Horse Trainer Talk

Brenda Robson Author

Aug 31, 2024 |

How great horse trainers describe what they do can leave a learner guessing what to do and what they mean. Let me shed some experiential light.

Horse Trainer Talk

Many horse owners miss the deeper message of these horse-intuitive trainers. I have studied and applied a lot of their content to see what will best help me develop my horse to become my best partner.

One post claimed that B. Brenaman said this, “You don’t want to push the horse into something; you want him to go willingly. You’re trying to offer the horse a good deal, and it should be offered with a happy heart. If he doesn’t respond properly with minimal guidance, then it’s time to become a bit more firm, to see if he responds to that. You slowly inch your way up that ladder until you reach the point where the horse responds properly.”

That’s a great statement of his philosophy but there is a lot in there so let’s break it down.

Pushing a horse into something: This is having an attitude that the horse “must and will do it”. Often that approach involves force, fear-inducing pressure and mechanical apparatus that potentially inflicts pain.

You want him to go willingly: Many horse owners only see their horse willingly run with the herd, dive into their feed or avoid being caught. However, willing horses that watch you for direction and understand your cues, comply with a calm and inquisitive effort instead of high-energy and avoidance behaviours.

Offer the horse a good deal: It is important to learn what a good deal looks like to your horse. It means finding safety, comfort, curiosity (play) and treats. It can become difficult if the owner offers these to the horse in the wrong order. Treats can become a distraction from the task being learned and can reward not only the wrong responses but also the wrong mental/emotional state. Treats do not calm your horse down.

Offer with a happy heart: Try to employ your senses of empathy and curiosity when giving cues for a task. Hold in your heart a playful perspective to help you clearly observe responses and “try” as your horse learns.

Becoming a bit more firm: The most common things I see when learning firmness ladder are incorrect timing, intensity and order of progression. Decide to apply pressures incrementally from softest to firmest. Typically, ,men will get firm fast and the firmest pressure will be hard. They get a reaction instead of an appropriate response. Often in that situation the horse hasn’t had time to think of how to respond at the lightest pressure or with minimal guidance. Women on the other hand are less willing to apply enough pressure to get a response and the horse mistakes the repetitive pressures as inconsequential, don’t respond, get bored and distract themselves. A woman’s emotions may escalate but appropriate follow-through of incremental pressures are too late and don’t connect effectively to achieve the task.

Slowly inching your way up the ladder: This means incrementally increasing pressures. Remain calm enough to clearly observe the horse’s learning pathway at each increase. In this way you can give the horse a timely release. This allows the horse to find safety and comfort and the natural reward it needs to learn .

The horse responds properly: Be aware that the horse may be making steps in the correct direction but not in the direct line you imagined. That is the horse responding properly in a learning mental state. Therefore you need to allow and encourage, with releases along the way. You must have a clear picture in your mind what the result you want is, exactly, and be particular about where the horse needs to put its feet.

You cannot approach the task of trailer loading with the picture of “the horse gets in”. It is too big of a picture. Instead, have a clear vision of the nose going in first, then the neck, the front feet, the barrel and so on until the entire body is inside. This is how the horse thinks its way in, willingly.

I encourage you to deeply study what the “Masters” say and demonstrate and take the time to unpack their message. There is a lot more to be learned about training your horse than achieving a task, riding a skill, jumping higher, going faster or winning a trophy. For the horse’s sake let’s keep it simple and safer!

Categories: : Let's Talk Training