Horse Training Program Troubles

 The trouble with a one-size-fits-all horse training program

I meet a lot of folks with dangerous horses who previously experienced popular "training programs." 

 While one program may work for a horse, other horses may need things to be adapted in how and what is presented. 

But "trainers" often look for physical responses to specific tasks and have a pre-set "step 1, 2, 3" agenda with many pre-designed programs. 

This causes them to lose perspective or limits their availability to recognize what is influencing the horse's thoughts, while also not believing his concerns. Often rushing or bullying tactics are used to get him to comply with the task, without considering the horse's retention or learning experience.

 As the trainer continuously increases pressure towards the horse- mentally, physically or spatially- they tend to get critical when the horse becomes overwhelmed and offers physical resistance or explodes. 

 I'm 5'2" and there's no way I can "make" any animal do anything. I often talk about influencing a horse's thought first, then his movement. This contributes to the safety of both the human and the horse. 

If the horse's brain is already fleeing, defensive, concerned, and/or fearful, and I ask MORE of him, what will his response look like? For most horses it is like adding fuel to an already burning fire. 

 By following a "set" program, time is often not offered for the horse to learn how to think through a scenario, nor is acknowledgement offered when the equine tries. 

If someone has been taught "it" has to "look" like "x,y & z," anything less is not accepted by the human. This contributes to the horse "trying" less and looking for ways to avoid any interaction sooner in the sessions. 

 I believe horsemanship and the quality of it comes back to the human's education first. Becoming aware of one's behavior, patterns, thoughts, emotions, intentions, mentally presence, energy, anticipation, and communication all affect the quality of the equine interaction. 

The Illusion of the 30, 60, or 90 day trained horse is like dangling a carrot on a stick in front of the horse. It seems really attainable, but once "there", folks often realize they aren't even close in what the horse needs in his education to become a reliable and reasonable partner.

When there is recognition of how much more the horse needs to understand, it often creates a realization (and guilt) that the human now has to "undo" all of the previously hurriedly taught things to the horse. The urgency of the previous training program, created a chaotic learning process for the horse, while mostly teaching him to be defensive towards both learning and humans, increasing his anticipativeness, and reinforcing patterned physical responses without adaptability in how to think through scenarios.