05/04/2025
Maybe I've been in this business too long, or maybe I've grown a little cynical over the years, but I have to say this; quit trying to be friends with your badly mannered horses. Quit trying to work out a relationship with a four footed partner who doesn't respect you. It really doesn't take much effort on your part to nip bad behavior in the bud, you just have to do it. Just like that kid you see having a melt down in the supermarket...he really isn't borderline autistic, misunderstood or poorly treated, he's just a brat, and the only dose of "ritalin" that he needs is a swat in the britches.
So, there's that. Reason #1 why I didn't have kids. 🤷
Back to your crowhopping, pulling back, pushy, hard to catch, unhalter broke, twelve hundred pound, four footed toddler that you want your trainer to whisper gently into good manners. Well folks, it doesn't (hardly ever) work that way. Have you ever hung around and watched a herd of horses? Well I do, all the time, and dam straight, there is a hierarchy and it's a tough one. The lines are drawn, and held, with no doubts as to who the boss is.
So here, in my world, there too is a hierarchy. It's pretty black and white, and new horses figure it out very quickly because it makes sense. They know where they stand all the time.
I've been training horses all my life and it's how I've learned to do things that creates a content and gentle herd which moves toward me when they see me approach, not away. You see, I've learned to judge my own performance by the way the horses react to my presence. I don't over think how I treat them when they are misbehaving. I don't let my conscience tell me I shouldn't have driven that one back because he pushed into my space, or I should have looked the other way when that one kicked his tail lightly as I passed behind him. Everything horses do around you, means something. It might not mean anything to you, but it does to them. So pay attention and don't let the bleeding heart, live-in-peace-with-all-Gods-creatures group that spout off on the internet these days judging honest to God horse trainers who are actually making a living working horses, get you doubting what you already know. When you are dealing with other people's 1200 pound problems, you can get hurt in a second. One second can change your life. All because somebody in that horse's world didn't have the know how, or the balls, to be a boss before they were a "friend."
Training horses isn't like Snow White sitting in the woods with little birdies perching on her, and wild forest animals hanging about. It's a tough job, and a grind, and sometimes it's learning huge life lessons from one misunderstood head toss to the next snort, in the space of a stride. So the simplest way you can make your horse trainer's life easier? Safer? Learn when it's ok to swat your toddler in the britches. 😏
Have a good day folks. 😊
Picture of hard working toddlers
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