by Matthew Brendal

Created on: March 14, 2011

Before mounting a horse for the very first time several things must be done first. In the days of the old west it was common for cowboys to expect a horse to buck hard on the first ride. Cowboys really had very little understanding on how to train a horse properly. That’s why they were called cowboys and not horsemen. Cowboys in those days did not take the time it took to do it right. The old west cowboys is were Americans get a lot the wrong ideas about training a horse properly.

Horses are very smart animals but they are prey animals with certain ingrained instincts. The first instinct is that horses are programmed to escape from situations they perceive as dangerous. Certain movements can cause them to instinctively go into the fight and/or flight mode. Horses do not think like people do. People are predators and we instinctively think a certain way. That’s people ignorant of how a horse thinks says that horses are dumb. Horses also don’t go off of a time table. Horses have no real concept of time. But this is true, if you at like you only have five minutes to teach a horse something it will usually take all day. If you act like you have all day to teach a horse something it may only take five minutes. If you act like you are in a hurry the horse may sense tension and that is a danger sign to them.

Horses draw most of their information from sight. They read body language very good. If they sense you are afraid through short & quick movements you may put them on edge. The trainer needs to exude confidence and calmness. Act how you want the horse to behave. Do want the horse to be calm, then you must act calm no matter how the horse acts.

Good ground work is the backbone to starting a horse successfully and with as little drama as possible. Pat Parelli’s Seven Games are the best I have found for a ground work system that is fast and complete. Depending on the horse I will usually do two to four sessions before mounting the horse for the very first time. I will do at least one session with the horse saddled before I attempt to ride him. Those ground sessions allow the horse to absorb some of the things I am trying to teach the horse. I also want the horse to accept the saddle before I get on him. If I just threw the saddle on him and then just jumped I would be setting myself up for failure. I want to set the horse for success as best I can. I won’t rush getting on for the first time. If it takes seven sessions I will take

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