Wanderosa, I love the story of the old man. I think arthritis makes older folks work smarter, rather than harder!
I forgot to mention something about teaching tricks. It puts the horse in a different frame of mind. Dr. Grandin calls it ‘seeking behavior’, if you read her books. I think it also puts the trainer in different frame of mind. We go from, “When I get my hands on that little bugger…” to, “Oh, cool, he got it. This if fun!”
Love stories like that. We have an older gentleman who runs a tack shop, I stopped in to have him fix an English noseband (kinda looked at me funny since we are in western country) got into the discussion about this horse and he recommended one of those big horse balls to get his mind somewhere else.
I like the water idea.
Yesterday when I went out to feed I was able to talk right up to him, grab the halter and visit for a few. I feel like the halter has helped some. He’s my problem horse and I feel like he’s always going to be. Thankfully I have two others who keep me sane
We (clicker trainers) have learned to spend more time teaching our horses to go away rather than come closer. 
I am still puzzles as to the people who do not leave a halter on a horse…I have LEATHER halters on my horses 24/7 365. There is nothing worse than a loose horse you can’t at w/o a halter on. There is nothing worse than trying to catch a horse who you have to get a shank and halter on. Leather breaks under stress…Walking out into a field even w/ a bucket of grain and a Halter and shank sends a red flag…The hardest to catch horse is feed in an improvised catch pen where we gated off a place behind a shed. We feed the horses there and they see/ hear the Gator They run in and we shut gate drop some feed and shank on the 1 we want.
I never leave a halter on a horse. They are all taught to come when called. I was taught not to leave a halter on as it dulls their sensitivity to it. It is on their pressure points all the time. It is not good.
When I was introduced to facing up:- Horsey people watching.
A chestnut filly who had been handled 3 times. Twice she had thrown herself on the ground. The 3rd time she took off and went through 3 fences.
John Chatterton had her in a yard made of rails. There was a rail missing on the left. A gate at the back. A water trough on the right and us in a grand stand on this side.
He tried the spin the rope until she looked at him routine.
Nope. She was beyond terrified. Self preservation had gone.
She did not want a bar of him. She would not look at him. Her head and neck turned away from at all times.
She tried to go under and through the gate. She had her whole head and neck through the gap where the rail was missing and tried to get through that. How she didn’t break her legs on the water trough I don’t know and we all moved up several seats in the grand stand as she was eyeing up our fence to jump it and land in our laps.
Over and over again. She kept trying each side.
Let me start by saying that Facing Up training is usually pretty gentle with praise and not touching the horse with the rope.
He came ro us and said that it was not working. We could all see that.
He opened the gate and she went through to an aisle. Her at one end. Him in the middle.
He had the rope down as she approached him. When she went past, he hit ger as hard as he could with the leadrope. Not a meek girl hit. A strong nan using all his strength and body to hit her as hard as he could.
Rinse and repeat from one side of the aisle to the other.
It wouldn’t have even been 5 minutes before she walked up to him and kissed him on the face.
He opened the gate and walked back to us. She couldn’t get close enough to him. Her whole head and neck turned to him. Her ears were forward.
She walked with him to us. He talked to us while he rubbed her. He put a halter on. In another 5 minutes he had rubbed her all over and picked up all 4 feet.
It was magical.
That was 35 years ago. Every horse I know has been taught to face up. If in together, they all come They are taught to halt and I select the one I want. The others are not allowed to follow.
SuzyQNutter- I am having trouble following the theory behind John Chatterton’s method- do you have any links? I can’t visualise how hitting a frightened horse will suddenly cause it to want to approach.
Someone at the barn has a mare about 8 yo, been through many different owners, supposedly broke to ride. She has been at the barn several months but is still terrified of people. Very head shy, impossible to catch even with halter and catch rope on in the field, you can’t get close enough. She will follow other horses into barn and can be herded into stall. You CAN approach and fuss/brush her now in stall now (not possible when she came), OK now to handle and rub anywhere except head, but it is not possible in the field. Of course, she is out with other horses who all crowd over if there is any evidence of treats or feed going! One wonders how long it will take…
Demidq it works because all horses learn from the release of pressure.
