Horse Training Success

This is a post long overdue. It really is about the heart of the philosophy of horse training. You may have heard something very similar before ;)

When you find a horse with a problem, do you have a horse problem or a person problem?

The fortunate (or unfortunate if you don't like looking hard in the mirror) fact is that the vast majority of behavior and training problems in horses are caused by people. There are definitely the occasional 'evil' horses, just as there are the occasional nasty-to-the-bone humans. But these true psychopaths, which is what they really are, are actually few and far between.

Most bad tempered, ill mannered, poorly behaved horses have the actions of humans as the root cause. The good news is that retraining is usually possible. The bad (realistic) news is that it may be beyond your current horse abilities. But that's another post.

Where is this piece going? People can do themselves and all equinehood a favor by matching themselves with a horse suitable for their CURRENT abilities. The worst possible combination is a green/young horse and a green/young rider. They are unlikely to 'grow together'. No no no. Advanced rider and green/young horse. Young/green rider and quiet older horse. Those are the right way around. It's easy to remember!