Re: Water evasion plus, playing it safe

[Farafix@aol.com]

Lynette,

To give credit where credit is due, the wait-em-out method was from my trainer
at the time, Karen Shank, D.V.M., who is a dressage instructor, but the best
at applying her knowledge to helping me keep balanced & my horses sound mile
after mile.  What I really liked about it was that it avoided escalating
confrontations with the horse, which can turn dangerous. Tempo was a 2 yr old
stud colt when I started breaking him & more than half the battle was mental
--- who was going to be boss.  I had gotten into the traditional yell, whip,
kick, and curse method of horse training just trying to get Tempo thru the
hole in the back tree line before Karen was back from  a business trip for a
lesson.  I was not winning the battle; all I was doing was getting Tempo fired
up & confrontational (not all that hard to do with a stud).  After some
counseling from Karen, the next time we went out & stood before the tree line
hole (which he would follow me thru like a lamb if I led).  He waited for me
to start the usual clucking, then kicking, then whipping, and so on.  When I
calmly sat on his back he waited expectantly for the confrontation to start,
anticipating his usual win, i.e., I would finally get off to lead him thru, in
great disgust, saying what a stupid, dumb horse he was (who was stupid &
dumb??)  Boy, was he disappointed when nothing happened,  & then he started
getting bored just standing there.  Fortunately, he gets bored pretty easily.
I would wait until I saw him exhale deeply and chew, a sign he was getting
real relaxed.  I would wait for at least 2 big sighs, & then ask for a step
forward.
With this method I broke him without breaking anything myself.  One time I sat
for 20(!!!) minutes while he decided a car going down the neighbor's driveway
was not a predator.  While it seemed to take a long time when we started out,
it was well worth it in the long run, especially when dealing with a young
stud.  As you say, Tempo is now very confident on the trails & seems to really
enjoy going to new places & being with new horses.  

Nancy
still in 1 piece in Md