I tried to, if like Tigger, my top was made out of rubber, and my bottom was made out of spring, I'd done better.

Or, if I'd have known what I was doing.

No, but I had a horse break me.

I started breaking horses when I was twelve.

After marriage I kept five brood mares and a stud for many years. I sold off the colts with uncooperative personalities, and sold broke five year olds as we started riding younger stock.

I kept three kids in 4H ponies for about ten years.

The secret to a well trained horse is knowledge. One simply has to know, if that horse ever feels the need to buck, you have already seriously fugged up.

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

To ride or to plow?

I have done quiet a few. Started on mules about 40years ago. Now that is lot more challenging. I have trained them as saddle mules, harness mules, and pack mules. Horses will kill you by accident.Mules will kill you on purpose if treated badly, so a fellow better know how to work with them. I don't have much use for horses, except a good mare to make mules with.

Yes, ride and or drive. I had great teachers.

I started about like Idaho Shooter. Made money as a teenager putting a 30-day start on a halter-broke horse for $100.

I wouldn't call it 'breaking' a horse, but rather training a horse. A lot of trust is involved, and that has to be earned. I spend about the first 10 days doing ground work. A lot of saddling, bridling, letting the horse stand with that while grooming, picking up feet, sacking them out so they were accustomed to the saddle, bridle, touches, noises, etc, etc.

After about five days of that, I had a set of driving reins I would put on the bit (snaffle bit for starting out), and put the reins through the saddle stirrups and on back. I would drive the horse like that for two or three days so he has learned to commands and pressure, to start, stop, turn, back up.

So by day 10 or so, I'm mounting the horse for the first time. The horse is well in tune to the saddle, bridle, voice and rein cues, stopping, starting, turning. The only thing new is I'm on the horses back, instead of on the ground. I'd spend the next 20 days or so getting them smoothed up on turns, walking, trotting, galloping circles, figure-eights, lead-changes, trailering.

If I had two or three going at once in the summer it was good money. During school, I only had enough spare time for one at a time.

Most horses would hunch up a bit feeling the added weight. Most never bucked. I got bucked off now and then though.

I hit the ground a couple times when the horse flushed a pheasant out from under his feet, and the horse suddenly jumped sideways. A good horse would stop and wait when he gathered his senses, a knucklehead would run all the way back to the barn.

Good times.

Here's an old pic of me back in those days, around 1977, near Sidney MT with my gelding Rob. He was half QH, half Thoroughbred. Great horse, and buddy.

I spent a summer in my youth helping a lady across the highway break several from a herd of Appaloosas she bought. Mostly just running them around the bullpen, but I did get some saddle time in. Good thing I was 16 and still bendable, trying that today would not end well.

I did have one take off on me. We were convinced this one stallion had been tamed and I was able to saddle him and lead him around by the reins easily. I stepped up onto his back and he took off like a bat out of hell. The corral was open at the time and he and I had a very fast tour of the pasture. Would love to have had a video camera to see the petrified look in my eyes as I held on for dear life. He stopped running after a half-mile or so and I was able to get off and walk him back. Good times and sore backsides.

#1
12 years old Friends horse reared up threw me off its back and stepped on my groin
My mom said it did not happen so I pulled my pants down in front of everyone and a nice red horse shoe print was on the right side of dangally thing and my hip.

Mom shut up.

How do you fix one if he breaks????

He-he-he!

Is there a real outlaw horse, sometimes?

Back in the 70's, I "adopted" a couple of mustangs from Nevada for a few dollars each. Young, dumb, and stupid at the time - thought it was a hella good deal.

Then tried to break them.

Those were mean bastards! Break them - yeah right.

Couldn't even eat them, too tough and stringy. Worthless animals, I say.

Moved on to fast cars and girls, never looked back.

Back in the day.

Young man's game.

I wasted much of my youth on bad horses and ugly women

At least ugly women are usually grateful for the attention.

Never broke any but have started many ...

Several of my friends and myself did the same thing back around 1980. Went to the adoption center in Cross Plains TN and brought back 4. My intention was to breed the mare I got to a QH stud and hopefully break her enough to at least handle her. Anyway, only one out of the four turned out to be breakable, and he looked like part draft horse, so he wasn't as hot blooded as the others were. Those mustangs were meaner than hell, and could kick quicker than anything I've ever seen. Waste of time and money.

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!

