In fairness to these guys, they had a choice of horses for this demo/competition. With their experience, they probably chose the horses they thought best for the occasion. It just goes to show, even those with vast experience can take a tumble.
Actually, I've done two demonstrations (for equine students) where I have taken 3yr olds from scratch to backed in about an hour and a half, with lots of short spells of relaxation interspersed throughout that period.
Many horses respond very well to that sort of crash course, although the end result is by no means a made animal. However, with the right horse, and a trainer who works within the limitations of the horse, and who is prepared to stop if the horse cannot cope, it is a fairly easy thing to do.
The fillies I worked with were very different in their experiences of people. One was unhandled except for having a head collar fitted. For the demo, she was turned into a sand school, loose, and I had to do a lot of remote work with her initially, before haltering her. I then did lots of desensitising work with her prior to introducing tack. Although quite fearful and flighty, she was very responsive to training once we established mutual trust.
The other filly had been imprinted as a young foal, although I didn't know about that until after I'd finished working with her.
She was very bold, a bit bargey, and difficult to move around, but was very accepting of rope and tack. Previously, she'd only been haltered a couple of times, wasn't taught to lead, and couldn't be tied up. On the morning of the demo, I loaded her into a trailer for the first time, and drove her about thirty miles to the venue. She was easy to load and travelled like an old hand. When she was unloaded and turned into the school, she demonstarted all her paces for about fifteen minutes, with her tail up, which really got the attention of the students.
I worked with tthe two in almost identical manners, using similar techniques. When I was sure of them, Mrs AO was asked to step up to the mark and get on their backs. Both took that very well and went on, after lots of subsequent quiet handling and hacking out, to become very nice horses for their owners.
Of the two, I found the first filly much easier to train, and much more rewarding in fact. The imprint was much too confident, had learned the weaknesses of some humans, and was not so enjoyable to work with. I think this was as much due to lack of experience in the owner as to the imprinting process.
Topic: Unseated (Read 3722 times)
