Ridecamp: [RC] Training the Man - some light relief for the middle of theweek

This came from the American Association for Horsemanship Safety (www.law.utexas.edu/dawson/)  Thought you guys would enjoy it!

Dear Lerlene, 

It's holiday time and hunting season and my horse-trainer husband won't do diddley-squat to help me. I have the house to decorate, shopping to do, and all he wants to do is sit in a tree or drive around the pasture in his jeep. What am I going to do? 

Lola Rose, Lampassas 

Dear Lola, 

This is the most common Texas lament this time of the year. My cross-country trucker- trainers' wives have solved this problem. They simply apply time-honored horse training techniques to those good-ol-boy husbands. Below is what one of them sent me. She said she was not sure which training book it came from, but it has been adapted for husbands. She just used the word "horse" interchangeably with "man." 

Lerlene 

Understanding and Training the Man (or Horse) 

For thousands of years the man was a wild, free animal who ran in herds. He had to rely on his swiftness and his senses of smell, hearing, and sight to protect him from the dangers of predators. 

Men are not aggressive by nature, any action that appears so is purely defensive. Through kindness, it is easy to gain a man's confidence. Once a man learns that he can trust his woman, he will do anything he is asked. If the trust is destroyed, for example, by asking him to jump obstacles that are too big and that frighten him, he will take considerable time to re-establish his confidence. 

Despite his looks, a man is not a highly intelligent animal. He does, however, have a great memory that recalls rewards, fear and pain. It is through our knowledge and understanding of the man's memory that we have learned how to train him. 

Women often forget that the man has to learn to understand their aids. Although he is capable of being lazy and disobedient, he also learns to respect and obey the woman who firmly insists that he does as he is told and then rewards him. Quick, correct responses from the man must be immediately rewarded with a kind word or a pet. A lack of response from the man must equally be corrected. 

The aids are a system of signals used by the woman to communicate with the man and tell him what to do. The aids are mostly silent language of touch and feel. As the man progresses in his training, the signals given by the woman become more complex and subtle. The basic aids should be straightforward and simple. 



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