SOME POINTS ON EQUINE PSYCHOLOGY
The first and most important point to bear in mind in horse training, is TO TEACH THE HORSE THAT HE CAN TRUST YOU AT ALL TIMES. IF HE LEARNS THAT THE FIRST DAY , YOU’VE LAID A FOUNDATION WHICH WILL BE PRICELESS FOR THE REST OF THAT HORSE’S LIFE. THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY IS THE FIRST. THEN HE EITHER LEARNS TO:
A. TRUST , or
B. DISTRUST, or
C. HATE YOU.
I therefore want to EMPHASIZE that it is mostly not something I have figured out because of my savvy or horse sense, but which I have had the privilege to learn from smart horsemen whom God brought over my path over a period of more than forty years, and mostly, because of what He has revealed to me by grace.
I’ve read quite a few books on Natural Horsemanship, and watched quite a few DVD’s, but the problem with many of these is that they show you the end product and result, but NOT the step-by-step way of getting there from Day 1. In this book I endeavour to guide you step-by-step, from the day the foal / young horse is brought in from the veld, the individual which has never been handled before, till completion of the process of bonding. For the purpose of this course explained in the training manual, EASY HORSE, we also assume that the horse is of the spirited type. Many horses will allow you to proceed much faster, BUT I WANT TO HELP YOU, THE NOVICE, THE AMATEUR, TO BE ABLE TO BOND WITH ANY TYPE OF HORSE. It normally took Bulletjie (my beloved son and one of the most gifted horsemen I’ve known) twenty to thirty minute to sit in the saddle of horses which have never been handled before. However, don’t expect to do this from the start. Bulletjie has a lot of experience at this type of bonding. Won’t you feel good if you can do that?
To me one of the surest signs of a lack of understanding of equine psychology, or the way a horse thinks, is “He will do as I tell him“, a sure sign of arrogance, but not of horsemanship, unless it is said by a true professional, who knows why he says it, and what to do. It is amazing that this attitude will mostly be found among amateurs with little or no experience, and who normally ruin most of the horses they get involved with.
It is just logical that a young horse which comes in for the first time, will be suspicious of EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING is new and strange to him. Even being stabled is a foreign experience.
So what does the inexperienced horseman do?
Watch this blog for the continuation of this discussion, or if you would like to learn much more immediately, visit http://www.greenhorsetrainingbook.org/ to order a complete course on horsemanship which will enable you to do with horses what you never dreamed you were capable of.
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