People have an obsession with forcing horses to come to them. When a horse is hard to catch, trainers say you must make the horse come to you. They say you must be the alpha and the horse must submit. They say the horse must be lower in the pecking order. In other words, the … Read more
Recently I watched a famous trainer harassing a horse with a tarp. The horse was snorting and ‘taking fright’ of the tarp and was obviously very worried. ‘I’ve been doing this for a few months now,’ the trainer said. ‘I’ll keep at him until he gives up. I may wear out a few tarps but … Read more
A common theme doing the rounds at the moment is that you must desensitise certain parts of a horse and sensitise other parts, in order to ride him and control him. Apparently, you must desensitise his girth area so he won’t buck and you must sensitise his mouth so he stops. You must desensitise his … Read more
When you ride your horse, many trainers would have you believe that the biggest problems to overcome are plastic bags blowing in the wind, umbrellas suddenly opening and a world covered in plastic tarps. The first thing these trainers do is frighten young horses with plastic bags, flags, tarps, umbrellas and goodness knows what else. … Read more
There’s a big debate in the horse training world about whether you should be the ‘alpha’ mare, the ‘lead’ mare, the ‘boss’ stallion or the ‘submissive’ horse. Trainers have allegedly camped out in the bush for months on end to study the behaviour of wild horse herds. They say that observing horses in their natural … Read more
A fellow rang the other day to buy a copy of my book. ‘I need it straight away because I’m breaking-in my horse and tomorrow I have to tie him up and put the bit on for the first time. Everyone says I have to tie him up before I ride him. Is the book … Read more
THE HORSE’S LAMENT By Neil Davies He puts a dreadful halter on, it’s made from rope and knots And when he jerks and jerks my head, it really hurts me lots He flaps a stupid flag each day, I don’t know what to do And though I try to please him, he hits me … Read more
I watched a horse starting competition on video the other day. One of the trainers left his saddle in the round yard with the horse, explaining that this allowed the horse to look at the saddle and get ‘used to’ it. When the horse walked over and sniffed the saddle, the crowd clapped as though … Read more
I recently watched a video of a trainer trying to handle a horse’s legs. The horse was seven years old and kicked quite badly when anyone attempted to pick up his hind legs. The trainer was obviously frightened of being kicked, so he flapped a rope around the horse’s legs to ‘desensitise him’. Though the horse kicked … Read more
Most people feel apprehensive when they start a horse under saddle. The last thing they want to do is actually get on the horse’s back, because they’re worried he might buck. So they spend days and sometimes weeks chasing horses with waving flags and flapping tarps. They saddle horses and drive them in long reins … Read more