Horse Sense and Cents

Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners due for public release in 2010. Discounted bulk pre-publication orders now being taken.

Chapter Eight

Sometimes they’re just plain crazy

On occasion, you really do find yourself burdened with a nut. While preliminary bad breaking definitely exacerbates problems, when you strip it all down and finally get past the baggage, there are times you must admit that the horse you’re working with is simply just not right in the head. Interestingly, these critters can be very predictable in what sets them off, but how they react is never a given. Surprisingly, they can usually handle distractions and circumstances that should make a sane horse blow, but freak out with stuff that shouldn’t be a concern.

Crazy horses rarely give you an opportunity to completely relax. There will always be issues that make them occasionally frustrating and often dangerous. Horses that are totally governed by fear rarely consider their own welfare when reacting, and this is a common trait of equines who are nuts. Mean horses are always limited with what they will do by a self-preservation instinct, making them at least predictable in how far they will go. Not so with crazy horses. They’ll crash through fences, impale themselves, flip, run off on unsafe ground, and have occasions when they go deaf, blind, and oblivious to immovable objects that cross their panicked path, while reacting to ghosts in ways that make no sense.

Sometimes, you’ll encounter a psycho that has so much talent it seems worth the effort. Usually, it isn’t. Still, we’ve had some success with crazies, and some failures too. Most, ultimately, leave you shaking your head on the time and money spent to get them two strides forward and ten steps back, wondering if the sanity issue extends beyond your equine’s behavior and if there’s a white jacket in your size.

While it seems prudent to try to recover your investment, sometimes it’s best to cut your losses. Time and money gone is just plain lost — and putting good money after bad is rarely a good idea.

If you’re determined to proceed, the anecdotes below may help guide you in your quest.

Flash — hurdler extraordinaire

Flash was a narrow, five-year-old, 15.1-hand Thoroughbred that somehow wound up as a lesson horse at an area riding stable. He was a terror with students, running off at will and occasionally unseating the brave kids who dared to try to conquer him. One of our former riding instructors asked us to take a look at this horse. She was considering buying him. He was deemed unsuitable as a lesson horse (imagine that) and was on the block. We hopped on him in the arena, and after a brief flatwork primer, pointed him at a 2’6” line (there was something about this horse that squealed natural talent over fences). He cleared the fences easily, correctly, and with a ton of finesse. He had never jumped. We leapt off immediately and said “buy him.”

She didn’t, and we landed the prize for $500.

The next three years netted unimaginable nightmares. We figured he had just been mishandled, poorly started, and conditioned to react inappropriately. Certainly, with patient and skilled guidance, he’d transform into a cooperative steed. We were wrong.

We’d spend minutes or hours working with this horse one day, progressing to a new understanding, only to find those lessons not only lost but problems magnified by the next day.

Compounding the frustration was the fact that this horse would willingly clear jumps of any size placed before him, but was out of control after hurdling the fence, not to mention during flat exercises. We progressed to the point where we were competing in events, and if we didn’t get eliminated in dressage (this was a common occurrence — he had no qualms about hopping over the arena perimeter, particularly when the judges used a horse trailer for shelter), we were sure to go clean during cross-country and stadium, almost always finishing in the ribbons. Consequently,

we were thrilled if we were able to complete the first phase. We were also convinced his incredible talent over fences made it worth the temporary embarrassment and extreme frustration borne while we worked through his issues.

Sneak Peak excerpt from Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners. Due for public release in 2010.

Horse Sense for sour equines

• Rule out physical issues that may be causing pain and the horse’s associated frustration in his failure to communicate.

• Do not continue to push a sore horse, or you will only make him sourer and could turn him mean. Give him the help and the time required to heal prior to resuming training.

• Figure out whether routine or varied activities are the preference of your sour horse and give him what makes him happiest.

• Be patient, flexible, and accommodating with a sour horse when their behavior is justified. Conversely, if you’ve taught a horse to be sour by rewarding bad behavior, resolve to stop the pattern or get some help.

• Try getting a horse out of the routine with some fun activities, trail rides, and long walks if his sour behavior is likely due to too much of the same grind. Some sour horses will bounce back pretty quickly once relieved of the drill that has made them bored and cranky.

