Horse Training Techniques From The 1800′s – What’s Old Is New And What’s New Is Old
Would his picture be in the horse trainer’s Hall Of Fame? His name was Jesse Beery. Before he was twenty he became a world class horse trainer. He was so well known, there were more people who heard of him than didn’t. Jesse Beery learned how to train horses almost entirely on his own because there were few people who knew how to train a horse. Beery’s first inclination to train horses happened when he drove a horse and buggy to a friend’s house. As he worked with his horse he discovered ways to get a horse to do what he wanted. Beery’s methods solved numerous problems with horses that seemed unsolvable. As if his accomplishments weren’t enough to keep him busy, Beery wrote a Horse Training manual describing how to do what he did.
Unfortunately, few copies exist today and those that do may be hard to read due to the poor condition of these very old books. Beery’s book may be available in used book stores if one is motivated to search. There may be an alternative. Suddenly, you get the urge to get on her and go for a ride. Her head is high, her ears are twitching, and she’s wondering what’s going on.
It’s boring just sitting on her. You want her to move. So you boot her forward. Suddenly, she starts going faster and faster until she’s in a full gallop. Your white knuckle hands have a death grip on her mane. In your raging fear you see a turn coming up and you’re wondering whether your horse will take a sharp right or go straight.
In a flash you prepare for her to take a right so you won’t be thrown to the ground. Thank goodness you did because she took a sharp right. In fact, it felt like she turned ninety degrees. What I didn’t tell you is this whole time you’ve been yelling “Whoooaaaaa! It’s a sick feeling being on a horse you can’t control and the fence posts whiz by you while you quickly and silently rehearse your own funeral in your head. This scenario actually happened to a friend of mine.
She had help training her horse and did a decent job except for something very important. She didn’t teach the “whoa” lesson thoroughly enough. One of the most important things one should do while training a horse is repetition. Whatever lesson you’re teaching your horse it should be taught so thoroughly that it is a fixed habit on his brain. It becomes a fixed habit by repetition.
In this horse’s case, she hadn’t been taught that “whoa” means to stop. In fact, I’d bet she thinks “whoa” means to slow down. Lots of people tell their horse “whoa” when their horse is moving too fast and they want it to slow down. Before you know it, the horse thinks “whoa” means to slow down a little.