Absolutely! And it is a damned shame we don't have any horse butcher facilities in The States, because some horses are irredeemable

Fuggers were quick to bite too! I bet I still have remnants of scars.

'Course, in all fairness, I've tried to break a couple of wimmen too, and not had much luck with them either.

When I brake a horse, I pull back on the reins and say whoa......

not anymore thank god

750 of em. Hit the brake pedal and the disc brakes bring her to a quick halt.

Dealing with one right now that has been beaten.
Might take years, possibly never.
Like to spit some Beechnut in that dudes eyes...

I remember a quote in an old Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine about the town of Muleshoe and of people that remembered farming with mules. One gent stated that mules would give up to 40 years of good service just for that one chance to kick your head off!

Sorta.

Had a big gelding that would start bucking for no reason and when you’d least expect it and getting thrown every time.

Upon an old black gentleman’s advice the next time he did it I threw the reins and a rope around his neck high over a large tree limb out in the pasture, pulled it up tight to where his head was pointing straight up and left him there till the next afternoon. It was in the hot summertime.

When I untied him I had a reborn Christian for a horse and he never did that again.

This^^^^^^^ exactly the way I do it

My first horse of my very own, rather than one from the family farm, belonged to a lady I worked with.

She and especially her husband were having trouble with this mare and were thinking about selling her. She told me about when she bought the mare from an old gypo across town. She went to look at the horse and the guy had the mare down in a corral in a foot of cow schitt. He was standing on the horse's neck kicking her in the head.

When I went to look at the mare, she had several cuts around her ears and over her eyes. My coworker and her husband had attempted to force the horse into a typical two horse trailer to take her to auction. She had beat her head against the the trailer resisting.

I saw the most beautiful black quarter horse I had ever laid eyes on. Absolutely perfect conformation, And the smoothest gait I had ever ridden. I was in Love. I asked my Uncle to drive his 16 foot stock truck over to avoid the whole trailer thing.

Within a couple months that mare would do anything I asked of her. Point into the trailer, and she would jump in. Cross canals full of water. Ground tie while I chased a deer around the mountain. Pack the deer home in the saddle.

But she never was totally at ease with me. She was a lady's horse. My wife, with a kid riding double covered many a mile of mountain trail on that mare. The horse was a wonderful baby sitter for them as my wife had not grown up around horses and had only dreamed of having one to ride.

Such is the nature of an abused horse.

Where’d you read that bullshît story?

I don’t [bleep] about horses but I sure as hell wouldn’t let you train my dogs.

Convenient that you had a tree limb in just the right spot in the pasture.

like a horse would stand there and let you through that rope and try to pull up on its neck , fight or flight RIGHT now.

i have been run over bucked off dove off stepped on and kicked enough, but i still love horses.

I never broke any, but sadly, I about killed one taking a shortcut in some nasty country! I never forgave myself for that one , though my horse did! I spent 20 years in the saddle in the high country and rode some beautiful animals. My hat is off to those with the skills to train them! The horses I saddled trained me and made me look good as a packer and guide! I had one bad experience with a mule , my boss' wife insisted I put some miles on. Ben, the mule, was beaten with a 2by4 by one of his owners and was never the same. We used him as a pack mule. He caught me sleeping one day and launched me onto a log, which broke three ribs! I still hurt from it, but I do not blame Ben , the mule!

Nope. Daughter and SIL are the horse people. My favorite mule has kawasaki written on it.

I got raked off a pony I jumped onto without a saddle in an apple orchard once - does that count !!

He must have been 12 years old and never ridden, and was probably smarter than me because I was 15, we were a fenced off portion of the orchard, and he simply turned and headed fast and hard for the low canopy of branches to scrape me off… and scrape me off they did.

What made it golden was my 12 yr old brother standing there laughing at me.

Good times !

