The Problem Horse; Part 1

This is a series that I intended on doing on an IGTV but since I'm constantly traveling or in school, or since I do have a crazy home life, I planned to now use this as my platform.

I am not a professional, I apprenticed under a renown cutting trainer Toni Russel who now is retired and lives in Arizona. I was under her wing for under 4 years and she taught me everything she would within that time.

So to begin, no problem horse is alike. There are the 4 most broad ways to catogorize them so you can tailor your method to their needs. The four types are;

1. Neglected

2. abused

3. cowboyed

4. the "holy" horse aka the horse that has holes in his training.

Lets start with nelgected horses. These are the horses you would most likely see in a kill pen, animal control or in some cases just some bad hands. These horses are AFRIAD, they don't trust you, they don't respect you, and because of that, even though your the good guy and will provide proper feed and nutrition, they don't trust you to bring them their next meal. What possible issues can that create? Food aggression and aggression towards you is a big one. Some horses are worst that others but here is how to fix that.

Step 1: eliminate all and any competition

Horses are herd animals, they will fight their herd members to death for the last blade of grass in the wild. Feeding this horse by himself is one way he will learn that you will feed him instead of others.

Step 2: don't let them get pissy

When you go to feed these horses they will get aggressive towards you. The best thing to do is to wait, take a crop with you, stand your ground and make yourself be the boss, now there is no need to beat the horse your imprinting more fear than your need, but a small tap on the nose is all you'll ever need. If you can point out who is the boss while feeding, it will help you in the round pen later on.

Step 3: Bring on the competition

Once you get him to respect you when you feed him separately, then that's when you can bring on the competition. This will take a long time, so don't think this is something that can be solved overnight, in fact my first horse like this took 6 weeks before we could transition him to this stage so do not worry. This next part might take some friends so be ready,

in a large pen or a round pen (if a round pen no more than one other horse) keep the problem horse with a halter and lead on, start with some grain and feed the non problem horse first, when the problem horse starts to act up, MOVE his feet! lounge him in a small circle, make him change direction until he settles. Next give the problem horse his grain. If he gets aggravated, wait, just wait (yes even if its for an hour) and when he can mind himself, you can feed him the grain.

There could be what feels like 30 million other issues besides feeding time you can see or experience from other neglected horses. But to establish the pecking order and the teeniest amount of fear you need to establish to gain that respect, you need to address the root problem, which in most cases is food. This tool will help you in cases like catching, bridling, saddling, round pen work, trailer loading, clipping, and so much more. In future parts especially in part 3 and 4 I will go over issues of round penning, saddling, bridling, trailering, clipping etcetera. Hopefully this gives you a place to start, before you even start. It like drinking pre-workout before the gym.

If you have any questions comments and concerns please email me at btfpoisedtoperfection@gmail.com or DM me at @btfpoisedtoperfection on instagram.

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