges and the rewards of the day, is very gratifying. I don't know about you, but not all of my friends want to hear about my accomplishments with my horse, especially not to the extent that I want to talk about it!