‘PROBLEM HORSES’:
First there has to be trust! So-called ‘problem horses’ are horses which we may be able to help in a
short space of time or which might take months or years to become comfortable with being
handled and ridden.
Horses are flight or fight animals with millions of years of survival instinct to keep them alive. They
see things in black and white, second-to-second and without highly developed reasoning
capacities! It’s because they react so instinctively to training that we are even able to ride and
handle them as our partners!
If your horse has been carelessly or haphazardly started, or if you’ve run into issues with him along
your path together, then there needs to be a transitional period of training where he learns to trust
what you’re asking of him instead of being fearful and reliant upon these ingrained instincts.
Here is something for you to consider before bringing your horse to a professional trainer…
Do you want your horse trained to be a better, more responsive, content and productive animal or
does your horse have an “issue” that needs to be fixed?
More often then not, a horse develops an issue due to being placed in an unnatural environment
like a pasture or a stall. This man-made confinement always creates bad habits, (some habits that
you may never even notice), because horses naturally would roam over thousands of acres of land
dependant upon a strong herd hierarchy!
Horses in confinement, with improper training get hung up in fence and hurt by objects they don’t
know how to deal with. One trailer incident can traumatize a horse dramatically. Those who don’t
damage themselves physically can be hurt worse psychologically if they don’t receive appropriate
care and training.
Some of these frequently encountered problems might be able to be resolved within a
standard training time of a month or two, or they might not. We want to talk with you about
your horse’s ‘issues’ to assess the situation if your horse is any of the following:
Buddy Soured: The horse has not been properly weaned or even ever separated from the herd, the
horse is lacks the ability to be naturally independent from other equines. This is a requirement for
safe and enjoyable riding, even if you plan to always ride in a group.
Barn Soured: The horse has been given too many reasons to be in the barn and close to the herd.
He obsesses about home, feed, more horses and down-time!
Dominant/Pushy: Another big problem that we run into is the passionate false reward. A “good boy”
for no reason at all and the biggest problem, a food treat for no reason! The treat for your horse
coming to you is most likely a treat for ears back and dominance and should never be given unless
included in the standard feeding time and preferably in the feed bucket!
Here’s the thing with ‘problem horses’ vs colts in training… we can’t force a horse to get over his man-
made issues, we can only help a horse understand that he should rely on his conditioned training
instead of his instincts. The horse determines how long this takes.
If people use force or manipulation to push a horse through his fears, all they do is make them
more fearful. Then you have an unpredictable and potentially dangerous horse whose issues are
masked and who is still reliant upon instinct instead of training or trust.
The point is that if you have a ‘problem’ horse it may take months or even years to establish a good
mindset before we can begin training the horse to be a “good horse under saddle”. That’s not to
say we can’t make great improvements, but we need to set realistic goals. Let us know how we can
help you to help your horse.
For a typical ‘problem’ horse it might take a training period here at the ranch, followed by a private
clinic or lessons for you and your horse. We might even recommend you bring your horse for
weekly lessons and give you goals to work towards by yourself.
Whatever will work best for you and your horse is what we aim to provide.
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