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Part 1: Learning to Read Your Horse
Each horse
needs either a firm; insistent approach, such as a
pressure/no pressure method, or a gentle approach.
A bossy horse would require the first method, and
a more timid horse would require the second
method. Other horses may need a combination of
methods.
This is why I say
you need to learn how to read your horse, observe
its reactions to different methods. You must train
your horse according to its temperament. A good
way to start is just to watch your horse either in
the pasture or in the stall where he is at home.
Also in its home corral. Observe it with other
horses present to see where it fits in with the
herd.
The horse I rode
when I was a teenager was one of those horses that
needed a firm hand. He was the kind that thought
he could rule the roost. I had to make him see I
was head horse in order to get him to mind me. The
horse I have now is a timid horse, so I treat her
with much more gentleness than I did the other
horse.
Cindy( my present
horse) was two and one half years old when I
bought her. As a brown and white pinto filly, she
was a wild untamed mustang. She was very unsure of
herself and other horses could chase her away from
her feed. I treated her very gently in order to
get her confidence in me.
The first few weeks
I worked with Cindy, I gave her two short lessons
per day, one in the morning and one at night.
Later I worked with her once a day. She was kept
in a round pen at first and was very hard to
catch. Later I moved her to a pen with corners and
developed the training method I call the "Y
Stance"
Part 2: Using the "Y-Stance"
Part 3: Continuing Your Progress
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