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I have agreed to get rid of some bad habits this horse has developed and use the Natural Horsemanship training method. Trouble is, the owner doesn't understand this type of training and is complaining that I am spoiling his horse. I am not going to ride him until I get some ground respect. The owner is an older man and is set in the old cowboy way of "letting the horse know who's boss". He has some physical handicaps now and cannot train himself any more. I don't know how to tactfully ask him to let me do the job the way I see fit. He has already paid me for the job and I can't back out now. Our agreement was for me to train two of his horses if he builds the fence and round pen. Help?
After reading all these wonderful suggestions, I feel that I must explain that this is my first time as a "paid" trainer. I did tell the owner that it would take me a while to get him trail ready (which is all he really wants anyway) but he cannot be tied without breaking everything or injuring himself so I wanted to work on that issue first. But I will now just ride him as asked and work on being tied and shying at the same time. You all are giving me very sound and valuable advice. Thank you……even those of you who may have been afraid of hurting feelings.
Like one poster above said (hhqh i think) you should have had an agreement on what was going to be done with the horse, and in what time frame.
You should talk to the owner of the horse about what he wants done with the horse and by when, and you need to use a method of training that will be effective for accomplishing what needs to be done, and that the old man will be able to continue once the horse is trained. This man is not going to continue with the natural horsemanship, so it seems kind of pointless to train the horse with it. How about talking to the owner and seeing what his perspectives of training are, and trying to come up with a middle ground. Not all old school training methods are about beating the horse into submission you know, he may actually have some good input that you could work with.
Try useing more traditional methods on the ground to establish respect, a good trainer should be able to adapt to the owner and horses needs. Obviously natural horsemanship isn't going to work for the owner of the horse, and honestly it isn't the speediest process for ground work either (i'm not going to get into its effectivness or anything like that, but fact of the matter is, it is not a quick training method) Natural horsemanship is not the only method of training, there are other methods that don't involve beating the horse that are equally effective. You can also work on getting respect on the ground, and riding the horse at the same time, the horses ground manners will get better with the excersize and discipline of being ridden… I would honestly be upset as well if I sent my horse to training to be ridden and all the trainer was doing is playing games with my horse on the ground, ground manners are important, but they can be established fairly quickly and easily with most horses, it usually isn't a long drawn out process.
You are going to have to make a choice, either adapt your training methods, or give up your roundpen and fence. Your client is not going to be happy with a natural horsemanship trained horse.
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12 Responses to Should I stop training this horse and send him back to his owner?
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Keep up the good work. I feel sorry for the horse! I wasn't aware you could spoil a horse.
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The problem is that he's a grumpy old man. He's the old cowboy type that thinks hard discipline is how you beat a horse into submission. I'm familiar with many of these types. Some of them have gotten results their way, which is why they practice it. But that doesn't make it the best way, and you and I know that. Just remember that and don't lose confidence. Put him out of your head and do your job the way you know you can! You know you can get those results!
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Did you walk through the Natural Horsemanship training with the owner? Let him know exactly what the training details? If you did, then you have to be straightforward with him. Tell him he knew what he was getting into when he paid you. If you are willing, tell him he can have his money back, but that he paid you to train him, and that's what you are doing.
I guess my question is: what's the point in training the horse with this method if the guy is going to (seemingly) undo it all once you've trained the horse?
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You should have an written agreement between the two of you which details exactly what the training will consist of, these situations can occur and your word against his will not hold up so if the owner were to want his money back he could take you to court because you didn't provide the training he asked for.
So, there should be a CLEAR understanding on what your training will consist of and what the owner wants. YOU should make the judgement on training a horse once you know what the owner expects. If you cannot fulfil what the owner expects to receive in a specific time you shouldn't take the horse in for training. If he wanted his horse riding in 30 days, you better not be spending 25 days on the ground goofing around with the horse, its as simple as that.
I know this isn't what you want to hear but when someone proclaims the ability to train a horse, they need to act professionaly, responsibly and provide the services they were hired to do. I mean, if you hired a painter to paint your home and it was to be complete in a week but the guy spent 6 days taking the shutters off of the house, well I bet you'd be pretty upset and wanting your money back too.
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Put your foot down.Tell him he paid you to do a job, now say let me do the job.
Tell him while his way of training worked for many horses you want to do the training your way.Good luck.
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Well it's too late to back out now, but you can't ignore him either or you will never get return deals. You have to help him understand what you are doing and maybe get a few books from the library for him to read about natural horsemanship. Explain to him that you ARE establishing respect by working WITH the horse instead of AGAINST the horse.
Answer all of his questions/comments/concerns and continue on with your training. When you are finished let him see how good of a job your methods did. Then he will be more likely to see how good you are. If you argue with him or ignore him then even if you did do a great job he probably won't see past his anger towards you or stubbornness to notice how well you did.
Best wishes!
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your training him the right way you cant spoil a horse the end result for training a horse that has respect for you will have a great ending but if this guys a real jerk i wonder if the horse well treat him the same way he treats you i would try to get this guy more involved in what your doing so he can see how the horse responds better to your training then to the old ways good luck
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Honestly, if you train this horse using Natural Horsemanship and he doesn't apply those same methods after the horse is trained then this 'old cowboy' will most likely not be happy with your training.
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just giove that owner the whats what and continue training hell come around when he sees the fantastic results that come about by natural training!!!
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Just keep doing what your doing. I had to go through this hundreds of times. When they see the horse in peak condition, they will drop it.
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Like one poster above said (hhqh i think) you should have had an agreement on what was going to be done with the horse, and in what time frame.
You should talk to the owner of the horse about what he wants done with the horse and by when, and you need to use a method of training that will be effective for accomplishing what needs to be done, and that the old man will be able to continue once the horse is trained. This man is not going to continue with the natural horsemanship, so it seems kind of pointless to train the horse with it. How about talking to the owner and seeing what his perspectives of training are, and trying to come up with a middle ground. Not all old school training methods are about beating the horse into submission you know, he may actually have some good input that you could work with.
Try useing more traditional methods on the ground to establish respect, a good trainer should be able to adapt to the owner and horses needs. Obviously natural horsemanship isn't going to work for the owner of the horse, and honestly it isn't the speediest process for ground work either (i'm not going to get into its effectivness or anything like that, but fact of the matter is, it is not a quick training method) Natural horsemanship is not the only method of training, there are other methods that don't involve beating the horse that are equally effective. You can also work on getting respect on the ground, and riding the horse at the same time, the horses ground manners will get better with the excersize and discipline of being ridden… I would honestly be upset as well if I sent my horse to training to be ridden and all the trainer was doing is playing games with my horse on the ground, ground manners are important, but they can be established fairly quickly and easily with most horses, it usually isn't a long drawn out process.
You are going to have to make a choice, either adapt your training methods, or give up your roundpen and fence. Your client is not going to be happy with a natural horsemanship trained horse.
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I adjust my methods at times but only to the extent I am comfortable. Draw your line, review the methods with him and expected results, set time lines to demonstrate certain results. Like, the horse will do x by this date. Some people just need to see a couple of positive results and then they will back off and let you do the rest the way you want without further interference. If you can not agree or you can not adjust than you will need to ask if he will agree to dissolve your agreement. Good luck
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