Re: Pony prices and training..tap,tap,tap

[Lynette Helgeson <helgeson@lansford.ndak.net>]

KIMBERLY PRICE wrote:

> You wrote:
> I borrowed from John Lyons' trailer loadingmethods to get him to go by
> cows. When he stops, I tap him gently with thedressage whip--tap, tap,
> tap--until he moves just one foot. Then I stop. Thentap, tap, tap
> again, until he takes another step. As long as he takes a step
> forward, he gets rewarded by having the tapping stop. Seems to work.
>
> The worst he does is a 180 degree spin in a millisecond. Once, up in
> the mountains, he got me off when he saw some deer. Another time, I was
> hangingoff the edge and simply willed myself back into the saddle.

I would guess that the reason he is doing the 180 degree spin is tokeep you
from tap, tap, tapping. That is the problem with John Lyons
and Pat Paretti, etc. methods. They work wonderfully on stock horses
but not always on Arabians.

I have trained many different breeds of horses and it took me awhile
to realize that when you train an Arabian you are working with a
totally different animal. And this is a prime example of that. The
very best way to train an Arabian to not be spooky is for you to
gain his trust. If he trusts that you will not let any horse eating
monsters get him and he will go anywhere for you.
In fact the Arabian is such a loyal horse that if he trust you he will
go where even the calmest horse will fear to tread.

For example, your Arabian is coming up to something that scares
him, his instinct tells him to run. You hold him to face it and start
tapping him, he is trained to move away from pressure so he moves
forward, still scared but feeling trapped, like he has no choice. He is
not learning to trust you, you are forcing him towards it, so he is
mistrusting you. You are forcing him into a situation that he does
not like. So next time instead of giving you a chance to tap him
towards something that scares him he is just going to wheel and run.
Now stock horses are not always that quick thinking and they will
not always look for another way out of something, but an Arabian
always will look for another way. When training an Arabian you always have
to be
out thinking the horse. If something is not working, don't keep
doing it because it worked for someone else. Put yourself in your
horse's place and see it through his eyes.

If anyone is interested in more details on the ways that I use to gain
an Arabians trust. E-mail me.

Lynette Helgeson





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note:           Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps not record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
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