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Re: [RC] GRRRR a little vent... - oddfarmRay Hunt said anybody can be a horse trainer. Victims beware. One person I admire as a horse handler is Chris Cox. He told us once to try and go to as many clinics and seminars as you could. You will always walk away with some knowledge, even if you learned what NOT to do. You were right Chris, to give your gal a break. You did the right thing for you and your horse. Don't be afraid to say "No" to anybody. Even if they are some big wig or wannabe. Sounds like that course was a little tough, even for a seasoned horse. I had to ask a wannabe instructor to stop a session with one of my horses. She had him circle so tight for about an hour and a half, (I have not a clue what that was all about and neither did my horse) that he started to head bob. She said it was because we didn't have any shoes on. Brilliant. She also said he had to stand perfectly still and if he moved a step, to reprimand him. Then she told the handler, to let him eat grass. Well, he took a step and got a jerk on the lead to back up several steps. I don't know how a horse can be working and taking a break to eat grass at the same time. Very confusing. I won't let him go back to this wannabe. One of these days, I will be able to write about my experience with Mr. Hunt. To me, he is the epitome, (as was Bill and Tom Dorrance) of an excellent horseman. However, my three days with him were thee most humiliating. Dinero and I learned some lessons we will never forget. This is a good thing, but my story will make anyone who has ever felt inadequate, giggle and say, "Damn, what was she thinking?" One more year of therapy, and I may be able to tell the story. Lisa Salas, The Oddf aRm and Corona Ranch ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Paus" <paus@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: <RideCamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2004 8:25 AM Subject: [RC] GRRRR a little vent... Took my coming 4YO filly to a clinic yesterday for my distance riding group. It was at a paint breeder's farm and the breeders are 3 years into a natural horsemanship program with a big name guru. A little back ground, I bred this filly and have been with her every day of her life. she has been lightly under saddle for a year with no bucking, no problems. She's just been an absolute gem to work with. In the last couple of months, we've begun serious trail training and she's just done everything I've asked of her. She's not spooky, she's smart and willing to try new things. I thought this might be a good learning experience for Ali and she might get to do some things that are fun and interesting for her. It turned out that I carried home some very negative feelings about people who are supposed to be kinder gentler trainers, but who don't read the horse very well! I've decided after going to a lot of clinics that most of the "natural horsemanship trainers" spend a lot of time with ONE horse. That horse becomes their demo horse and will do anything, including make sandwiches and do the dishes. I have half a dozen horses to work with. There was this "obstacle" course set up in the arena for us to do. Now we aren't a NATRC group and we don't judge obstacles on trail, but I figured this would be a good exercise anyway. Miss Ali has never in her life been inside a barn before! It was a horribly windy day, 40 mph gusts, that rattled the eaves and vents of the barn making it a pretty scary place. Ali walked right in the barn under saddle and stood quietly while we watched the demo and other horses do the course. (every one had a really difficult time with it). It was set up like a trail class course with absolutly nothing that we would find out in the real world on the trail! First there was a narrow aisle made of straw bales we had to walk the horse through. On top of the bales was a plastic alligator and a bucket of flowers! Ali has been down a lot of narrow, rutted trails, but that was not her idea of a good time. Then we had to go over a wooden plank bridge, which, she did. Then we had to walk our horse into a mess of tangled Christmas tree lights and stand the horse there quietly. Ali, being a good trail horse, picked her way OVER the lights, very carefuly placing her feet. LOL. She did the square with teh beach ball OK. Then there was a clothesline with clothes on in. Now she has gone under clotheslines with clothes since she was an infant, no big deal. But this was in the dark corner of the barn with the wind just rattling the roof something fierce. Each time Ali balked at somethign, this "trainer" grabbed her bridle and tried to yank her through it. I told her to leave us alone and we could do it. Ali about yanked miss natural horsemanship trainer off her feet one time, LOL. We got through the clothes and on the other side was an obstacle of 3 poles with an ugly man sitting at the corner. Ali wasn't prepared for that, and spooked, but just a small startle. I was really proud that she didnt' really freak.... But that was her last obstacle. There were half a dozen more, but I could tell she had more than enough at that point. The trainer kept trying to urge me on. Meanwhile the wind was howling, birds were dive bombing us and the trainer's dog was in the arena trying to help and we had an audience of horses and riders. I looked at Ali's HRM and her heart rate was 110 standing still! I said, my mare has had enough, we're through and left the arena. I took Ali outside, where she immediately calmed down and her heart rate dropped. I rode her through an outdoor obstacle course and she did just fine, no balking, no problems, She handled blowing debris, wood piles, old rusty water troughs, picnic tables, etc. just fine. Then had lunch and a rest period and then did a little trail ride of a mile or so. I wanted to just pack up and go home, but against my better judgment, I went. The trail ride was not one of Ali's better times either. I knew we should have called it a day, so I dismounted and worked with her till she was her sweet self again. Meanwhile the trainers kept trying to "help".. I told them to leave us alone and let my mare chill out a little. We got back to our trailer and dang if they didn't try to make us go back into the barn for the obstacle course again! I screamed NO WAY MY MARE HAS HAD ENOUGH....I think they finally "got it" then and left us alone! Ali is not a spooky horse and she has shown me over and over again that she will take on a lot of challenges and figure things out. I knew that on this particular day, she was not dealing well with what was in front of her and it would have been a disaster to keep pushing her the way they wanted me to. I think if we had all the time in the world and we had been in the barn by ourselves without "trainers" Ali would have eventually accepted the scary stuff and done the obstacles just fine, but that situation was overwhelming to her. Long story short, Why don't trainers see that knowing when to STOP is part of training????? Grrrrrr.... So much for clinics as a teaching tool for my horse.. chris ===== "A good horse makes short miles," George Eliot Chris and Star BayRab Acres http://pages.prodigy.net/paus ============================================================ REAL endurance is eating egg salad sandwiches for 3 days straight! ~ Heidi Sowards ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================ ============================================================ Arabians were bred for years primarily as a war horse and those requirements are similar to what we do today with endurance riding. ~ Homer Saferwiffle ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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