I once had a horse brought to me who
the owners couldn't catch. Somehow they man- aged to get a halter on him and now they
could- n't get it off.
But there's something else you don't know.
They bought this 3 year old black gelding and just threw a saddle on him.
Within seconds the horse went nutso. Kickin', buckin', snortin', twisting, rearing, and
whatever else horses do when they freak out.
As you can imagine, they had little time to tighten the cinch. The saddle was on the horse
upside down.
Ever since, they couldn't approach the horse without it running from them.
When they told me the story, I secretly wondered to myself, "Did you even learn about
horses before you bought him?"
So the trick was getting Mr. Horse in a round pen and making his choice of running from me
a very poor choice.
As I would approach he'd walk or run off. "Great!", I thought.
So, he quickly learned the more he ran off, the more excercise he got.
See...horses are kinda lazy anyway. And to exercise a lot is not on their "To Do" list.
Ultimately, it's best to get the horse to make the decision to come to you instead of being
forced.
So when I approached the horse, he had a decision to make. He would either come to me or he
would run.
If he came to me, life was good. Exercise was over (unless he walked away again).
If he chose to walk away or not come to me, life was not pleasant because it's time to run
again.
Now this is a detailed process and there's more to it than I've described - I just can't
describe all instructions in an email.
But, the principle is this: Give the horse a decision to make - make the decision you want
him choosing laced with pleasure, kindness, ease, and re- laxation.
Even ol' Jesse Beery has those kind of priniciples in his Horse Training Manual. Even in
the late 1800's that was understood.
See you manana.
Sincerely,
Andy Curry