• It is rarely effective to discipline a sour horse for his behavior. If a horse has come to resent riding, punishing them aboard only reinforces this conviction. Instead, try finding an easy activity they enjoy and rewarding them for their cooperation. Once you’ve gained a rapport, reintroduce them to the discipline training in lighter doses and with greater rewards for their achievements.

• Horses that have turned sour rarely become standout competitors (unless you change their career to something they learn to enjoy), nor fun pleasure horses. If your aim is to put them back into the routine that created their sour nature (unless this is due to pain you address and correct), you are likely to be disappointed. Consider a different project.

• Find some riding activity that’s really fun for your sour horse and reward him with this after every positive response to a lesson (this could be trail riding, jumping, riding with a companion horse, going fast, going slow, a long rein, a swim in a pond – each horse is different and you need to figure out what makes your horse happiest).

• Know when to call it quits. Sour horses are some of the toughest to turn and sometimes there is no reward for the effort. If you come to hate riding or working with this horse, it may be time to say goodbye. Quality of life (yours and theirs) is something worth considering with these projects.

Overwhelmed and cagey

Rosie spent two days at the racetrack after being “broke” at a

distant farm. She wheeled about thirty times in a single trip

jogging around a half-mile training track, terrified of oncoming

traffic and the scene that presented itself to this unprepared,

frenzied baby. At Thoroughbred racetracks, generally jogging

(or trotting) horses travel on the outside rail moving to the

left; galloping horses and those moving at a faster pace track

right toward the inside rail. On day two, in a half-mile gallop

(we tried a different approach to the oncoming traffic concern

and started tracking right), she slammed into the rail at least a

dozen times and ran at full speed in a panic — sans steering or

brakes — not seeing, hearing, or feeling anything in her path of

sheer, all-out, running terror.

She was trucked to Halcyon Acres that week for some reprogramming

authorized by a trainer in a huge hurry to get her

back. He failed to recognize the increased challenges associated

with retooling a horse that had been poorly started. Still,

we were determined to help this filly cope with what would be

ahead of her. Of course, the idea of the imminent broken human

body parts that would result if she wasn’t removed from

the track for a more controlled turning process was a factor.

Since time was of the essence, we started her in the round pen

the day she was trucked in. It’s preferable to give young horses

time to settle into a routine prior to tackling performance challenges,

but, sometimes, you make less than ideal choices with

the horse’s ultimate welfare in mind. We began with a brief lesson

in responding to body language and voice commands that

set the tone for future success with a quick reward for responding

to easy requests. She understood.

Day two was a lengthy session, as was the case for the term

of her stay, struggling to encourage a filly who had apparently

no good ground-handling experience to perform simple tasks

like picking up her feet and accepting basic grooming. First, we

spent more than an hour each day in the stall, tackling activities

that most yearlings are prepared to easily tolerate. This was

a filly that was expected to perform on cue with a rider atop at

the track! No wonder she was unresponsive, as terror set in, to

requests she was woefully unprepared for.

We proceeded to the round pen and then the trails for under saddle

activities with Gatsby (our canine assistant trainer) as a

constant companion and teacher. Generally, it’s best to implement

short sessions, quitting as soon as a win is achieved, but

we had twelve days to get this filly ready to go back to a track

with a trainer who wasn’t likely to permit patient daily regimens.

Plus, Rosie wasn’t very cooperative and it often took more

than an hour to achieve a proper response to a single request.

The trails were tough at first as Rosie had little confidence in

her mount and seemed to have no confidence in herself. Gatsby

helped lead the way through troubling areas and trotted at her

heels the rest of the time, getting her accustomed to traffic and

noise behind her . . .

Sneak Peak excerpt from Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners, due for official publication in winter, 2010

Chapter Five: An A for effort comes with Alphas

Some of the toughest fought battles are the most rewarding. Interestingly, it seems the most determined cases, able and willing to wear you out to the point of giving up, acquiesce right about the time you’re ready to walk away. These are almost always Alphas and will make you earn their respect — with the bruises to prove it.

