The first horse that I belonged to was called Luke. Well, when he came to live with me his name was Sebastian, but I couldn’t let him carry that burden for the rest of his life. He didn’t deserve that. So Luke became the name he answered to when I called him for dinner or when he ordered coffee at Starbucks and when the bakery asked what name he wanted on his birthday cake.
Connecting With A Troubled Horse
The Dip In The Neck
Is Horse Riding Cruel?
Each of us has our own values and a belief about what is and was is not acceptable when it comes to working with horses. Most people can agree that the worst forms of cruelty such as physical violence and starvation are not acceptable. However, there may be considerable differences of opinion about training methods, equipment and uses for horses. It’s for each of us to come to terms with our own ways of handling horses and be able to sleep with a clear conscious.
Timing Of The Aids
One Horse, Two Sides
Most of us appreciate that all horses are different. When training, what works for one horse may not be the best approach for another. The almost infinite variations of a horse’s nature combined with their varied experiences (nature plus nurture) mean the chance is almost zero in finding two horses responding identically to identical training.