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Well I’m sure I’m not the horseman you are, holster up your gun.
I said there was a recipe to those objects I didn’t say anything about beating a horse.
Back in the late 80’s I first saw this old boy out in Montana. People said he lived his whole life out in a line shack/trailer on private- association lands. He came up to the headquarters just so often for supplies. In summer after running lines, when he came up the ranch owner had him breaking stock for a while but a lot of it was brought over from other people who I’d assume were good horse/ mule people as well that had problem animals.
The guy broke horse and mules for both riding and wagon teams. Fascinating what he could do with those animals. On some he had the mentioned recipe and items.
His own two horses were trained beyond anything imaginable. I’d thought the best trainers were the Vacaros (sp) I’d seen down along the border ranches but this guy was the best. I swear if that man would have told one of his horses to go to town and get some chew and run it back they would have done just that.
His personal horses seemed to read his mind and did things with barely a quiet command. Many many things.
Incredible horseman and tough old boy! Ranch owner told me back then one summer out in the breaks he came off the saddle when his horse was struggling on a hill and rattlesnake became involved.. that’s as much detail I know on the incident. Result was he fell back into cactus. Back full of it. Got pulled out what he could reach. Rather than come back out to headquarters he stayed put. No one knew. He rigged up an old razor on the end of a stick and would shave the cactus as it festered out.
He reported later the worst of it was when the cactus would drag on his shirt so he had taken a couple of shirts and cut the backs out.
Anyway, there are ways and there were people. They always called Him “D”. RIP
I’m sure it doesn’t mean much to many people but I feel lucky to have seen one of the last people from a bygone era that could do what he did.

Osky

Not so much convenient as available and the tree is still there.

This ain’t about training dogs or horses.

Equines are about the only thing that

The more broke

The more value.

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.

* - be forceful

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.

Wabigoon: Never have - never wanted to!
Nowadays my bones and joints are WAY to precious to go injuring/breaking them.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

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!" 😉🤣

TFF and so true. Thread has been entertaining.

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!

AMEN!

Ed

Ain’t heart that one since the Taft administration

I look em in the mouth 4 a living.


Ouch!

Now that's funny.

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.

Horses are the most misunderstood and abused critters in the country. Rio7

Didn’t G A Custer do the same thing running buffalo?

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.

starting a colt and feeling the light bulb come on in its head when he figures out what you want is a wonderful feeling.

being a horseman is a journey not a destination.

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!

Most miss understood?

I think commercial rainbow trout maybe more miss understood than cow ponies?


Laying chickens….. heck even airline coach passengers are more abused.

Interesting thread. Maybe even great in some cases.

Training a horse is a better word.

Training a horse

Often


BREAKS the bank!

Break a horse, break their spirit . Train a horse will get a willing partner.

Break a horse is a figure of speech.

The confusion with breaking is two fold.

Old bronc fighters had to gentle wild older mustang types.

They often needed the fighting spirit “ broke”



Now “broke” refers to giving to the bit and taking an out line.

The term used is “ breaking “ at the poll.

It’s beneficial to take an outline and arch their back.

Brings the hind quarters under the rider and improves propulsion/ performance

I’ve ridden a few, but I always tried not to break one…..I didn’t want to have to buy the darn thing! 😉 memtb

Now days,it is called colt starting guess.

Years ago though, I did a guided elk hunt in Alberta near the govt ranch up there.They raised horses for use in the national parks.They halter broke them at weaning and then turned them out until they were three year olds. Then they brought them back in.These were big stout 15 &1/2 -16 hd horses. They sure had some buck in them.

This was before all this horse whispering and such.They had two guys up there that would get on them and ride the buck out of them.Then someone else would take them and finish them out

.40cal Glock works well.

Thank goodness they invented cars.

Yeah…..and a couple that almost broke me!!

When it comes to personal relationships avoid horse women.

Remember that.

Good call tooty!

We had 2 brood mares Arabians and raised a few.

never broke them but started them with saddle blankets and lunge ropes around 2 years old.

Then just a saddle at 3 then rider at 4.

When most horses are young they get broke for riders young and it seems to shorten their riding life.

Rode a lot of young ones and had to get them out of some bad habits.

It was fun.

The “horse whispering and such” isn’t new or novel. Been around as long as we’ve had domesticated horses. But it didn’t play well in movies or books. What’s new is folks buying a how-to on video and going on to proclaim themselves experts.

Not really. But when I was about 12 I was on a big mare when the German Shepherd that was with us decided to jump up and bite her on the flank. I don't know why.

She bucked a bit at first, but then decided it was easier to get me off by taking off through the woods and running past a tree with a limb sticking out that caught me about chest high.

I did a reverse half gainer off her back and landed in a heap,...dazed and confused. It took me a long time to get close enough to her to get the saddle off.

Horses are smarter than most people know.

I ain't liked German Shepherds since.

No but broke a couple barrel racers