Alphas are idiosyncratic horses to deal with and are fairly easy to recognize. They are also your most likely — albeit toughest — cases to turn. Most rule the pasture, and the strong ones have yet to encounter a horse or person who has stood their ground with them long enough to persuade them to “listen.” Once they find an animal or a person that has the staying power to earn their respect, they often soften and relish the opportunity to have a leader. These horses usually turn instantly and dramatically when they acknowledge you are a worthy guide. They also tend to be extremely willing, predictable, dependable, and outstanding performers who aim to please those they esteem — to extremes. Of course, getting there is no easy task.

Usually, discipline and hostility toward an Alpha is a mistake. Never back down; instead, demonstrate your power by holding your ground and remaining calm, fearless, and insistent as they launch a bevy of scare or avoidance tactics at you. Typical young Alphas will throw tantrums anytime they are asked to comply with a request that doesn’t suit them. They can be kind, smart, and compliant foals for early handling and lessons they find interesting, engaging, or fun. Once they are asked to respond to a request that isn’t on their agenda, however, they can turn into monsters. Those that are effective at intimidating a novice or tentative early handler into compliance tend to be difficult horses to start under saddle. If the attitude isn’t rectified in early under-saddle activities, it escalates, and these animals become problem children who need reprogramming if they are to be safe and honest mounts.

Most of the prior book excerpts featured on this blog were culled from Section Three, Tips from the Trenches. These snipets spotlighted perspectives, tips and stories from a variety of trainers from a diverse array of disciplines. In the coming weeks, we’ll feature the stories of real horses and how challenges were met and resolved (or not). Below is the introduction to this section.     

Section Two

Developing a work plan

Stories can help make learning easier. This is especially true when dealing with riding horses, a discipline that uses most of our senses, particularly when trying to turn a challenging mount. Therefore, the following chapters include instructional guidance with ample anecdotal information to illustrate some of the cases we’ve dealt with at Halcyon Acres. Working with equines that have learned to misbehave is always a trial-and-error process. We hope you’ll discover a winning plan for your particular problem child with ideas from the many success stories, while also learning to exploit and avoid some of the mistakes we’ve learned from along the way.

Often, young horses are misunderstood during the “breaking” period and forced into situations that overwhelm, frighten, or annoy them due to the trainer’s failure to communicate. This can last a lifetime, if these animals aren’t reprogrammed — by restarting training from where things first went wrong. Caught early enough, these problems can be redirected for amazing performance results, but this process requires a lot of patience, staying power, and intuitive responses. There are few lost causes with horses, but a lot of lost opportunities due to misunderstandings. Problem mounts are more often the result of problem handlers and riders early in life, rather than inborn reactions. Get to know what your horse is trying to tell you, and you may be amazed at how much progress you can make with just a little bit of listening.

Excerpt from Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners due for release winter, 2010

Table of Contents

Glossary

Section I: Starting from a position of knowledge

Chapter 1: The Challenge

Chapter 2: Identifying the root of the challenge

Section II: Developing a work plan

Chapter 3: Working with scared horses

Chapter 4: Turning mean to green

Chapter 5: An A for effort comes with Alphas

Chapter 6: Encouraging a timid equine

Chapter 7: Turning a sour mount

Chapter 8: Sometimes they’re just plain crazy

Chapter 9: Correcting coordination and other issues

Section III: Tips from the professional trenches

Chapter 10: Kels Bonham; Junior rider

Chapter 11: Denny Emerson; Olympic eventer

Chapter 12: Jutta Heinsohn; Bereiter, F.N., FEI dressage trainer and competitor

Chapter 13: Dennis Auslam; Western riding and training professional

Chapter 14: Claire Hunter; Hunter/jumper trainer

Chapter 15: John Newborough; Classic horse trainer and judge

Chapter 16: Kathy O’Neal; Lesson and training stable owner

Chapter 17: Mike Bonham; Grand Prix Jumper trainer

Chapter 18: Robert Fera; Professional stallion handler

Chapter 19: Fleur Bryan; British Horse Society certified instructor

Section IV: Getting Practical

Chapter 20: Sense

Chapter 21: Cents

Chapter 22: The rewards

Index

This is a sneak peak excerpt from the first title of the Horse Sense and Cents series title, Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners, due for public release in February, 2010.

PREFACE

There’s something to be said for learning from the wisdom — and mistakes — forged by others before you. The Horse Sense and Cents™ series is intended to help the novice identify problems and potential solutions, including solutions that may require professional assistance.

