Three Great Training Tips from Top Trainer Clinton Anderson of Downunder Horsemanship

Tip #1: Fix the cause, not the symptoms. The majority of horse “problems” (such as bucking, rearing, biting and pawing) aren’t really problems at all, they are really just symptoms of a cause. Seventy to eighty percent of all the problems you will ever have to deal with as a horse owner will fix themselves if you do the groundwork and earn your horse’s respect.

Most people think that their horse’s problem is the real issue, but it’s not. It’s nothing more than a symptom of a cause. People get so focused on the horse’s bad behavior that they can’t see what is actually causing it. It’s like a weed growing in the ground. You can chop it off with a weed whacker, but two weeks later it will grow right back because the root system is still intact. If you really want to kill the weed, you need to pour weed killer on it to kill the root system. When you kill the roots, the weed will die.

It’s the same thing when training horses. Any problem that a horse could possibly have comes from either a lack of respect or fear, or in some cases, both.

Tip #2: Train both sides of the horse. Horses have two sides to their brains: the left brain and the right brain. Each side of your horse’s brain is like a completely separate horse. You’ve got Lefty and you’ve got Righty. Horses hear, smell, think and react differently on each side of their brain.

Whatever you do on one side of your horse, you have to do on the other. Just because you desensitize or sensitize your horse to pressure on one side of his body, it doesn’t mean that he will automatically understand what to do when you move to his other side. In order to have a well-balanced, responsive horse, you have to act like you own two separate horses.

Tip #3: Balance out your training. To balance your horse so that both sides of his body are equally relaxed and responsive, you’ll spend two-thirds of your time working on his bad side (the side that is stiffer, pushier or more reactive), and one-third of your time working on his good side.

For instance, if your horse is spookier on his right side, then you’ll want to spend two-thirds of your time desensitizing that side of his body. Or, if he’s really stiff when you ask him to flex his head and neck to the left, spend two-thirds of your time practicing the exercise on the left side of his body.

Eventually, both sides will even out so that you’ll have a calm and respectful horse whether you’re working on his right side or left side.

You’ll find that the horse’s good side and bad side will switch on and off. Once you have him desensitized well on the right side, he might be worse on his left side, and vice-versa. It’s always going to be a bit of a balancing act.