First Experiences

Since I don't have much else to share with you, I figured I may as well tell you about how important first experiences are, and some really really basic guidelines to training. Horses have a very good memory, and probably because they need to remember what is safe vs. dangerous for survival, God made them to remember their first experience with something. Training can slightly modify how an equine reacts to stimuli, and we want to make sure we train them right.

Note: With donkeys and especially mules, as well, they won't forgive you for mistreating them (unlike most horses), or causing them danger, so there's another reason to make sure you do it right the first time.

I'm presuming most of you know the basics of the right way to train a horse, but I'll see if I can remember a few basic principles (sorry if they flop, I'm terribly exhausted from a whole-day skiing venture). And yes, these basic guidelines should especially be noted when you're introducing a horse to something.

• Start young. The ideal time to start training a horse is right after birth, getting the foal accustomed to grooming, touching the sensitive areas (including the ears, up the nose, and around the private areas), clippers, crinkly plastic bags, and lots of other things. Training to lead will start soon, but not quite yet.
• Be persuasive, not coercive. Using the latter will result in horses obeying, but because of fear. And most likely, they'll just snap at some point, and it could ruin a horse with a lot of potential. I can't explain how to be persuasive in just a short paragraph, but there are books on horse training that will discuss it, and here's an example.
• You're lunging your horse, and cuing him to a trot. He knows the cue, but decides he wants to canter and buck a few times instead. You shout at him and attempt to stop him by popping the lunge whip in front of his head. It doesn't work, the horse freaks out, and runs the other direction from fear.
• You're lunging your horse, and cuing him to a trot. He knows the cue, but decides he wants to canter and buck a few times instead. Realizing that he isn't going to obey you by trotting, and you can't physically force a horse to obey, you keep him at a fast canter. Once he wants to stop, though, you still make him canter. This turns what the horse wanted to do into what you wanted to do, without physically or mentally harming him.
•  Realize what's natural for equine, and don't punish them for it. Equine have a lot more sensitive senses than we do, and horses are almost always on the lookout for danger. Just because you don't see anything dangerous, or you know better, doesn't mean your mount doesn't sense danger lurking nearby, and will react accordingly.