There are so many training techniques to help your horse relax and think
instead of react...also training tools to help make the wrong thing difficult
and the right thing easy (Tom Dorrance) Linda Tellington Jones, Clinton
Anderson, Josh Lyons, Chris Cox, clicker training and lots
more. It takes a huge amount of commitment to take the time to learn the
techniques and then practice them enough so that your horse responds and relaxes
no matter what is going on. Even the very best trained horse is going to be
scared to death if an elephant comes running out of the forest..the trick is to
be able to instantly cue the horse using any of a number of these
techniques and have him switch from the reactive mode to the thinking, relaxed
mode.
When I was riding a lot of endurance, my horse was an animal...I always
describe him as riding an out of control carnival ride! Way back then I
discovered TTEAM and started using it and practicing it on my horse and it did
make a difference. Since then, after two hip replacements, back surgery and
cancer I found that I had lost all my confidence when it came to riding. My
daughter started working with me, showing me lots of different techniques to
help me and my horses and it worked so well that I have been continuing to study
and practice all these techniques from all these different trainers. The
results have been remarkable. My confidence has returned and my horses are
becoming more and more push button. And it is not rocket science (most
important!!) Just like making the barn sour horse happy to head out...make
heading out easy, being with his buddy or at the barn difficult. Work him
hard at the barn, lateral flexion, disengagement of hips etc etc and then head
out at a nice relaxed walk...if he balks, bring him back to the barn and work
him again...If his antics make you feel unsafe on his back, you can do
everything on the ground and get the same results. When you do get done
with your ride,,,instead of rewarding him for being back at the barn (unsaddle,
brush, turn out, feed) tie him up, like one poster mentioned, and leave him tied
up for a couple of hours. If you are consistent with all of this, pretty
soon your barn sour horse will recognize that being away from the barn is so
much more fun than being there and will start acting accordingly. But all of
this takes a lot of work and repetitions and doing it correctly...It is such
interesting stuff to learn and so rewarding to see you and your horse
changing for the better.
