THE 2 OPPOSING METHODS OF DOMINATING HORSES VS RELATIONSHIP BASED TRAINING

Starkly different are these 2 opposing and opposite approaches to horses.

An example of dominating a horse is 'bagging', rubbing sacks all over your horse, towels, plastic bags etc. To get the horse to not be fearful of things making a noise or moving round it touching it.

An example of relationship based training is taking your horse for a pick of grass on the lead and allowing the horse to choose within reason where you go, like a dog on a lead and you're there as a friend and confidant.

I've used and been taught to use the former approach and have used it for years.

I've also used the other and have found a stark contrast in result.

The horse who is conditioned is nervous, only obedient in a small set of relevant situations in which it has been conditioned and does not trust or look to the handler for confidence.

However the way of quietly building a calm and caring relationship and bond with a horse creates that doughy, half asleep, calm, trusting horse that becomes unflappable no matter where it is or what's going on around it, and you are it's source of confidence.

Repetitive & slight abuse kills trust and creates a fearful horse. It creates riding phobias and horses who spook and shy at their environment.

I have a challenge for anyone interested in having a true bond with their horse and wanting to be able to do anything, anywhere with them:

Just for 1 day, spend time with your horse like it's a pet dog.

Pat, cuddle, gently talk to it and take it for a walk somewhere the horse is comfortable to have a pick of grass, let the horse lead and be there chatting away as if it can understand English, no harshness, no growling, all with a soft caring attitude. Scratch them, pat them etc...

Then watch their confidence skyrocket, their so called nervy or bad behaviour disperse...etc...

I've worked with the worst of the worst horses in my time. All have responded miraculously to this change of approach.

Where horse purchases often go wrong is where horses are purchased and then kept in repetitive training to keep them in a state of mental & physical exhaustion.

They are dominated horses. Trainers and riders do this unwittingly, not intentionally, it is commonly an accepted practice for lack of a better one and you have to be skilled in dominating the horse to do so. This is the education that is commonly accepted as training horses and experienced riding.

You hear it everyday: "This horse needs to be worked regularly, or kept in work, or, it might be dodgy coming back from a spell, has to be kept on cool feed, lunged prior to riding etc etc.

A horse is not truly quiet or properly trained if it has to be kept on cool feed, worked regularly, or lunged prior to riding.

These horses are simply exhausted mentally & physically, dominated and worn down horses.

As soon as they get some energy about them or strike an easily dominateable human, they will regain their dominance back with a vengeance. This is where you will see: "needs experienced rider", etc in the ads.

Our horses are fed hot feed, not lunged, not overworked until they are tired, kept happy & fresh. They are ridden in only the softest kindest gear and can be left for years and jumped on straight away and ridden again because they understand riding, have not been dominated, don't resent people or riding and have accepted riding, rather than had it forced on them.

The difference is as vast as black and white / chalk & cheese.

Our horses run to you not away from you when you come to catch them.

For those people who are spreading around that Thoroughbreds coming out of racing are nervy, flighty and not suitable for beginner riders. (The same use whips, spurs, drugs, cool feeds and control horses) I have ridden and trained quarter horses, all the pony breeds, stock horses, warmbloods etc.

I will say this. Unless your non TB horse has been exposed to the exact same training a Thoroughbred has. It is not what I would class safe for beginner riders.

I speak from experience. I have trained and rehomed hundreds of horses.. I am very hesitant to sell any breed to someone who needs a quiet horse that is not a TB.

However if you come at a TB or any other horse with control and meanness you will have a nervous and dangerous horse on your hands, all horses no matter the breed are big animals. You need to come at them with respect and kindness, not fear and control.

A horse with little experience when you do will buck you off.

A horse with alot of experience when you do will absorb it and tolerate it more, be more forgiving.

This is my experience. I educate beginner riders and all who buy a horse from me receive the same guidance with their horses to avoid the pitfalls the majority of riders are making out there.

People just starting out are alot easier to educate than a person who has been taught to control horses and thinks they are advanced riders because of it.

Horses, like all animals, react badly to people who do this. However my beginner rider can jump on their so called badly behaved horse and the horse will be fine with them immediately because they are not mean to them but kind.

I truly believe that horses can effectively teach people how to drop fear and control out of their lives and learn to be kind instead. I have seen it over and over again.

For those people spreading around a youtube video which attempts to paint me as a dodgy horse seller. I have had more good reviews from sold horses than they ever have. The proof is in the pudding.

P.S the model on the horse they say is me in this video is actually Tanya Meyer. Not me. The only 2 people posing as disgruntled buyers they could gather up out of about a thousand horses I've sold are lying. Romeo was not off the track. He came from a trail riding home where young children also used to handle him, he literally turned up to this buyers home with hand prints from young children all over him from being used at their childrens party before leaving. They loved him and had no issues with him. Before that he was a successful show horse.

The other featured disgruntled lady was really pulling out the lies, her horse Sox was one of our all time best horses. Had been ridden easily by young children. I had a trail riding business owner tell me she wished she could clone his nature and awesomeness and have all of her trail riding horses the same as him. This person's lies broke my heart because they had contacted me a long time after buying Sox telling me they had put their drunk friend on Sox while they were all drinking at her place and he had slipped off and broke something, had to go to hospital, she said it was "100% not Sox's fault" then turns up lying on this video about it. This lady was also drinking when she had shown up to buy Sox. My only mistake was allowing her to purchase him.

The lawyer depicted in the video literally made a business off my business because we sold so many horses and went around inciting and telling people they should be scared of the horses they bought from me.

The jockey featured in the video literally whips horses for a living. She created hate groups and used to ring clients of mine that purchased my horses telling them I drug my horses to make them appear quiet, the people in these hate groups spread this all over the internet to the effect I had the police show up to my property. I welcomed them in and welcomed them to drug test all the horses on the spot and also welcomed them to show up on my property unannounced at any time or day in the future and drug test the horses.

None of my horses were ever drugged or showed drugging in their system because this is simply a jealous and malicious lie. (I am anti any sort of drugging of horses and always have been and hate it with a passion however, ironically, I know for a fact this jockey used to happily ride horses every morning which are sedated so she could ride them and may still do).

This jockey's actions ringing my clients ended up with a beautiful horse I had sold being sent to the meatworks. He was a beautiful happy soul in my care with a lovely nature. This is what ignorance achieves.

This jockey said she had a bridle break on her once and was terrified. She should have been. Because a rider who has only controlled a horse when the control is removed has nothing.

In the videos I posted on youtube of horses I have sold, these videos were taken the very first time I had ever met these horses.

They were fresh, on full hot feed, no lungeing, just on and ride. I literally would remove the headcollar and ride each of them with no gear at all in that very first ride, all of them. I was never terrified, because I was never dominating them. I was their mate. That's the difference. I can understand how people in their ignorance may think they are drugged to achieve this, however they simply have no reason to fear.

I have countless reviews from clients who are complete beginner riders and their beautiful stories with their TB's how they are the best horses they have ever had etc etc.

So I'm gonna keep doing what I do and for those who don't like it, catch your education up before you cause the death of more perfectly good horses.

Have a beautiful day people and don't be scared to stand up alone for what is right. It is easier to follow the crowd I know but in the long run you will find the crowd just chases their own tails.

~Phoebe