Horse
Problem - Wild Horses/Wild Mustangs - Do the same natural horsemanship
methods work with them?
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QUESTION: Hello Sylvia. I have adopted a wild mustang from a reservation in Nevada and so far she is great. She is willingly coming up to me, I have gotten her halter on, I have as of yesterday started with her lead rope putting it on leaving it for a bit and then picking it up and giving her small instructions gently and she is responding. I would like to know if the techniques that you use is workable for her. What I have read so far on your web site is pretty much what I have been doing to gentle her and I think that she has come a long way in a short time but I am not a horse trainer. I do know that we have connected and we have mutual respect for each other and she listens. She is very smart for sure. Anyway if you think that this type of training will work with her, I will buy your videos for sure. She is beautiful and worth every minute of time that I spend with her and it is a sheer pleasure to have her company. I just want to make sure that I do her justice because I don't want her trained with any kind of force.
Reason I was called in there for that particular horse was: she badly needed a hoof trim (her first) and they couldn't get near her, much less trim her hoofs safely. So...I started with round penning in her case so that she would psychologically choose to be with the human voluntarily. That entire round penning tutorial I show up there was just one session. What I don't show there (or it would have run even longer there): after performing the round penning, then bonding deeply with her, I then also desensited her legs to ropes and taught her to pick up her feet using the rope, then my hand, and the farrier was then able to come in and trimmed her just fine, no fanfare at all. Here are photos from her first trimming session, right after her first round penning session (same day/same first session):
To get you
off to the best possible start you can with your new mustang, I would suggest applying horse whispering/natural horsemanship training techniques in a very clear step-by-step program, which you can learn more about in my DVD set, the Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System, and you can order that here: CLICK HERE
After watching the videos, and after learning and applying the methods, you, as the horse's primary teacher, will have taught the horse:
- How to be bonded to you more deeply so that the horse trusts you to the max and they will be far more willing to do whatever you ask, even when they are in doubt;
- That you both have a "bonding place" (a "safety zone") to come back to always, from then on, if the horse is ever upset or afraid, on the ground (or later, in the saddle); we plant a one-rein stop in the foundation of every horse, on the ground first, so that in the saddle, it is automatic. This keeps you safer and the horse more rational, and feeling supported, bonded, connected more deeply emotionally to you.
- How to relax the horse when they are tense about something before they are called upon to react negatively.
- How to have the horse yield easily, in any direction when asked -- they'll learn how to yield properly to pressure to receive the release of pressure. All horses learn from the release of pressure what it is you want, not from the pressure itself;
- How to progress bonding to even deeper levels to the point of downright intimacy; makes a horse feel like they never had it so good being with you!
- How to move the horse from the rear, and learning to do that rationally, which is so important to teach a horse to do before you ever ride them, and which you'll be using for a lot of other things like trailer loading, going in and out of a gate, into a stall, and so many other places/situations; this also teaches a horse that you are in charge of their feet.
- How to address effectively any fears (and the horse's reactions to them) that you flush out in their behavior at any given time; my program focuses greatly on finding the fears before they find you and fixing them -- safely on the ground first! Even lay folks can do this. It's all about: safety. This then builds a far more rational, confident, happy, trusting horse, because, in essence, you have effectively raised the horse's "fear/anxiety bar." And you will have taught the horse simultaneously in the process, how to turn to you for nurturance support when/if they are ever afraid or upset.
- How to do all this first on the ground, then later in the saddle, in that order.
- How to keep you safe and the horse safe at all times, throughout all of this --- always my biggest training focus.
This video set will help you to lay down an even stronger, more solid and trusting foundation under your horse that will then serve you well, tremendously, actually, when you do step up into the saddle. By the time you complete the steps, you will have a transformed horse. The final steps are in the saddle and those exercises will more deeply plant into your horse's foundation the one-rein stop/the "safety zone," and more, that will turn the horse into a far, far more rational, trusting, happier -- and safer -- horse in saddle as well.
And you can do this yourself if you just back up and learn a few things yourself there. This video set will get you there the fastest with your horse, which is why I'm recommending this route. It's designed for anyone on any level, horse or human, to get professional trainer-like results.
And incidentally...my Whispering Way Complete Training Package contains all my videos and training tools that you need to train or retrain your horse yourself the natural horsemanship Whispering Way. You can check out/order the Whispering Way Complete Training Package on my web site here: CLICK HERE
I'm a very strong believer that every horse owner is their horse's primary teacher/trainer whether they realize it or not. Every time you are with your horse, that horse is learning something. You just want to make sure the horse is learning what you want them to learn, not what you don't want them to learn! My natural horsemanship training techniques are gentle, effective, and powerful. Works with every horse every time!
But it's real important to back up and break down all teaching steps in a way that you are releasing baby-gives, allowing the horse to feel the release for the right answers incrementally, so that they learn that's really what you want.
Another helpful link page on my site with lots more great mustang/wild horse resources you can check out is my "Wild Horse" info page here:
http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/WildHorses.html
Great work you're doing so far, by the way! You're a natural at this, I can sure see that! Keep up the good work!
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