Often, the trailer is only used to go to the vet, or drive for longer periods of time. If you patiently practice trailer loading regularly, it isn’t a problem, but sometimes a horse will go in but just plain doesn’t like it in there. Here’s a tip that I’ve used with some horses: I’m going to sound like Cesar Millan …
How to pet a horse…
Ray says, “Oh hell boy! You don’t even know how to pet a horse!” I looked around at him like maybe I’d misunderstood. I hadn’t. Ray said, “You didn’ do nothin’ but scare him! You see him flinch?” Ray is ridin’ toward me. I didn’t say anything, but I’m thinkin’, “Why, heck! They all do that to start with! He’ll …
Training Methods vs. Personality
Those who only train with positive reinforcement are generally not positive with people, and those who only use negative reinforcement, the opposite. Why? When you say you don’t believe in harming an animal, you’re making a statement: “I believe that animals are our equals and should be treated as such.” So it never ceases to amaze me how easily frustrated …
Busy, busy…
Hello everyone! Apologies that you haven’t heard from me for a while… I’m schooling two of my dogs with their new blind owners for the next two months. I’ll try to write before then but, if not, I’ll definitely start writing again in December! Thanks for your patience and I’m sorry for not writing regularly at the moment. I’d still …
What’s Your “Command”?
We can ask an animal to do something vocally or through body language (or telepathically for all of my very, very dedicated readers!! ;). After a while it can get unclear to which our animals are responding to. Are they waiting to hear the command or are they following your unintentional body language? It can take a while to separate, …
Your Discipline
“Of course you have to get discipline within yourself so that you can have it with your horse. If you don’t, this is what will cause your horse to get cranky and take over; get to doing a lot of things wrong. It’s because he knows you don’t mean what you are talking about because you are not effective with …
Feet In His Hands
“When I am working with a person and his horse, I can help him get in a position so the horse can find the response we are working for. Trying to put this into words so a reader can get a picture of what is taking place is not easy for me. Some of the terminology may cause a problem, …
… What are you really saying?
Most of the time our bodies say one thing and our emotions another. You ask a horse to go over a higher jump than you’re used to. You try to convince your horse (and anyone watching) that you’re very confident and relaxed about the whole thing. But inside your thoughts and feelings are a whirlwind. Nervousness, whether physically expressed or …
Not Correcting is Unfair
The main thing I want to always keep in mind is fairness. How can I get mad at a dog for doing something he’s never been taught not to do? Prepare and be fair. Building up a communication, after all, takes two sides: we need to be able to tell someone what we like in our relationship and let them know …
Guts & Determination
“You have to have guts and determination if you want to look for what I’m talking about. If you don’t, that don’t make you wrong. What do you want to do or accomplish and what are you capable of accomplishing? It’s your concentration, your coordination and your reflexes in that order. But the concentration isn’t near deep enough. You say …