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About Rick Gore (www.thinklikeahorse.org)
Expertise
Visit Rick Gore's Horse Site: --- www.thinklikeahorse.org
--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, 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 95% 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. I am like Gordon Ramsey (Hell's Kitchen) and Simon Cowell (Idol), you may not like what I say or how I say it, but it will be pretty true and accurate, in my opinion, judging from my experience.
Experience
Rick is an experienced horseman with over 35 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. Rick believes it is never the horse's fault and with proper handling, all problems can be worked out.
Education/Credentials
Rick has over 35 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.
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You are here: Experts > Recreation/Outdoors > Horses > Horses - Behavior Issues, Breaking and Training > anxious horse: www.thinklikeahorse.org - Rick Gore Horsemanship
Expert: Rick Gore (www.thinklikeahorse.org) - 10/25/2009
Question
I have a very well trained Arabian that has lots of training. I have done a ton of ground work take her to ride with Dennis Reis and done a lot of his program and others. I did all of this because my horse who is wonderful in the warm up ring comes unglued in the show ring. She was pretty good the first year I had her then went down hill. This is when I quit doing what I was doing and learned more about Natural horsemanship I was riding western which I love but took her out of that and did dressage for a season (she did awesome) no behavior issues at all, My thoughts are that I simply don't get to awful anxious at dressage as it is not my desire so she is better. I totally get that all this is my fault she is way more reactive to her rider than any other horse I know. Next year I want to try western with her again and am wondering what changes I can make so that she can relax and not try to run away and jig like she did before. Should I try less grain Vit. B1 or what plan of action would you say would be reasonable. Maybe take her to a show just to school and start her slow. I am at a loss and feel there is no sense sending her to a trainer when I am the one riding
Thanks
Sharon
Answer
It sounds like this horse has been teaching you good lessons. You say you know it you but it more than just to know it is you, you must learn to be a better partner, learn to be a better horse, learn to communicate better, you do this by gaining confidence, gaining knowledge about the horse. The more you understand horses, the more you can think like a horse, that is when you see your relationship and communication grow, then you see how much this horse is not being difficult or coming unglued, it is telling it is confused, in pain, not comfortable, it is telling you that you are not being clear, you are not talking in a way it understands, confusing is often seen as mean, stubborn, lazy, or other names that horses get called.
If I was a horse, I would not like shows. Why? I would not like being ridden by someone who was more concerned about winning than taking care of me, I would like the stress that my rider gets when they are more worried about how they look, I would not like having my routine changed only on show days and loaded in scary trailers only to be put in strange traps (arenas) with strange horses, only to be ridden by a stressed out rider who seems to be shorter or harder on the bit or tense or in a hurry or upset when I make a mistake or gets tough on me when I try to do what I think is right and it may not be right.
I only say this since as a human this what I see at shows, rodeos, gymkhana and other horse events. So I would guess, like I most often do, say that it is you that change at shows, it is you that does not focus on your horse, it is you that make shows not enjoyable. Shows are rarely done for a horse, they are done for people, so why is so hard to understand why a horse would like them?
I would bet if you took this horse to show, gave it some grain, walked it around and let it graze, gave a few cookies and carrots, it would not come unglued (as you say). He may just enjoy going to shows.
Look at this from your horses eyes and what she sees and then you will be able to change what you do so then the horse will change what it does. I just did an article about horses sayings, you should read it so the last sentence will make more sense.
Here is a link to it:
http://www.equestrianlife.com/articles/164/Horse_Training_Sayings_and_What_They_...
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