Comments on: Lessons from Pat Parelli and Catwalk

By: Casper48626

Casper48626 — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:47:37 +0000

Sometimes extreme measures need to be used, but usually these extreme measures are only temporary. I had a horse that was wonderful in every way, very trust worthy, I can not say enough good things about him. I started riding him when I was ten and my father always said that he never worried when I was on Lucky, he would always take care of me and never leave me. But, he hated to have his feet worked on by the horse shoer. He had to use a twitch on Lucky, which did upset me, until I realized we didn't really tighten it up, just the feel of the twitch on Lucky made him a different horse. We always wondered if someone had beaten him at one time. I could clean his hooves and do anything else with his feet and he never acted up. We really think it was a mean blacksmith that set him up for life.

By: Medical Billing Outsourcing

Medical Billing Outsourcing — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:57:24 +0000

Wow very nice words and better story they given here.

By: Mary Hunter

Mary Hunter — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:58:55 +0000

Hi Shamus,

Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog.

I really hope that you'll consider sticking around and reading some of the other posts, especially some of my adventures starting and re-training rescued horses.

I use positive reinforcement-based training when working with our horses. What I've found and what others have found with these kinds of methods is that training does not have to involve forcing the horse, being rough, increasing the pressure, or convincing the horse “who's the boss.”

I believe that if my horse understands what I am asking, knows how to do it, and is confident doing it, then he'll do it! If the horse refuses or says “no,” to me this is a problem with the training, not with the horse. So, I figure out which of these three parts is missing: communication, ability to do the behavior, or confidence. Then, it's my job to set up a training situation so that the horse can learn how to do the skill successfully and will be able to do it next time I ask.

If you're interested in more information about this kind of training, I recommend checking out Karen Pryor's book Don't Shoot the Dog, or Sharon Foley's book Getting to Yes. I have reviews of both of these books on my
site here:
Getting to Yes: Getting to Yes by Sharon
Foleyhttp://www.google.com=“”>
Don't Shoot the Dog: Don't Shoot the Dog! (A book review) | Stale Cheerios
Bloghttp://www.google.com=“”>

Thanks again for leaving a comment. If you have any questions about the
type of training I do, I hope you'll ask them. I was skeptical about this
type of training at first, but I've found that it leads to great results
and top-performing horses who are very willing to do whatever is asked of
them.

cheers,

Mary

By: Shamus

Shamus — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 23:25:30 +0000

Well when it comes too horse training.. he was doing exactly what you should do, and yes it can seem abussive but it's not.. you do NOT give in too what the horse does and doesn't want to do when your working with him, you start gentle and gradually apply pressure till he relizes what you want him to do, if he doesn't want to do it, you keep working on it till he does it, letting a horse go before he does what you ask him, will teach him that he can get away with it, and the result can become dangerous especially with stallions, and they can kill you!! I own stallions and i know sometimes you have to be rough or you'll get seriously injured, cetching the foot is part of keeping control. persistence is everything in horse training. and if you think thats rough, look how horses treat each other.. they aint exactly sweet as honey..

By: Mary Hunter

Mary Hunter — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:34:04 +0000

Thanks for the comment.

Great points about heart rate and physiological reactions.

Also, I really like that you said: "Nothing that appeared horrendous was done to the horse...but it all depends on how the horse saw it."

I think this is a really hard concept for most people to grasp. The animal gets to decide what is scary or stressful. I meet too many people who do things and then wonder why the animal was upset because it "shouldn't" have scared the animal. Or, who do something that they assume won't be stressful, and then are not paying attention to the animal's body language--when the whole time the animal is trying to tell the person that the activity is way too stressful.

Mary

By: Mary Hunter

Mary Hunter — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:32:06 +0000

Hi Tanya,

Thanks so much for leaving a comment. I agree with you that working with horses should be about a partnership. Also, I wish more horse trainers had the guts to stop training, even during large public demonstrations, when a horse is scared, stressed, or otherwise over threshold.

~Mary

By: Mary Hunter

Mary Hunter — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:31:29 +0000

Really great point, Cindy!!

Always important to see what happens after the behavior or what chain of events the behavior is part of.

~Mary

By: AM

AM — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:36:59 +0000

A drop in heart rate is not always a sign of relaxation. It can be a physiological reaction to many things including chronic stress (its not ethologically effective to stay anxious). More than just the HR needs to be monitored to prove that the animal was relaxing as the training went on.

Physical relaxation is not necessarily a sign that the animal is enjoying what is happening. It could be many things including that they are resigned to what is happening to them/in their environment.

I once saw a horse a video of a horse being trained with NH go in to shock...its heart rate plumeted, its blood pressure probably did the same thing (it wasn't being monitored) and it lay down. To the untrained eye it looked like this horse was just fed up. The vet was called and emergency treatment was required to save its life....all becuase it would not walk over tarpualin. Nothing that appeared horrendous was done to the horse...but its all depends how the horse saw it, and the duration (3h) of the training.

I should stress that I am not knocking NH, I have seen some good training done. As with any training (and equipment), in uneducated hands it can be very dangerous.

By: Cindy M

Cindy M — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 20:04:31 +0000

Posting this long after your original blogpost…. in addition to your suggestion that Catwalk could benefit from learning to like having his face and ears touched, it's important to remember that the bridle is a cue; it's a signal of what will come next: being ridden and jumped. Perhaps the horse has pain or discomfort begin ridden. Avoiding the bridle prevents the work…. yet another area to explore in working through this horse's resistance to bridling. And not resolved in a weekend of twitches and snubbing.

By: Tanya Parker Snook

Tanya Parker Snook — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 01:26:33 +0000

I have read many of Pat's books and was a fan until seeing this video. I do not believe it is EVER ok to do the things that were done. It is supposed to be a partnership. I have been watching Clinton Anderson and have been to one of his demos. I was very impressed when he said to a full house that this was not the environment for the training to continue as it wasn't fair to the horse. I think his methods and this act show that he is a natural horseman. Would love to hear others thoughts on Clinton Anderson.