Most times it’s not the horse…
Clinton Anderson says you have to train the person and not the horse. And while we don’t agree with everything he says or does in his “Method” or his Downunder Horsemanship program, we do agree with this. And while we use the Method in our training approach, we can really sum up our philosophy for training in one word – Patience.
Too many people train with intimidation and control. In fact, many of the rescue horses come from this life. And while they can get the horse to respond, the horse is responding out of fear. Horses were designed to respond with a different emotion – trust.
Horses are curious by nature. They want to trust. It’s just that they have been burned so many times. The first step is to show the horse that you want nothing more than to have a relationship with them. Sure, this all leads to ground work and training, but with a horse of abuse or neglect, if you start the ground work first, they continue to fight. And the more you push, the more they see you are like everyone else in its life.
Patience. Yes, that’s the second time we have used that word. The most common question we get asked is how long does it take. And our answer, as long as it does. We are doing this to give the horse a life of joy. And sometimes that takes months and sometimes that takes weeks. But until the horse knows we care, it will not submit – at least not in the way that leads to trust.
#horsetrust
One of two things is going to happen – you will teach the horse to fear you or to trust you. For the horse, one way (fear) is a life of timid worry. The other (trust) is a symbiotic relationship – the one a horse was born to live.
If a horse comes to Layla Rose, it will know trust. And then and only then can we start to find them a new loving home.
Our goal is not to keep horses. Our goal is to Rescue – from hopelessness, Rebuild – trust in humans and itself and ReLive – the life they were created to live. If you would like to adopt one of our rescues, email us.
Sometimes we have to make the tough decision to humanely end the life of a horse. Know this – No healthy or treatable horse will be euthanized when alternatives exist to save them. Period. This philosophy is costly indeed as some of our rescues incur incredibly high vet bills.Â
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