Horse Training Archives - Bolo Hunt - Real Time Horsemanship

October 17, 2023October 17, 2023

What Really Makes Up a Horse Trainer?

There are three reasons professional horse trainers are hired. Either the owner does not have the time or desire required, the owner does not want to take the inherent risk involved, or the owner does not possess the expertise.

Welcome to The Ranch! Wild Mustangs — Develop a Good Relationship First!

Time – Training horses is “labor intensive” and requires time. Most horse owners have a primary career/job that requires most of their time, not to mention additional social/family time. Just feeding and cleaning stalls can take up what spare time may exist! Professional trainers take the time a horse needs to properly learn without physical or psychological harm to the horse.

Risk – Not everyone wants to (or should) take the risk involved working with untrained horses. The wrong move by that 1200lb cutie can put you in the hospital quickly, or worse. Too much pressure used on a highly reactive horse can cause serious injury to the horse, not to mention the new hole in your fence.

Expertise – Let’s assume you have plenty of time on your hands and you have great medical insurance. Do you have the correct knowledge and experience to reach the goals you want with your horse? Most professional trainers have years upon years of experience working with hundreds, maybe even thousands of horses. These trainers, more than likely, have paid their dues and spent tons of time with more experienced trainers to develop their skill.

What makes up a trainer? – There are many horse trainers out there. Some with familiar names, some relatively unknown. Some have fabulous marketing packages, some are known from television exposure and some are just at the ranch down the street. But I will tell you this, every successful trainer has one thing in common, they possess a keen understanding of the horse and the ability to effectively communicate with the horse!

Speak the language — If you want success with your horse, you will need to learn to speak their language and how to communicate in your horse’s world…not yours!

A good trainer will always keep an open mind and always be willing to listen and entertain new methods and ideas. Personally, I have spent time with many, many trainers, some locally, some known worldwide. As I learn from each of these trainers, I add more tools to my toolbox.

Ultimately, good trainers will become a “conglomerate” of all the trainers who taught them. They will use what works for them and leave behind what does not. They will develop their own style and their own methods and ultimately become their own unique trainer.

There are always many ways to get there, the only question is …. how do you want to get there.

September 27, 2022September 27, 2022

The Training Puzzle

Quite often I am approached by horse owners asking for help to fix a specific issue. Some examples, “My horse spooks on the trail’, “My horse bucks..”, “My horse wants to kick out at other horses..”, “ My horse runs over me..” and list goes on and on. So, we correct that one specific bad behavior only to have another bad behavioral issue surface. More than likely here, the root problem is poor foundation training.

There was a time in my life when everybody was very eager to give me advice on training horses. Being equally eager to learn, I would always listen with intensity and try to absorb as much as could. The problem, I soon discovered, was that every person who, with good intentions, gave me information, was only able to provide a small piece of the big picture. It seems that way too many times, a horse is rushed through training due to time, money or ability constraints or the owner is just in a hurry to do whatever they want with the horse so they figure, if the horse isn’t currently bucking them off, everything is good, maybe !

Training horses is like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. If you get in a hurry and only get a portion of the pieces together, those pieces you left out will more than likely show up at some point down the road.

With all horses, especially young horses, provide them with good solid foundation training with ALL the pieces in the beginning. The extra time, money and effort spent here will save you much more time and more money later…and maybe a trip to the emergency room!

Energy Management — Like a Jigsaw puzzle-you need all the pieces!

May 18, 2022September 27, 2022

Do You have a Dream Team?

There is a sundry of services out there, offering assistance with the well-being of your four legged little darling.

To name a few, we have Veterinarians, Chiropractic Services, Farriers, Trainers, Equine Nutritionist, Red Light, Electric and Message Therapists, Equine Dental Specialists, Equine Psychics, (That’s right, I said Psychics), and the list just keeps going.

Now, I’m not saying you should have everything everybody offers, however, owning a horse requires a little more than just feeding and grooming.

