Quail Run Ranch

An Introduction to Marty’s Horse Training…

Marty has another project horse that has a different story. We got Lucky two years ago. His registered name is Luke I’m a Gift but we decided to call him Lucky because, well, he’s a very lucky horse. He could have gone for a chicken feeder, but we got him instead. He was advertised as “companion only” and “unrideable” because, they said, he had a marked propensity to rear and fall over backwards.

He was, indeed, a very damaged 12-year-old gelding who was afraid of everything. He had spur marks on his sides, so you know that someone had manhandled him. Maybe more than once and we’ll never know why they thought they needed to. Anyway, it’s beside the point. What’s done is done.

Marty set about to slowly get him over his fears. It was like he was a bank, and someone had emptied his coffers of confidence to the point he had nothing left and a big ole deficit to boot. He was in the red confidence-wise. Marty began change that up and to make good experience deposits by taking it slow and from the beginning. Two years later Lucky is rideable and doesn’t rear and fall over backwards.

Your relationship with your horse begins the minute you clap eyes on each other. How you approach a horse lets him know if you mean him harm or if you’re safe.

Are you leading the horse or is he leading you? A good human leader commands respect but doesn’t do it through fear. A leader leads by calm and assertive body posture. If you’re timid the horse will sense there is something out there to fear and they won’t be at peace. When the horse knows you’re a fair leader they will settle down and be peaceful.

Grooming is a good way to communicate peace to the horse through calm and unhurried action.

Backing is not the preferred direction that horses like to go. In the wild they will turn or spin rather than back.  So they will have to trust you very much when you ask them to do it. This supports that you are the smart safe leader.

Asking the horse to move around you in a circle is another way to show the horse that you are the leader. As always, this is done is a calm, unhurried manner. The goal is to have the horse follow your direction on a loose rope. You see the drape in the lead rope. That indicates that Lucky is moving in the direction that Marty wants him to go in a relaxed manner.

Walking over poles on the ground helps the horse pay attention to where his feet are landing. When you’re on his back you want him to be aware of his surroundings and the terrain he is walking on so he doesn’t stumble and maybe unseat you.

You can’t really learn how to be with horses by reading about it. That’s why in the coming weeks we will offer videos to explain the things we want you to know and to practice. It’s still hard to learn from watching a video but a video can give you important clues that you will then need to practice with your horse. The best way to learn is one on one with a very good trainer (of people!). A trainer can be really good with the animal but if they’re not good at communicating with people, and believe it or not this is a big challenge for some humans, you’ll experience confusion.

Start here and build from it. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was life with horses. Get used to enjoying the path.