Post by horseguy on Apr 7, 2017 15:15:41 GMT
The Buck story where he tied the horse and taught him to feel for the end of the rope showed real efficient skill in teaching a horse how to relax. I liked it a lot.
The young horse people don't seem to want skilled training. They are more equipment focused. I gave an example a while ago when I saw a young person lunging a horse with a lunge line with an 18" chain at the end. I told her that if the horse reared or twisted the chain could end up in the horse eye. I explained that it was safer for the horse if the chain was looped and snapped so it could not reach the eyes. She told me that the horse might step in the chain loop and break a bone. NOT IF you keep the lunge line off the ground like you are supposed to. A good trainer can control keeping the lunge line off the ground but a it's nearly impossible to keep a young one from acting up and maybe rearing, so the safest thing is to shorten the chain instead of trying to avoid a stepping in the loop problem by risking the long chain. But this trainer did not want to take responsibility for the line staying off the ground and thus put the horse at risk for a much more common incident with the eye.
Same s**t, different day. I was talking to this trainer about a bit for the pony I am working with. I always start with a lose ring fat mouth snaffle and I do not have one in Pony size anymore. I wanted to borrow one. I was told that she didn't have one because she used a full cheek to start horse/ponies because it will not slip through the mouth. Same deal as the lunge line. If you have the skill to use a rein of opposition with a leading rein with a prospect, it is nearly impossible to pull the bit through the mouth. But if you don't have the skill and you yank the prospects head around with one rein, sure the bit might slide through. So again, equipment is used improperly to cover for a lack of skill. Meanwhile at the very first steps of accepting the bit the prospect from time to time feels an odd side pressure on its lips from the full cheek. With a smart horse that tries to figure out the meaning of every pressure sensation, they are asking "what the heck is that side of my lips thing mean? And as the try to figure it out they come up with a totally unnecessary response. The cheek pressure becomes a big distraction to what you are trying to train for.
What passes for a horse owner and horse trainer today is pretty minimal, and when someone really knows how to train a horse they get what Buck got. Or they get what I got over and over about substituting equipment for skill. I wonder if Buck is thinking of retiring and just letting it go. I did but I failed to see that when I would end up a boarder I'd be more surrounded by "the present day" than ever. At least at my own farm I could keep the "new" perspective to a minimum.
The young horse people don't seem to want skilled training. They are more equipment focused. I gave an example a while ago when I saw a young person lunging a horse with a lunge line with an 18" chain at the end. I told her that if the horse reared or twisted the chain could end up in the horse eye. I explained that it was safer for the horse if the chain was looped and snapped so it could not reach the eyes. She told me that the horse might step in the chain loop and break a bone. NOT IF you keep the lunge line off the ground like you are supposed to. A good trainer can control keeping the lunge line off the ground but a it's nearly impossible to keep a young one from acting up and maybe rearing, so the safest thing is to shorten the chain instead of trying to avoid a stepping in the loop problem by risking the long chain. But this trainer did not want to take responsibility for the line staying off the ground and thus put the horse at risk for a much more common incident with the eye.
Same s**t, different day. I was talking to this trainer about a bit for the pony I am working with. I always start with a lose ring fat mouth snaffle and I do not have one in Pony size anymore. I wanted to borrow one. I was told that she didn't have one because she used a full cheek to start horse/ponies because it will not slip through the mouth. Same deal as the lunge line. If you have the skill to use a rein of opposition with a leading rein with a prospect, it is nearly impossible to pull the bit through the mouth. But if you don't have the skill and you yank the prospects head around with one rein, sure the bit might slide through. So again, equipment is used improperly to cover for a lack of skill. Meanwhile at the very first steps of accepting the bit the prospect from time to time feels an odd side pressure on its lips from the full cheek. With a smart horse that tries to figure out the meaning of every pressure sensation, they are asking "what the heck is that side of my lips thing mean? And as the try to figure it out they come up with a totally unnecessary response. The cheek pressure becomes a big distraction to what you are trying to train for.
What passes for a horse owner and horse trainer today is pretty minimal, and when someone really knows how to train a horse they get what Buck got. Or they get what I got over and over about substituting equipment for skill. I wonder if Buck is thinking of retiring and just letting it go. I did but I failed to see that when I would end up a boarder I'd be more surrounded by "the present day" than ever. At least at my own farm I could keep the "new" perspective to a minimum.