As with all methods it is the timing that is key, so as she approached him he stood still with the rope down, as she scooted past him, he hit her the moment she was not looking at him. So she learned that looking at him was safe and a good thing to do. Not look at him and bad things happen.
When I do this training with a horse I stand at the side of a yard, so when the horse follows the path around the yard they end up looking at me even if it wasn’t on purpose. You need to drop the pressure of the swinging rope immediately that the horse one out of 100 does what you want. In this case face you. I praise as well as the horses I usually teach are already broken in and not afraid of me and know what that means.
They soon learn to face you and then to follow you. You can see this training in the movie the Black Stallion when Alec is playing with the stallion. They will follow you whether you walk or run and when you turn.
Next you teach them to stand still, so as they do not turn to face you as you are grooming and tacking.
Mine come when I call them only. If I am going through the paddock to approach cows or something else, I do not want the horses approaching me.
From that moment on I never go to a horse to catch it. The horse must approach you.
I had a mare take off and gallop out the front gate with saddle and bridle. She was heading towards a cattle grid and a main road. The visions in my head of what was about to happen was those of nightmares.
I called her and yes I am loud. She turned. Galloped back up the road, turned 90 degrees and down the driveway and halted in front of me.
I had a gelding who I put the reins doubled over his head and told him to stand and went to look at a downed calf. Yes I am talking about cattle, but I am talking about dressage saddles and this boy was a 16.3hh tbred.
When I eventually turned my attention back to him he had gone. He was about 100m away playing with the next door neighbour’s stallion. Cantering up and down the fence.
I called him and his expression was aww do I Have to? I called again and he came to me but with utter disappointment that his fun had been stopped.
So they come when they want to and also come when they don’t want to.
They come when I call, when I clap, when I bang something, when I throw something at them if they are ignoring me.
As with any method get the timing wrong with your training and you will teach them to never come near you again.
Mine are taught to come and halt back from me. I don’t want them cantering to me and trying to halt near me in the mud and sliding over me when it is wet. If more than one they come to me and stand still.
Always think of how you can do something safer. If you do not have the control that I have, that the horses halt and do not move, so I select the horse I want and leave and the other horse does not follow - Then going in with a pack of untrained horses with treats is a very dangerous thing to do and I suggest you stop that practice before humans and horses are injured.
When you have your horse in a 50 acre paddock you don’t want to have to go and find them to do a 1 second job of putting on a flyveil.
This was Andy. The one that was playing with the stallion. The horse I was told did not like people and they had to go and catch him hiding in between trees.
This was to put his fly veil on.
[video]http://s16.photobucket.com/user/SuzieQ_/media/Andy/DSCF4767.mp4.html[/video]
Have you tried walking backwards to get near him? The barn I used to take lessons at had a wonderful lesson pony I loved, but he was very difficult to catch. Walking backwards usually worked.
Once you catch him, give him a treat, maybe take him outside his paddock and let him munch some grass. Then put him back in the paddock. Short, friendly encounter. No work, all good stuff. Next day, repeat.
Thanks SuzyQ- release of pressure and timing I understand, your original description of the encounter with the chestnut filly wasn’t clear on the this, hence the question.
I have no intention of going into a field of horse with a pail of feed, I am reasonably experienced after 40 years of horse owning and do NOT want to be trampled!
The little mare doesn’t belong to me, my own horse is extremely well mannered, altho I think we could improve on the coming when called training. Occasionally I do get a “yeah, whatever” response if the hay or grass is particularly good! She is very focused on me when there is a task, though, and we have fun with liberty obstacle courses.
I’ve always been taught no halters. I remember grooming FEI horses and turning them out in halters, and I’d have to stay out there watching everyone for their 2 hour turn outs 😂 flashbacks!
Horse is in a hideous neon orange breakaway halter. 95% of the time he’s had the halter on ive been able to walk up to him. He’s always been a weirdo about being approached from the left side. I mean he’s a weirdo period.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