The books are also designed to benefit the professional through lessons learned, case studies, and chapters that include insights of other equine authorities from around the world. The anecdotal approach of the series makes the reading fun and the material easy to implement.

While throwing money at a problem can be effective, it’s more rewarding if you can understand what it takes to address or resolve an equine issue. Even if you choose to delegate training, raising, breeding, or any other activity that involves your horse (if you insist on spending the money, we at Halcyon Acres® welcome your business — visit us at http://www.HalcyonAcres.com), eventually you’ll want to understand how your actions affect your horse’s behavior.

For those who are living on a budget, but oh-so-determined to have a horse around the house or at a neighboring stable, we’ve been there and offer tips and tricks that can save you money and frustration as you dig your heels in to stay the course or gallop off into the sunset.

If you’re looking for a down-to-earth, easy-to-follow, and imaginative guide to the equine challenges you face, this series provides an excellent tool for creative and effective solutions to what ails you or your steed.

We’ve chosen to feature our “turning” treatise as the first book because this is a concern almost every seasoned equestrian has faced, along with a good number of unfortunate novices to boot, yet it is a topic rarely covered in detail by the pros or the industry media. We use the term turning to explain the process of transforming a mount that has been taught to be uncooperative, scared, or mean into a willing companion. Usually, this is an equine that has been started badly and has major resulting issues that are the fodder for nightmares. Obviously, it’s best to start right; but this doesn’t always happen, and the ensuing quirks and behavioral challenges range from annoying to downright dangerous.

Our approach is different from the norm — we don’t prescribe formula solutions but, instead, believe that each horse is distinctive in the way he or she responds and reacts to handler and rider cues. The signals and stories illustrated in this guide should help you identify problems that you may be facing with your steed while enabling you to type your horse a bit by recognizing tendencies. Identifying such behaviors may help you pinpoint how your horse may have been previously conditioned to distrust, disrespect, or hate his or her handlers and riders. The successful solutions can be guides as you strive to create an understanding between you and your particular problem child. Of course, we also offer mistakes as fodder for thought and cautionary notes on when it may be time to simply call it quits.

The time and effort necessary to turn a horse that’s been conditioned to behave badly can be considerable, but the rewards associated with that moment of connection and rapport are immeasurable. Usually, the turn is sud-den and dramatic. Additionally, if you are truly successful with your turning efforts, you will likely join with a mount that offers you a willingness to exceed your requests while sharing a bond that’s more invigorating than any equestrian activity involving a made horse. I hope you are able to experience the joy of this amazing experience with your equine project.

Nanette Levin

Excerpt from Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners due for release winter, 2010

Handling the crazies

“I spend a lot of time bonding with any horse, but especially one that has been started badly. I’ve had some that are so messed up you can’t even catch them in the stall. I’ll stand in the corner of their stall holding their feed bucket and won’t move until they come and eat. Some won’t come near me for hours, but eventually they’ll approach. I’ll do that for days. Then I’ll rub on them until I can get a halter on them. As soon as I can get a halter on them, I’ll take them out on the road for a walk with just the lead line for an hour. The next day, the breaking roll goes on in the stall. Then, I’ll teach them things like how to cross tie. I do get them to join up with me, but not in the round pen. When I am finished playing with a horse, they will follow me around without a lead on. This is what happens when you build a horse’s trust.

“I had one Thoroughbred horse come through my hands going back about ten years ago. She was trained to race and had run. When she came to us, she was virtually unridable. She was a head case. She had no brain. I decided, along with my dad, that we would start her with the usual bonding and long lining. This mare was such a freak show that she actually jumped over a hedgerow in the long lines to get away from me. I could never get her to settle down. There was no reasoning with this horse. My feeling, and I know where she came from and it would surprise me if I was right, but my gut told me she was badly beaten and abused. She didn’t trust anybody. It didn’t matter if it was male or female. She had no work ethic. You know how some horses are always willing to please, even if they have been spoiled? You can always find a common ground if you use reverse psychology. You could almost make them think it was their idea to go over that jump. She had none of it. She was the kind of horse that wouldn’t even take a treat out of your hand. She was the first one that I could actually say got the better of me and I had to give up. I will say, I did spend close to fifteen weeks working with her before I said this is going nowhere. She was only four. It was very sad. What was even sadder was that her dad was a European Triple Crown winner. It’s funny, because a lot of his stock finished up being nasty pieces of work. I didn’t find that out until later when I was following the sales in Europe.

