We can teach a horse how to feel about learning and themselves by how we prepare them, read them and present new things or tasks
Yes, horses are individuals with their own personalities, strengths and insecurities.
We can also set them up to win.
The idea is that everybody wins.
That has nothing to do with whether or not you’re using food rewards. It has to do with what outcome we’re looking for and how we work towards it.
Here Lightning Bug – a 3yo sorrel Antelope Hills WY Mustang gelding – is meeting the spray bottle for the first time.
If I had a dollar for every time someone told me “My horse doesn’t do fly spray”, I’d be independently wealthy.
We’ve never had a Mustang that “doesn’t do fly spray”, not even the ones that had a really hard time with a lot of seemingly simple things.
That’s s because fly spray is something a horse has zero internal programming for. The way we present it is the way they’ll see it. Good, neutral or bad.
I don’t have any fairy dust for magical training outcomes and I’m not here to tell people what to do.
What I do have is years of experience – academic and hands-on – with behavior and behavior modification.
When we obtain knowledge in a nonjudgmental way, apply it – there’s trial and error involved – and use it to better ourselves and to benefit our horses, we can achieve the “everybody wins” goal and the quiet training sessions more and more often.
*Yes he is a Mustang. The freezebrand is under his mane*
This handsome boy is looking for his adventure human. He is available to an amazing home through Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy in Guffey, CO. He is Sale Authority and can travel.
Lightning Bug is currently 15hh tall, string tests to 16hh. He’s built to be versatile, safe and fun, both inside and out.
He and we would very much appreciate your comments, likes and shares on this post to help LB find the incredible home he deserves 
#horses#learning#teaching#horsemanship#growth#winwin#calm#makingmountainmustangmemories
