Gentling

The real answer is, there is no one answer.  All horses have different temperaments and personalities, so each horse needs to be handled in a way that’s most appropriate for them.  I’ve started terrified horses, aggressive horses, and everything in between. You cannot treat them all the same.  It’s important to be flexible and have the ability to utilize different training styles and tools based on what the horse requires.  

It is important to point out that there are a lot of training philosophies, styles, and approaches. Each comes with their own tools, terms, and processes.  Just a few quick clicks on the keyboard and a person could get pulled into a black hole of How To, DIY Horse Training, and Training Tips…….maybe that’s how you get here!  There is an overwhelming amount of training content online, and most of it has great information.  Some of the training ideas are quite helpful, but if a person uses that training technique without knowledge, understanding, or simply applying it out of context, it could actually be ineffective and potentially harmful to the horse or trainer.

If you are going to use information gleamed from the internet, books, or videos, be sure you know all the steps, stages, and games that come before and after whatever it is that your wanting to do with you horse.  You need to understand why that technique works, and what its communicating to the horse.  It may sound goofy, but practice the technique you want to try well before applying it to your horse.

All that being said, I would strongly encourage people to connect with a local trainer or instructor that shares the same training philosophies.  Practice the techniques you want to try on a schooling horse to better learn how it feels.  Have the trainer or instructor coach you through the process so you can be the teacher possible.  Never be afraid to ask for help.

My goal when working with any horse is to try and be as gentle and patient as possible.  However, there are times when a person does need to be more assertive in order to address a horses bad behavior.  Once the issue is resolved than its back to kindness and patience,  Depending on how the horse is responding, I will adapt my training approach to fit to the horses needs while still striving for teachable moments and  measured improvements.  The horses ability to learn and attention span will dictate how quickly the training progresses.  My first goal is to help the horse learn basic things, like pressure and release or accepting a persons touch.  Some horses will sail through learning new things with just the occasional hurdle for bigger lessons, others horses it an be a much longer process.

To be clear, I am not a 3 hour or 90 day trainer.  I have seen trainers humanely get a horse under saddle and successfully going walk, trot, canter in under three hours.  I have the utmost respect for the trainers and horses that can progress that quickly in a safe and humane manner.  Sadly that is not me. I tend to take the time it takes to get the job done.