“Sometimes, it is in the bloodlines. I knew another Thoroughbred stallion like that. All his foals had a favorite trick. You’d be coming down to a fence with them, and two strides out the sucker would drop the left shoulder and duck. They all did the exact same thing, duck out to the left side, and dump your ass on the floor.

“I will say, though, I learned more off that Thoroughbred mare than I learned off a lot of the good horses. I learn from my mistakes. I’ve have had very few failures, but you remember them.”

About Fleur Bryan

Fleur has over twenty years experience breaking young horses and retraining problem mounts. While in Ireland, Fleur spent fifteen years breeding, training, and competing show jumping horses. Now based in Kentucky, Fleur breeds top-quality Irish Sport Horses and focuses riding time on turning retired racehorses into hunter/jumpers. She is currently available across the US for clinics with a specialty in working with problem horses and nervous riders as well as mature riders.

http://www.parkmorestud.com, fleur@parmorestud.com, (502) 649-2037 cell

Training Horses with Denny Emerson

Excerpt from Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners due for release January, 2010

Maturity provides insight

“I think this is something that comes with getting older,” Denny admits. “There are two ways of addressing ‘my horse won’t do what I want.’ The mature, quiet, classical horseman will say, ‘this horse won’t do what I want, therefore, I am not asking him in a way he understands, or I’m overfacing him with tasks he’s not emotionally prepared to handle.’ But, the impatient person will say, ‘this horse won’t do what I want, therefore, the horse is being bad and I have permission to get on his case and punish him.’ I am now 67 years old, and I need to figure out a quieter or more consistent way to ask him. If you could get the younger ones (riders) to have that more mature attitude toward the training principles, I think you’d have a lot less trouble with horses. If it doesn’t happen in a week, or two weeks, or three months, then that’s OK. But you don’t start to ratchet up the intensity just because it isn’t happening fast enough.

“One of the things that I really do believe is that there can be a very significant difference between someone who is primarily a competitor and someone who is primarily a trainer. Let’s say you’re going to a particular event in two weeks. Your goal is to win the horse trials. If your horse isn’t going well then there’s a funny psychological switch that says ‘my horse is an impediment to my goal’ and you tend to lose patience with your horse.

“If your primary role is a trainer, the objective is to have the horse go well. The event in two weeks is not the priority,” Denny explains. Instead, he says a trainer’s sights are set on finding the right time and place to ensure the horse is able to shine. Patient tolerance and an understanding of equine needs with a schedule designed for the highest-level performance is the focus. “There’s a very different mindset,” he asserts.

“The best horseman is the person that can do both — to be both is really good. I think it’s better to be a good trainer than to be a good competitor. I’ve known a lot of really good competitors where others say ‘that person can really ride, but God forbid that you be his young horse,’ because he doesn’t have the patience to create a young horse. They’re too much in a hurry and they want what they want when they want it,” he notes.

About Denny Emerson:

Denny is currently at his 48^th consecutive year of competing at the Preliminary eventing level or higher. He has been honored with the USEA’s Wofford Cup for lifetime service to eventing, the American Riding Instructor Certification Program (ARICP) Lifetime Achievement Award, and was inducted in 2006 into the USEA Hall of Fame.

In addition to his eventing career, Denny has been involved in numerous other horse sports during his 56 years of competing. He rode in his first one-hundred-mile trail ride at GMHA in 1956. Forty-eight years later, in 2004, Denny won a Tevis Cup buckle in endurance, for completing the 50th Anniversary of the Western States Trail Ride, the most famous and arduous 100-mile endurance race in the world. Denny has compiled 2,250 miles in American Endurance Ride Conference races, and was long listed for the 2005 USA East team for the North American Championships.

http://www.tamarackhill.com, denny@tamarackhill.com

Denny will be hosting a clinic, festival and show weekend at his facility September 5-7, 2009 at his Vermont facilities featuring Irish Draught and Irish sport horses. Auditors are welcome at $15/day.