Since the Year of Our Lord & Saviour Jesus
Christ 1972 AD
Site last updated:
01/01/2010
Visitors Since
10/01/07 AD:
Our
Training Philosophy...
Usually the most difficult obstacle is teaching the
handler/owner that they have authority over the horse, and actually
using that authority to give and enforce commands to the horse. When
God made the Creation, He also created a hierarchy with man having
the authority over the animals. God said, “Let Us make man in Our
image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of
the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over
all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth.” (Genesis 1:26 NASB) Knowing that you have authority over
your horse is the first step towards training your horse. God's word written in the Bible was written to his people in regards
to their salvation. From the beginning, God has taught His people to
obey him through reward and discipline. Horses are also trained in the
same way.
Our instruction emphasis is on safe, and at
the same time pleasurable riding and driving. Only when a horse
Respects and Trusts the owner/handler can the horse learn to work
willingly. A horse that has respect but no trust will be fearful. On
the other hand, a horse that has trust but no respect will never be
satisfied and will turn into a spoiled brat instead of a willing
partner. We expect the horse to respect our authority and on the
other side of the coin, we also want the horse to trust us.
Ground Work - The Training
Foundation
Ground
work are an essential first step with any horse that comes to us for
training, horses with bad manners or no mannners usually receive
this training for the first 30 day's or more. People may think their
horse doesn’t need ground work, but if the horse doesn’t respect,
trust and obey your commands on the ground it most certainly will
not under saddle or in the cart. If all the problems are solved on
the ground first then it will be much easier and safer for everybody
involved to further the training under saddle or in the cart. With
this in mind we address those issues first, then get on them when
they stand still and have manners. Think of safety first.
---------- Driving ----------
We begin by first
teaching the horse the basic ground work which leads the horse to
respect, trust and obey you. Then we progress from there beginning
with Ground driving and getting it used to the different parts of
the harness ( blinders, crupper, breast strap and Breeching strap)
once the horse is comfortable and working well with these, then we
begin to apply pressure to the breast strap as though the horse were
pulling the cart. When the horse is accepting the pressure and
working well with that, we then hitch it to the cart. Finishing;
Finishing a horse takes Knowledge, Patience and time. We train them
to go forward willingly, obediently and happily. We Teach them to be
supple, give to pressure and to be responsive to the bit and our
voice commands.
---------- Riding ----------
Starting Green Horses: As with
the rest of our training everything begins with the ground work.
After that we begin to introduce the horse to the bit and saddle,
when it is working comfortably with both we then begin ground
driving the horse until it fully understands how to respond to the
bit. Then we begin to work on mounting and dismounting, and
eventually riding. Finishing; Finishing the horse under saddle is
much the same as in the cart, except for the fact that they can do
more lateral moves under saddle than they can in the cart, and we
would be using leg aids instead of whip aids.
---------- Training at Liberty
----------
Instead of a physical attachment such as a lead rope or lunge line,
we create a mental attachment. When you put both of those together,
you have much more control.
Most people when they hear the term "Natural
Training Methods” they think about the “Horse Whisperer” or some
mystical communication that only the gifted can ever hope to obtain.
This is not the case. Natural Training by definition is the
philosophy of working with horses according to their instincts and
herd mentality to build a partnership that closely resembles the
relationships that exist between horses in there God given natural
environment. There is no mysticism.
Other pages that you might be interested
in viewing: Training - Our horse
training ability's Mission - Our Mission Statement is listed
on this page Horses - The horses that are
currently and have been in training Videos - Contains a small sample of
our training in video form
