I started a lot of horses. Starting as never ridden and ending as good riding horses. Never finished one completely....but I consider it a very rare thing for a horse to be "completely" finished.
My 18YO daughter does it. She started her first one when she was 13. Seems like the horses naturally trust her and she knows just how far she can push them and can even tell what kind of mood they're in on any particular day. She likes getting them young and slowly works to desensitize them. When it becomes time to get on their back, it's a long, slow and patient process that's remarkably uneventful. She keeps her sessions short and always ends each one on a good note.
Horses is like folks, they all have different personalities. You just gotta figure that out.
Helped pop break/train quite a few head and broke/trained a couple on my own. Don't consider myself any kind of "horse whisperer" by any means! LOL!
Pop never got on one until he put "brakes" on them, so, lot'sa ground work first. Even when given a "green broke" to finish, he would still rig them for ground work first.
Just takes time and patience. If you lose your cool, put the horse up. They can read you like a book. Some horses are eager to learn. The next one will have attention deficit disorder. Once you lose their attention, put them up.
If you need a 2×4, you should use it on yourself...NOT the horse!
Some breeds are easier to work with than others. Quarter horses are pretty forgiving and can take a little thumping*. An Arabian can be a real challenge. Super smart and can be pretty sassy. Thump on an Arabian and you've lost the battle.
Talking horses is as bad as talking guns. Once in a blue moon you can actually talk to somebody who isn’t a retard, and it can be a pleasure.
Funny you should speak about "talking" horses! Honestly, my dad had a mule that could talk! Really! Dad would whisper in his ear, "Want some oats?" He'd raise his tail and say, "A feewwwww!" 😉🤣
Yes for my step father, that was my evening and weekend chore. I'm not a horse person nowadays. Finally dumped the pasture ornaments, over fifteen years ago! Got a four wheeler, and put a thousand miles on it, only took ten years!
And if you have fogged up, a corral with a center post and swivel ring, a 3 1/2 foot length of 2x4, a saddle, and a guy who knows what to do with those ingredients will make that horse a pleasure to ride. Osky
You ain't much of a horseman if you think that's what it takes to train a horse.
A round pen? yes.
You snub one of my horses to a center post, or approach it with a 2x4. You will leave my property at gunpoint.
I would not even treat a dog that way.
I want a horse that finds it a pleasure to do my bidding, rather than a horse scared [bleep] of pissing me off. Positive reinforcement works!
AMEN!
Ed
"Not in an open forum, where truth has less value than opinions, where all opinions are equally welcome regardless of their origins, rationale, inanity, or truth, where opinions are neither of equal value nor decisive." Ken Howell
Talking horses is as bad as talking guns. Once in a blue moon you can actually talk to somebody who isn’t a retard, and it can be a pleasure.
Funny you should speak about "talking" horses! Honestly, my dad had a mule that could talk! Really! Dad would whisper in his ear, "Want some oats?" He'd raise his tail and say, "A feewwwww!" 😉🤣
Ain’t heart that one since the Taft administration
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
I worked for many years with an older gentleman (Pedro). Born circa WW II. Mexican heritage, naturalized in the 90s. He grew up really rough in Texas.
I know not what happened to his Mom. But at 12 years of age he was living with his Dad. Both were working on a large ranch somewhere in Texas near the Mexican border. Then Dad abandoned him at the ranch, and ran away with the rancher's wife.
You can imagine, this young man was not very popular around the the homestead. He was assigned the duty of hitching a team to a water wagon each morning. Filling the wagon from a well, with a bucket, and delivering the water to remote stock tanks in dry pastures far from the house. A daylight to dark chore whenever the stock was in those dry pastures.
This he did in exchange for meals and a bed.........from the age of 12.
Anyway, to his crashed horse story. There came a day when Pedro found himself astride a saddle horse, with some old six shooter in a holster at his belt. He spied a rabbit and considered it would make a tasty addition to his meager diet. He pulled his pistol and acquired a lead on the rabbit as it hopped from right to left out in front of his horse.
