Here's a simple way... to help your horse learn twice as fast. We are all pressed for time, seems there is just not enough of it. There is the job, family duties, maybe social events, all competing for our time. Our horse is ignored and we end up with a 10 year old "greenbroke" horse, which can mean anything from they buck or, spook sometimes, to they still need to be gee-hawed to go left, or right. They may still be trying to figure out go and whoa. Well I have found some easy ways to double the results I get when training horses, you can do the same if you will try. Tip #1 - Rub you horse all over You must be able to rub your horse from one end to the other, neither end is more important than the other. You should, be able to handle the mouth and ears as well a rubbing under the tail, start stroking with the hair on each side of the tail. When the horse unclamps the tail and raises it, you can then rub under the tail. You must be able to do this or you may have to go back and redo the training later, like I did. I had a paint stallion in for training and he already had four months put on him by an other trainer, but he still was spooky and not a nice ride at all. I noticed that he did not like his ears touched but I was trying to hurry and moved on. Three weeks later he threw himself over backwards while being bridled. You better believe I spent about three days on ears 101, then bang he got it and changed, was one laid-back easygoing pussycat from then on. Be smart and learn to rub your horse, rub don't pat or slap them, that is not soothing to them. What would you like a back rub or a back slapping? Tip #2 - Stop punishment when wanted behavior occurs. Whoa! you say, whats this punishment talk? Well I would like you to realize there are a multitude of things we do to a horse that are "punishment" in the horses mind, maybe not your mind, but definitely in the horses mind. Here is a little list of punishments according to the horse: 1. pulling on a rein
2. using a spur
3. using a quirt or whip
4. using a stud chain Do I want you to quit using the above? No, just stop using them when the horse does anything close to what you want. Let me give you some examples; You pull the left rein to turn your horse left, the second he starts left quit pulling, if you want to turn left more ask again, as many times as you need to but reward the horse for the try. You put your spur against your horse to move over, when he moves the slightest amount take that spur out of there, do it again if you have to, but reward that try and soon you won't even need to wear those spurs as the horse will move off your leg, because you reward that try. Tip #3 - Reward your horse for the right behavior. Now you can consider the end of punishment as a reward, and that is true, but the term reward will be used to mean giving something extra to the horse for trying to do the "right" thing. If you can find a way to reward the try in the horse, you will have your dream horse, that partner you wanted or some of you maybe had as a kid. Kids can be givers easier than adults, my grandson gave me a kiss today, my brother never did, because he was almost an adult when I was born. Learn to be a kid again, reward your horse with: some grain a soothing voice a rub on the neck a drink of clean cool water a handful of grass a modern horse treat a chunk of carrot a slice of apple getting off his back The list is almost endless, the trick is to give the reward at the right time for the right behavior. quit training at the good spots If you will take the time to follow these tips, you can double the size of your horse training toolbox. You probably already know the punishment side of training use it right and add the reward side to double your training results. Put your ego aside, be a giver to your horse and they will give back to you in ways you can only imagine. |
