Horses & Lawnmowers With Minds of Their Own
It was December of 1999.
In Sacramento, California a strange thing happened.
The police arrived at the house of Francis Karnes because the neighbors thought they heard shots being fired.
Indeed, Karnes did fire shots…
“At his lawnmower!”
Why?
Because Karnes said, “It refused to start.”
He was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment.
Pretty silly if you ask me.
Can someone actually get so mad at their lawnmower that they’d shoot it with a gun????
Sheeeeshh!
Makes you wonder what he’d do on a horse that doesn’t do what he wants him to do.
I’ve seen a lot of different reactions from riders when a horse won’t do what the rider wants.
To those that don’t understand the mind of a horse it can get real frustrating.
Years ago I was riding with a group of people and we came upon a river.
It’s wasn’t a big raging river.
But it was flowing pretty good. The bottom was a bit rocky. And it was a little noisy.
The noise was “really” bothering this particular horse.
The man riding the horse tried to get the horse to cross.
His young horse walked up to river and started to step to it but just couldn’t get himself to go in.
The horse was scared.
He didn’t know what was in that water.
The noise of it and the movement was overwhelming.
The rider’s reaction was to kick and kick and kick.
Whenever he did, you could see the horse’s body tense up and his head raise.
You could also see the fear in the horse’s eyes. A lot people miss that.
Then the horse would pace back and forth.
He wanted to go in the water because his rider was demanding it.
But he was consumed with fear and just couldn’t do it. The rider didn’t understand the mindset of his horse at this point.
That horse would do about anything asked of him that day but go in the water.
Again he got close to the water and the horse reared up a little bit.
I thought to myself, “You better quit forcing that horse or he’ll go over on top of you.”
At the day’s end, the horse didn’t go in.
And the rider was upset about it.
In his mind, the day was a bomb because his horse wouldn’t do it.
Never mind that it was beautiful day with great scenery and a perfect temperature.
Sigh.
I didn’t say much to this rider because he’s been training his own horse and I didn’t feel it was my place to offer uninvited advice.
But!…
Had I said something to him, I know what I would’ve said.
What would YOU say to him?
I would’ve told him to take the water slowly. Don’t force him into it.
The noise and the movement have him concerned. He needs to learn that it won’t hurt him.
Let him approach it and just stand there by it.
Let him paw at it if he wants.
He may want to sniff it too.
This is a gradual thing that the horse needs to get used to.
Depending on the horse, he may have to ride by it back and forth.
Get him to take a step in it eventually.
Then one step can lead to more steps.
And so on.
To force him into it when he doesn’t understand it is the worst thing you can do.
Not only that, when the horse was pacing back and forth wanting to go in but couldn’t, the rider was kickin’ him.
Because of this, the horse learned a bad association.
Can you guess what it is?
It’s this.
The horse learned that every time he approaches water that looks and sounds like the one he was at, he’ll be punished. (Kicked on)
Now…he has two fears.
The water and the fear of being kicked when he sees the water.
So I ask you to be diligent in how you help your horse overcome fearful things like that.
Just be careful to let him figure it out on his own. It’ll take time, but it’s the fastest route to him conquering it.
Also, don’t punish him for not doing something he’s scared of.
That’d be like spanking your kid for being scared of the dark and not going to bed like he’s supposed to.
These are the kinds of things I like horse owners to know because it matters.
One of the DVD’s in our upcoming release has Scot Dutcher showing how he does this kind of thing.
Done right, the horse teaches himself to understand things with no bad associations.
Although this particular thing isn’t in the Jesse Beery Horse Training Manual, there are boat loads of other things just as important.
And if you haven’t read your copy yet (or only read it once), I urge you to read it at least 5 times to get it all in your brain.
Yes…5 times. It’s that important.
It’s information you must know.
If you don’t have a copy but want to know more, you can see our Sizzling Spring Special or read more about the Jesse Beery course here:
http://horsetrainingresources.com/beery.html
OK – that’s enough for today. Stay safe out there.
Charlie
P.S. The sale ends tomorrow. See the details
of our “Sizzling Summer Special” where you can
get over 70% OFF our books and audio books
(Plus a special at the end you won’t want to miss):
http://www.horsetrainingresources.com/downloads.html
Thanks for your business.
Here’s a nice note from Deb in Kansas:
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“Thanks, Charlie!
I read every email….and keep them! 🙂
Have a great week!
Deb
(Kansas)”
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