Training
 

   Hi, my name is Tenny and I live here at this place with my mother and these others. I eat grass and other things that the two legged creature puts out. Sometimes I get wet and sometimes I get cold but it is usually all right. Sometimes when it is hot those little things seem to come from nowhere and bite me but that stops when it gets cold again. Sometimes I go for a run and sometimes I run with the others. I have to watch because sometimes the others will bite me or kick me. I like to eat and I think I’ll eat some grass now and soon maybe that other creature will come and give us some more to eat. Oh good, there that creature is now. There were many creatures like that creature that gives us things to eat around here earlier since it has gotten light. What is he doing? What is he putting on mom's head? Where is he taking her? I hope that creature puts out something to eat. Here that creature comes again, I hope there is food, oh, what are you doing, what is that around my neck, I must run, I can not, I am being held, what do you want, that hurts, no, no, I, no, no, I have to run, to get away, ouch, what was that, there are, ok, I’ll go, where are we, into that small barn, its dark in here, mom is here, what was that noise? What is all that noise? Why is this barn shaking so. I want to eat. Something smells funny. I wish I could run but I’m trapped. Oh, I guess I’ll eat. This little barn has stopped shaking and now a strange creature is here with me. What does it want? It is pushing me and making strange sounds. I’m so scared, I can’t move. If I could only run. Oh good that creature went away, I think I will eat. Oh no, it is back again, making strange noises and pushing at me, what is it doing? What is it putting around my neck? It is pushing again, it is pushing hard I am moving. I am out of the little barn. I am free. I can run. I will run. I am getting tired. I think I will stop and look, grass, I will eat. Mom is here. The grass is good and there is some water to drink. I seem to be here where I am. Oh no, that creature again, I will run. It is chasing me making strange noises. Oh no, there is another strange creature. What are you, what is, around my neck, ouch, what was that? Why am I so sleepy? Where are they taking me? I’m so sleepy. Where are we now? Oh, look, there are others. I like grass, I think I will eat.

   Have you ever tried to imagine what a horse thinks? Have you ever tried to put yourself in the horses place? You know, kind of a role reversal. Tenny is one of our horses who had never been handled by her previous owner. She was 8 years old and had never worn a halter. I have in the above paragraph rather clumsily attempted to put into words what I think Tenny must have been thinking when she found herself being sold at auction and trailered to a new home along with her mother and then being tranqued in order to be made more docile and easily handled and then being introduced to her new stable mates. The poor little mare was scared and confused and had no where to run. Tenny was one of our rescue projects and now 1.5 years later she is a beautiful little Lipizzan / Arabian cross who is a pleasure to be around. She still gets a little spooky when she hears strange noises but the difference between now and when she first arrived is dramatic.
   Tenny's training has been a slow process of gaining the trust of a horse who had never trusted a human before. She was conceived, born, and raised in a small pasture in Ohio and as far as we can tell only had limited exposure to the owner of the property. She was 8 years old when sold at auction to us. 
   Upon her arrival at our farm, the first challenges that we put before her were to ask her to put on a halter and to enter her stall. You see, Tenny would not enter a stall but stayed in an indoor round pen for several weeks after arriving at our farm and she had never worn a halter in her life. She would allow us to brush her and pet her and feed her and put a lead line around her neck but would refuse the halter and any attempt to put her in a stall. She would absolutely refuse to budge. After many many attempts to convince her not to be scared and to put on a halter we finally enlisted the aid of a veterinarian who was able to get a halter on her only after mildly tranquilizing her. Even tranquilized Tenny still refused to go anywhere near that stall.
   Haltered now, Tenny would allow herself to be led out to pasture for grazing and exercise and allow herself to be led back to the round pen in the afternoon. She steadfastly continued to refuse to go anywhere near that stall. The days bled into weeks and soon it became apparent that we were going to need to try a different approach. The solution that we found was fairly simple. We simply rearranged the panels of the round pen to include Tenny's stall and slowly, day by day moved Tenny's food supply closer and closer to the opening of the stall until one day Tenny found her hay and grain were actually in the stall area. Tenny spent several days entering her stall to eat and freely exiting it at her leisure back to the comfort of the round pen until one day she found the door to her stall closed while she was in her stall feeding and the round pen taken away. Tenny has lived in a stall ever since and now enters and exits without issue. She only needed to learn that entering a stall would not hurt her. It took a while for her to learn but she did learn. That in a nutshell is what, in my opinion, horse training is all about. Any time you ask a horse to experience something new and strange you will be met with varying degrees of resistance.
   Let me make this point very clear before we move on. Horses are instinctively frightened of everything and their first instinct is to flee. They have been doing exactly that for millions of years. So be aware to always allow your horse an avenue to flee through or else you horse may spook in your direction which is a dangerous position to put yourself in. If an unknown or unforeseen noise should occur your horse may jump or attempt to bolt and you do not want to be in your horse's path. Avoid standing directly in front of your horse while you lead it but rather slightly off to one side. Now back to Tenny.
   Tenny arrived at our farm in late summer and spent that fall getting acclimated to us and to our farm. She was allowed out to pasture daily and groomed and handled regularly. Then in late fall it was decided that we would hire a professional to guide Tenny through her next set of challenges. Soon Tenny found herself being handled on the lead line and the lunge line inside the confines of her old friend the round pen. She would get 2 or 3 lessons a week and soon became more and more comfortable with her trainer as well as us. Tenny learned quickly as most any horse will. She did not learn in one day. Training takes time and patience. You will experience good days and bad days. You will have days when it seems the horse is progressing and days when it seems the horse is regressing. This is all part of the training. This is how we learn. After several months Tenny had progressed to the point where she was being ridden slowly around the arena. She seemed to like the attention and the activity.
   By the spring of the next year we lost our trainer to an out of state college and so we decided to continue Tenny's education on our own. Tenny is now continuing to do work on the lunge line and under saddle and making steady headway toward being the cute little dressage horse that we think she can be.  She becomes a little less spooky and a little more lovable every day. She still loves to run and she still loves to eat but she also loves to get a little attention from her human companions.
   There are thousands of books written and videos filmed available to the horse owner. Most of the ones I have seen are pretty good and most of them teach pretty much the same thing. The common denominator is patience and repetition. So get yourself a training video or book by one or more of the trainers selling such things and if the trainer's style suits you; fine. If not, try someone else. You can hire trainers to ride your horse as well as train you on how to ride your horse. But there is one thing that training books, videos or on site trainers will never be able to do. That is to teach your horse to trust you. Only you, by spending countless hours with your horse, teaching and relaxing and walking around a pasture together, can gain your horses trust. Your horse, after some time, will grow to truly enjoy your company and feel secure in your presence. From that point on everything will become easier. Sure your horse will make mistakes and so will you, but the flow will continue toward building that special relationship of trust and friendship between you and your horse.