For me, there are four basic professional areas that are essential to support and keep our horses healthy and happy. Good Veterinarians, Good Farriers, Good Chiropractic Services and Good Trainers

My definition of a “Good” professional means, someone that gets the results I want and, in the manner I like. Someone with whom I can honestly and effectively communicate and who is professional enough to show up on schedule. I look at this as building a team that will, as seamlessly as possible, assist, and provide me with the best possible options regarding the welfare of my horse. Remember, as horse owners, we are ultimately responsible for making final decisions.

Now, let’s take this a step further, I really love it when my team members work together to reach a common goal. For example, A farrier should work closely with the Veterinarian to address laminitis since both of these professionals are needed. As a professional trainer it really helps when I can provide a chiropractic professional good feedback and they can give me good advice on a training program that is best for the horse.

I feel extremely fortunate to have a great team that I work with regularly. If you don’t already have your team, I highly recommend you start building your dream team today!

January 6, 2022January 6, 2022

Are You a Trainer?

How many conversations have been about horse “trainers”? We joke about how it seems that everyone thinks they are a horse trainer! Even professional trainers sometimes shake our heads at some who profess to be a “trainer”. Well…. while each person has their own level of ability or desire, the simple fact is this……. Anyone who handles a horse is training that horse!

This training may or may not be correct, the result may or may not be good, or the person may not even realize they are sending bad messages to the horse at all, but the fact remains that anyone who spends any time with a horse, such as barn helpers who simply need to move a horse from the stall to the pasture, the person doing this chore is, for good or bad, training the horse!

5 Qualities Horse Trainers Need — Horses are always learning from you..for good…or bad!

A horse’s awareness is extremely acute. The problem is the human doesn’t maintain that same level of awareness regarding the horse. Horses are paying attention to you even though you may not be paying attention to them. For example: many “trainers” stay focused in the training pen but are very complacent walking the horse to and from the training pen or, the casual trail rider tends to drift along chit-chatting with fellow riders and NOT paying attention to what their horse may be telling them along the way. In these cases, the horse may be receiving conflicting messages from the handler/rider.

When I take on a boarding horse for training, I make it a point to be the one moving, handling, feeding, grooming and washing the horse etc. This way I know the horse is getting consistent messages. This in turn, makes the training go much better. Training doesn’t begin and end at the round pen or arena gate, training is a continuous effort. Training mode begins whenever I make first contact with the horse for the day and doesn’t end until the horse is turned out. Remember one of the basic requirements needed to successfully train a horse is consistency. If you tell your horse to do one thing in the training pen, then send a different message outside the pen by not being consistent, you are not being fair and will confuse and frustrate the horse. This will seriously affect your goals.

A good rule to remember…. anytime you are spending time with your horse, leave your mobile device in the truck, don’t engage in conversations with friends or any other activity that would interfere with good consistent communication with your horse.

If you expect and demand you horse’s absolute attention, (as you should), you must be willing to give your absolute attention to your horse as well.

January 2, 2020January 2, 2020

Quality Time with Your Horse

Are you spending quality time with your horse?

Most people think that professional horse trainers get to spend all day working and riding their own horses. Ironically, this is far from the case! I’d be willing to bet that all professional horse trainers would agree that they spend so much time working with and riding other people’s horses, they never have time to ride their own!

Horse trainers need to make a living just like everyone else. I’m sure everyone can relate to the expense of merely owning horses, not to mention travel expenses, food, gas etc. The logic is, the more horses a trainer can work, the more money is made. Having said that, trainers tend to work long hours each day, sometimes weeks upon weeks without any down time for themselves. Even though we dearly love what we do, when do we find quality time for our own horses?

As a trainer, I realized this a long time ago so one year I made a New Years resolution … I will make time for my horses!! With rare exception, I schedule my training sessions accordingly and designate time to ride each of my horses at least once per week.

Yes, we all must earn a living. Yes, we all have a social life, however, if you accept the responsibility of owning a horse, you owe it to that horse to spend regular and quality⁽¹⁾ time with him/her!

Let’s all make a New Years resolution this year that we will spend at least four hours of quality⁽¹⁾ time with your horse per week! I guarantee your relationship with that horse will improve!

(1) ^{Quality time means training, riding or otherwise direct one on one activity other that feeding, grooming etc.}