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 | | From: | fourhmom | | Subject: | I found something in that posted url.... | | Date: | Thu, 20 Jan 2005 10:39:17 -0500 |
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 | Quote taken from 'men vs. women handling' thread url.....
"Over the years I have had opportunities to work with people who were new
to horses altogether. Novice horse handlers in most instances have
appeared to gain handling skills remarkably fast. This has seemed
especially true for working with behavior problem horses, where oftentimes
novice horse people seem to do better at behavior modification than do
experienced handlers. In thinking about this, we wonder whether novice
handlers may be free of the traditional expectations for horses, so are
more patient with gradual progress. Also, perhaps novices have not been
exposed to classic bad habits that get people in trouble with smart
horses."
Maybe this is why I had such good results w/Dancer and the few babies I
have raised. :) I can identify w/this statement because I find myself
expecting more of the younger ones (and older ones for that matter) now
than I did when I first got Dancer.
It's like this -- when we bought Dancer he would NOT load (had to run him
into the trailer via the 'barn isle' method to bring him home) so I spent
about 2 or 3 weeks simply getting him to approach the trailer and put a
foot into it. Would I have so much patience now? Would I reward the very
small, almost minute steps now? *shaking head* I don't really think I
would. I would EXPECT whoever I was working w/to just accept the trailer
as soon as possible.
Maybe a 'novice' mentality isn't so bad afterall. That is, as long as the
horse is making progress.
What do some others think? sylvia
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| | From: | wkambic at vic.com | | Subject: | Re: I found something in that posted url.... | | Date: | Thu, 20 Jan 2005 10:50:35 -0500 |
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| On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 10:39:17 -0500, "fourhmom"
wrote:
>Quote taken from 'men vs. women handling' thread url.....
>
>"Over the years I have had opportunities to work with people who were new
>to horses altogether. Novice horse handlers in most instances have
>appeared to gain handling skills remarkably fast. This has seemed
>especially true for working with behavior problem horses, where oftentimes
>novice horse people seem to do better at behavior modification than do
>experienced handlers. In thinking about this, we wonder whether novice
>handlers may be free of the traditional expectations for horses, so are
>more patient with gradual progress. Also, perhaps novices have not been
>exposed to classic bad habits that get people in trouble with smart
>horses."
>
>
>
>Maybe this is why I had such good results w/Dancer and the few babies I
>have raised. :) I can identify w/this statement because I find myself
>expecting more of the younger ones (and older ones for that matter) now
>than I did when I first got Dancer.
The quote cited falls under the "perfectly geneneral, pefectly true,
and perfectly meaningless" category.
Some novices are "naturals" and some experienced folks are not. That
a "natural" novice will progress quickly is not a surprise. But it's
a myth that "experience" is an encumberance. "Bad experience" is a
problem 'cause you must un-learn the human of faults then try and
substitute virtures. This may be why some "experienced" horse people
make such statements (they are, in fact, training two entities vice
one).
Or, put another way, writing on clean slate is always quicker than on
one you must first erase! :-)
>It's like this -- when we bought Dancer he would NOT load (had to run him
>into the trailer via the 'barn isle' method to bring him home) so I spent
>about 2 or 3 weeks simply getting him to approach the trailer and put a
>foot into it. Would I have so much patience now? Would I reward the very
>small, almost minute steps now? *shaking head* I don't really think I
>would. I would EXPECT whoever I was working w/to just accept the trailer
>as soon as possible.
>
>Maybe a 'novice' mentality isn't so bad afterall. That is, as long as the
>horse is making progress.
To a point, but you can outrun the novice's "naturality" pretty
quickly. Like the old "one reelers" the novice has no depth.
Bill Kambic
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| | From: | grosvenr at bga.com | | Subject: | Re: I found something in that posted url.... | | Date: | 20 Jan 2005 19:17:49 -0800 |
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| Another problem with this is that just because you were once successful
teaching a horse to do something like load, doesn't mean you'll always
be successful, or that you can always do it faster and better in the
future. A lot of the speed at which you train has to do with the
individual horse. Some horses are just easier to ride and /or train
than others. I've owned many horses and never really had a problem
teaching any of them to load until I met Jr. Miss. I've never seen a
horse as difficult to train to load as that horse. I've since worked
with other horses that were a piece of cake compared to her, but
seriously the ONLY way that horse was trained was very slowly, very
incrementally. Even now, with some time off to recover from ailments,
she is in need of more loading lessons, and I've had her five years.
Training horses is like raising kids. Some people are naturals and do
really well. Some are pretty bad at it. I was watching Super Nanny the
other night on t.v., and realized this poor, pitiful family with three
horrible kids would also be terrible horse trainers. The nanny came in
and used techniques to train the kids which were virtually identical to
training horses. Even with lessons and videotaping with the total
attention of a pro for two weeks, the parents still had a very hard
time learning how to do it. It was the personality of the kids and the
parents that made it so bad.
cg
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