Pedro pulled his trigger, and instantly found himself standing on the ground, feet still in the stirrups, with a dead saddle horse between his knees. He had popped that pony right between the ears, deader than Hell.
He mentioned what a PIA it was to retrieve the saddle and blankets, and to carry them back to the ranch. He never said much about repercussions for shooting the ranch horse.
But anyway, the cartoon put me in mind of old Pedro's story.
People who choose to brew up their own storms bitch loudest about the rain.
I worked for many years with an older gentleman (Pedro). Born circa WW II. Mexican heritage, naturalized in the 90s. He grew up really rough in Texas.
I know not what happened to his Mom. But at 12 years of age he was living with his Dad. Both were working on a large ranch somewhere in Texas near the Mexican border. Then Dad abandoned him at the ranch, and ran away with the rancher's wife.
You can imagine, this young man was not very popular around the the homestead. He was assigned the duty of hitching a team to a water wagon each morning. Filling the wagon from a well, with a bucket, and delivering the water to remote stock tanks in dry pastures far from the house. A daylight to dark chore whenever the stock was in those dry pastures.
This he did in exchange for meals and a bed.........from the age of 12.
Anyway, to his crashed horse story. There came a day when Pedro found himself astride a saddle horse, with some old six shooter in a holster at his belt. He spied a rabbit and considered it would make a tasty addition to his meager diet. He pulled his pistol and acquired a lead on the rabbit as it hopped from right to left out in front of his horse.
Pedro pulled his trigger, and instantly found himself standing on the ground, feet still in the stirrups, with a dead saddle horse between his knees. He had popped that pony right between the ears, deader than Hell.
He mentioned what a PIA it was to retrieve the saddle and blankets, and to carry them back to the ranch. He never said much about repercussions for shooting the ranch horse.
But anyway, the cartoon put me in mind of old Pedro's story.
Didn’t G A Custer do the same thing running buffalo?
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
Switched from horses to mules about 13 years ago and never looked back. Luckily I had in 80 yo friend help me work my way into the mules and learned a lot from him and his son. Definitely different critters than horses since I don’t like living with my head in a swivel, I spent time figuring out how to get an animal do what I want than packing a 2x4. Would love to meet the member in Colorado Springs! Was working on one of the kids houses there last week and looking at property!
Every horse I have ridden tried break me.I would rather walk.
Its all right to be white!! Stupidity left unattended will run rampant Don't argue with stupid people, They will drag you down to their level and then win by experience
I worked for many years with an older gentleman (Pedro). Born circa WW II. Mexican heritage, naturalized in the 90s. He grew up really rough in Texas.
I know not what happened to his Mom. But at 12 years of age he was living with his Dad. Both were working on a large ranch somewhere in Texas near the Mexican border. Then Dad abandoned him at the ranch, and ran away with the rancher's wife.
You can imagine, this young man was not very popular around the the homestead. He was assigned the duty of hitching a team to a water wagon each morning. Filling the wagon from a well, with a bucket, and delivering the water to remote stock tanks in dry pastures far from the house. A daylight to dark chore whenever the stock was in those dry pastures.
This he did in exchange for meals and a bed.........from the age of 12.
Anyway, to his crashed horse story. There came a day when Pedro found himself astride a saddle horse, with some old six shooter in a holster at his belt. He spied a rabbit and considered it would make a tasty addition to his meager diet. He pulled his pistol and acquired a lead on the rabbit as it hopped from right to left out in front of his horse.
Pedro pulled his trigger, and instantly found himself standing on the ground, feet still in the stirrups, with a dead saddle horse between his knees. He had popped that pony right between the ears, deader than Hell.
He mentioned what a PIA it was to retrieve the saddle and blankets, and to carry them back to the ranch. He never said much about repercussions for shooting the ranch horse.
But anyway, the cartoon put me in mind of old Pedro's story.
My daughter was doing mounted shooting for a while, where they ride around a course and shoot balloons with a single action .45colt (no slug, just powder and a little walnut shell to break the ballons). I'm pretty sure her horses ears got blackened a few times!