AboutRick Gore (www.freewebs.com/horseawareness) Expertise Visit Rick's Horse Site: --- www.freewebs.com/horseawareness --Rick is a student of the horse. He can answer questions about sacking out (Desensitizing vs. Sensitizing), dealing with spooky, abused or ex-race horses, rearing, bucking, horses that won’t tie or load into a trailer, working in a round pen/round corral, starting colts, dealing with aggressive or so called "mean" horses, herd behavior, biting, kicking, horses that won’t let you mess with their feet or head and hard to catch, using a bosal or hackamore, soft hands and direct reining verses neck reining. If you expect him to tell you feel good advice, you will be disappointed. 95% of all his answers will include "the problem is you and not your horse." About 90% of most answers that I give out are on my web site, so if you read it you will probably answer your own question and may learn a few other things. If have some good information that you would like me to add to my site, please email me so it can be passed on to others.
Experience Rick is an experienced horseman with many years of riding and handling horses. Rick grew up in Texas around horses and horse people. He has started colts, ridden many horses with behavior issues and worked with problem horses. (He believes that most horse problems are really people problems)
He believes in and practices natural horsemanship and continues to read and study books by great horsemen. He routinely attends clinics, talks with and discuss horse issues with other clinicians and trainers. He has never met a horse that could not be fixed. He has fixed horses that would not; trailer load, take a bit, go through water, lead without pulling, allow you to halter or catch. Rick believes it is never the horse's fault and with proper handling, all problems can be worked out.
Education/Credentials Rick has many years experience in being around and working with horses. Over the years he has watched good horsemen do the right thing and seen the wrong things done with bad results. Rick has a Bachelor of Science degree in Education.
Question Hi there-
My name is Nicole and I am 20 years old. I have been riding and showing horses since I was born. I have two horses that I board because I go to Penn State so they are both kept with other horses. They have indivdual pastures that back up to their open stalls so they are able to go in and out as they please.
My one horse is a four year old quarter horse cross that I am trying to break for barrel racing or possibly reining. She is a SUPER fast spirited extremely smart horse. She is also a very loving horse, she loves to be touched and paid attention to.
Okay so I got her when she was a year old and she had absolutely no work done with her on ground skills. The previous owners were putting a saddle on her and getting on but I wanted didn't want to start that with her with no ground manners. I went to the barn as much as possible to work with her that my schedule would allow with just starting college, so it was about four times a week. I got her to the point where nothing spooked her and if it did it only took a few moments for her to adjust, she would pick up all four feet, she some-what tolerated things spraying her, etc. I have even been on her and just sat on her back touching her all over and things. Well she has recently become very skiddish and just extremely hyper and the things I was once able to do I am no longer able to. She kicks at me when I work with lifting her feet, she is scared to death of hoses or fly sprays, she will not stand in cross ties or tied at all, I cannot get her to take a bit to save my life, and she will not focus on me in the round pen and spends most of her time kicking out and rearing at me when i ask her to do something. She wants to be more of a pet than a horse. Now I never did anything to overwork her or scare her. If she didn't like something I took my time for her to adjust and never forced or pushed her. I always tried to make sure to end on a good note. People keep telling me that since she is four it will be too hard to train her cause now she has a mind of her own which I don't believe at all. One of my friends recommended buying some Clinton Anderson videos but being a college student taking care of two horses and myself makes money tight. Is there any resources you could recommend that would help me with my problems. I have been looking but cannot find any good books or videos at a decent price to help me with what I need. I can't wait to ride her but I am worried that she will hurt herself or someone else with the way she acts now. I know this is a lot all lumped together but basically I need a good training resource to help me figure out what went wrong and how i can overcome it all. It's to the point where i cant make a good training schedule cause I don't know where to start with her again or what to do with her. Thank you so much for your time and I hope this all makes sense so you can help me. I appreciat it very much!!
Answer Hi Nicole, this is not a big problem, your horse is being a horse. She has learned that you will not make her do things and that you are a push over. A lot of horse owners think they are being nice to a horse by not pushing them, being understanding, feeding them and not forcing them. That is not a good training style. A horse needs to know that you are a good strong leader before he needs to know that you love him or care about him. To him, a strong leader cares for him and keeps him safe and gives him direction, then he can relax and know that the leader will take care of things. People that just pet, groom and feed their horses teach the horse that they are nothing more than food providers and are not leaders, so they don't respect them and treat them like lower horses. In the horse world, you are either a higher horse or a lower horse. The fact that your horse is kicking at you tells me that he sees you as a lower horse. He would never kick at a higher horse or he would know that he would have to run or get his butt kicked.
Read my website, it will explain lots about horses and how they think, where they came from and will give you a better understanding of the horse. Once you start thinking like a horse and acting like a lead horse for your horse, most of your problems will go away.
After you read my site, feel free to write me back if you have more questions.
