| Training your own horse is an option for anyone | | | | requires constant efforts to study and learn the |
| who wants to have a close and dynamic | | | | principles of natural horsemanship and how they |
| relationship with his horse. Let's take a look at | | | | apply to both normal training techniques as well as |
| some of the reasons this approach to training a | | | | troubleshooting problems. The very process |
| horse makes sense: | | | | mandates that you continuously learn and deepen |
| 1.Have control over the training process. | | | | your knowledge as the training process |
| 2.Progress at your own pace. | | | | progresses. |
| 3.Develop a better relationship with your horse. | | | | Improve Your Riding Skills and Boost Confidence |
| 4.Educate yourself on training and problem-solving | | | | When you progress from the theoretical stage of |
| techniques. | | | | training to actual in-the-saddle training, you will be |
| 5.Improve your riding skills and boost your | | | | amazed at how much you have learned. This will |
| confidence. | | | | become even more evident after regular riding |
| 6.Know your horse's strengths and weaknesses. | | | | sessions with your horse. The combination of |
| 7.Monitor care and feeding of horse. | | | | study, the practical application of what you have |
| 8.Avoid the occasional unscrupulous professional | | | | learned and the more frequent riding that training |
| trainer. | | | | necessitates will improve your riding skills beyond |
| Control the Training Process | | | | your wildest imagination. Each time your horse |
| If you train your own horse, you will be calling the | | | | learns a skill that you have taught him, your |
| shots about what skills your horse will learn. You | | | | confidence will soar. |
| will be able to control what type of training | | | | Know Your Horse's Strengths and Weaknesses |
| methods are used on your horse. This is especially | | | | When you work with your horse on a daily basis, |
| important if you plan to employ natural | | | | you will have a much clearer understanding of |
| horsemanship techniques. A few professional | | | | what your horse does well and what he still needs |
| trainers still scoff at these methods and may give | | | | work on. You will know what his phobias are and |
| them lip service to get your business and then | | | | what situations he is comfortable in. This will allow |
| train the horse the way they want to. | | | | you to spend more time in his weaker areas to |
| For novice trainers an ideal situation is to have a | | | | train a well-rounded horse. |
| professional trainer you trust on call to give | | | | Monitor Care and Feeding |
| advice on difficult situations and perhaps even to | | | | When you send your horse away for training, you |
| structure a training program. This is the | | | | are not going to know under what conditions he's |
| recommended approach even if you have an | | | | being kept unless you make regular unannounced |
| entire library of horse training books and videos. | | | | visits to the training facility. Your trainer is not |
| There will always come a time when a | | | | going to like this no matter what he tells you. |
| professional trainer can get you past that unusual | | | | Most people you talk to who have sent their |
| stumbling block for which no book seems to have | | | | horses away have some kind of horror story |
| an answer. | | | | regarding the shape they found their horse in. If |
| Progress at Your Own Pace | | | | you train your own horse, you know what the |
| You don't have a client to please and you won't | | | | horse is eating, drinking and how well he's being |
| be tempted to take short cuts to show quick | | | | treated. |
| progress when a more gradual, slow approach | | | | Avoid the Occasional Unscrupulous Professional |
| might be called for. It could be the horse that | | | | Trainer |
| requires more time on a specific skill, or it may be | | | | Let's preface what comes next by saying that |
| you that needs the extra practice to develop the | | | | the majority of professional trainers are |
| proper cues and intuition necessary to | | | | competent, well-meaning horsemen. There is the |
| successfully master a phase of the training. | | | | occasional bad egg, though, and we've heard a lot |
| Develop a Better Relationship | | | | of stories about them and had a few bad |
| This is rather self-explanatory. If you are doing | | | | experiences ourselves. We know personally of a |
| the training, you personally are going to be able to | | | | case in which the owner of a well-bred horse |
| instill trust and confidence in your horse. The | | | | picked up his colt after "90 days of training," and |
| horse will learn how to react to you, not to a | | | | took the horse home. The next day he saddled |
| trainer, and you will not have communication | | | | up what was supposed to be a well-broke colt |
| problems later with the horse. You set up the | | | | who proceeded to buck off the owner and send |
| rules and the tone of the relationship and enforce | | | | him to the hospital to get a pin inserted into a |
| those every day in your interaction with the | | | | broken bone. That's extreme, but it happens. The |
| horse. | | | | more usual scenario is that you pay for 30 days |
| Educate Yourself & Improve Skills | | | | of riding and the horse is pretty much put on the |
| The next two points really go together. When | | | | back burner and ridden half the amount. |
| you made the decision to train your own horse, | | | | Obviously, when you train the horse yourself, 90 |
| you likely did not come to the table with a | | | | days of riding is 90 days of riding. |
| complete set of training skills. The process | | | | |