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OldDog/NewTricks

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I just emailed this out to some friends

I've read some of these and for the first I agree with the writer

http://www.horseproblems.com.au/horseproblems_problem_index_page2.htm

This hardest one, and most important, is something anyone working with animals, KIDS or (Wives/Ex-wives) needs to learn:

THE TRAINING MYSTERY
by
John O'Leary
Horseman
©2000

Have you ever wondered why it is that horses learn the good things slowly and the bad things quickly? I have, along with why it is that it is quicker to teach a horse than a human. Wonder what that says about us?

I think the answer is that a horse has a different translation to the words, "Good' and 'Bad' I think that the horse has them in reverse. They think that it is good to exploit a rider and to run back to the stable for a feed or buck someone off and get the load lightened. On the other hand, bad to a horse could be putting up with an hour of boring flat work where no end to the circle work seems apparent.

Having learnt to look at things laterally or from another angle, has made me a better Horse Trainer. What a shame that anything one gets half good at in life doesn't normally happen until later in life. Anyhow, thinking in a manner as described above has allowed me to be much more understanding of the behavior that horses exhibit. It has made me more experimental in my riding and training and I know it has produced far better results in the finished work.

Remember also, that our moods affect our horses just like other people around us. A bad mood day should not be a training day but a pleasure riding day. Do both of you a favor. Bad mood days actually undo training and make your progress slower in the long run. Our stress becomes their stress.

When we get cranky, we lose the subtleties, timing, softness and sophisticated training opportunities that we could have grasped. Learn to think about it whilst riding. Stay cool and get your revenge by simply outsmarting the resistant horse in cool ways. They all give up. It just depends upon your patience.

The trick is to not allow your horse to learn that boring old flatwork is a pain. Get the horse to identify that giving some really good work brings the ultimate benefit, that of leaving the arena to some place better. Then you too will also become less frustrated. Won't that make a better team?

Don't be like me at the computer. :cboy: :cboy:
 
You are basically saying the same as all the Natural Horsmanship trainers.

Make the right things easy and the wrong things difficult. You have just put it a little different way, which is good. What you said might make a difference, even if it is to just one person. Thanks for your post.

One thing that people forget, you cannot DRILL a horse and have him be happy. He needs to have a fresh mental attitude and they get that by doing different things.

A good trainer in Montana always said, "you've got to let them be a horse. You cannot train them all the time. You cannot pick on them all the time. Let them make a mistake and don't make an issue out of it."

He always rode what I thought to be happy horses.
 
ODNT,

It seems like two people can say the same thing, but different. One will say it his way to a group and the light will click, but another will say it a little different and it will click for others.....Main thing is more people are looking at it from the horses perspective. On drilling, I put it like, how long would you let somone stand there and tap you on the shoulder....



Took my Grey gelding Duece, from the Lady in Albany, Oregon to a friend a Feedlot. Feedlots will produce a horse that is very settled, looks at cattle and has opened a ton of gates. But you gotta get them out of there before they sour.....

I ran into the guy at the feedlot a few days after delivering Duece. I asked what he thot, and he said, "That's a damb nice horse." He was talking about mental as much as anything.......

I don't have time to make a horse myself. Duece will be 5 in March. I have been around some great horseman, so here's what I do....

First, I take the time. I don't disillusion myself into thinking a horse has to be made by the time they are 3. I do get them started as two year olds. a friend has them 45-60 days and they come back pretty broke. That summer, I take them various places, usually cattle around, but pretty low stress deal. The next thing is finding someone like the Lady in Albany that has time to both work on leads, turning right and ALSO does a lot of trail riding where she isn't asking much.... Becky did a great job I might add. I was worried with all the grooming, clipping, ect, he might come back a sissy, but he seems to be mor of a pre-maddonna than a sissy, LOL....

So he goes into the Feedlot Broke, pretty spook proof, having been exposed to cattle and knowing how to move off his back legs .....Now the guy at the feedlot has a horse enjoyable to ride that can get the maximum amount of experience on my horse in the 45 days I will let him stay there......


Works for me, and these are the kind of horses people keep around for a long time.....He will have a good life ahead of him because he is a h=joy to be around....


PPRM
 
Sounds like an excellent program, PPRM. Lots of exposure in different situations at a speed they can handle and gain confidence.

When you are around good horse people, it is amazing the things they talk about that never enters your mind. For instance, handling speed. Lots of horses get scared when they lope and then build on it. The result isn't good. So they need to be taught to handle speed. Lope them, speed them up, slow them down, so they don't scare themselves.

I would have never thought about it, except for a good friend of ours had us do this with a horse that had a tendency to run away. He sure helped him get settled in his mind about going faster. He needed to find out he could go slower...and he became more comfortable doing that. Of course, he had to learn it in an enclosed area first.
 

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