The methods I use are what the animal tells me it needs. Yes, I do have a philosophy I train by which is the Safety, Sanity & Success method of horse and rider education (please see my web site for an explanation of this method). The horses behavior and attitude dictates the way I go about handling the horse.
If a horse is aggressive and dangerous I will use the appropriate level of
discipline to ensure first of all my safety and then the horses safety. I will put
an aggressive horse in a round pen and move him away from me however I can which is typically fairly easy since the horse doesn't want to be by me anyway, he works at a steady trot until he shows signs he is becoming submissive, if he tries to kick me or strike at me I will "act like I'm nuts" and jump and holler this is usually quite enough to get most horses away from me, especially since they have room to move away from me in a 50' round pen. If an animal is in a small space and has the tendency to be aggressive being confined will exacerbate this behavior, never confine a horse and push his comfort zone! While working with the horse is it imperative to understand he is just doing what he has either been taught (yes, people teach horses to strike and kick) or he is down right spoiled, which is fairly common, being spoiled. I will work within his "horse" understanding until he can control himself and think and watch me and ask questions such as "can I stop now?". This is one scenario
there are more ways than we can get into here.. But to
give you another idea of how I work, say we have a fearful horse, many of them in my experience, are fearful
because they don’t have an understanding of what we human’s want from
them. They are so wrapped up in their own heads and anxieties they cannot
think or process information. I will allow them to get comfortable in
their environment so that they understand their physical boundaries then I will
enter their world and begin to show them how to keep themselves safe and
comfortable by following my lead. This can take many forms from desensitizing the area around them to hands on directives, once again it depends on the horse and his needs. I do this by being very clear and
direct. The more anxious a horse is the more direct and non-predator like
behavior I exhibit. Horses cannot understand human's who in good conscious walk slooooowly and quietly up to them bent over trying to make ourselves as small as possible so as not to scare the horse, this style of approach simply terrifies most horses!!! They don't understand we're trying to be soft and quiet. This is "human" language not "horse" language. These horses find comfort in my style of training.
I have experience with Arabians who can be very flighty and overachieving as
well as very sensitive to the touch. Many have sensitivities that
interfere with their being “good citizens” until I have shown them what they can
expect everyday all day long.
What
is your training style?
My style is leadership based with the understanding of who and what horses are, how they
learn (in a circular pattern of respect, cooperation, obedience and then
partnering) at all levels of their development and using my ability to
evaluate each animal individually to develop a program to address what they need to learn to
manage themselves emotionally.
