Breaking a Young Horse.

[turn&burn92]

I have been offered the job of breaking a 3 y/o mare. Her name is Liberty and she's a pretty paint. Anyway, from the time she was born she wasn't messed with or had any human contact until a few months ago. She is settled down pretty good. You can pet her and lead her, but she's still nervous about people. I was offered a job to break her and take as much time as needed. I am going to take the job and I plan to start in a week or so. I was looking for some advise on just getting her to trust me and help calm her down. I have heard of using some lavender or eucaliptis oil in her feed will calm her some. I am looking for as many natural remedies as possible. I don't like doing anything that may leave a bad impact on her. Being handled as little as she has, I dont want her to have a bad experience with humans. Any advise would be greatly appriciated!

[milkmaid]

How much experience do you have?

[turn&burn92]

I have been working with horses for 12 years. I barrel race and do lots of horse-type jobs. This is the first job I have had with breaking someone elses horse, and Liberty is more nervous than other horses I have worked with. I think she could be a very nice horse, but she needs lots of TLC and time spent with her. I was looking for some remedies that are natural and that will help calm her. I have heard that eucliptis oil in their feed or a message with lavender oil will settle them. What do you think?

[Onthebit]

My dad had a young wild, unhandled filly once who got in a mess with a horned bull. She had a 6 in gash from the pt. of her chest up the side of the wind pipe. He wouldn't call a vet either and it got infected bad. I went over there and locked her in the barnyard. She rolled her eyes so the whites showed and snorted, and all sorts of wild crap. I sat in the middle of the barnyard with my back to her and ignored her......for almost an hour...then i felt her nose in my hair...then on my shoulder....then really slowly i reached up and touched her nose...she backed off a step and stood there...then I turned to face her and held my hand out and she touched it....I slowly got to my feet...slipped a halter on her....and really quietly put a concoction of teatree oil and sulfur in the infected wound....The hired hand was in shock! She stood perfectly still while i administered to her...

[turn&burn92]

That's amazing. I have heard of that, and 'joining up'. Does that work? What procedure do you follow or know about?

[Onthebit]

I imagine that joining up is what I did....in my own way...i sat with my back to her til she came to me...it was only her and I in the yard. I broke a standardbred filly similarily. She was so wild the owner couldn't clean her stall...I would open her door and turn my back to her and just stand there...she eventually came to me...she trusted me....got her to the races and the owner sold her and she promptly broke the new owners arm...I don't know where she ended up after that though.....the trick is they have to have no other horses around to 'join up' with......just you....

[turn&burn92]

I am going to try this. I have heard that it works wonders with even the craziest horses. Also, what are the going prices for this job. The man asked me today what I want to charge him. For information puposes, we out here in Arkansas dont have lots of money to spend on these things. Any estimates?

[chippie]

Skip the herbs and stuff.

Check into Clinton Anderson's or John Lyon's methods. To gain affection, you must have discipline and trust. You can't baby a horse into liking you or calming down. You should move in a confident and deliberate manner when working with her. Be matter of fact and ignore her nervousness. When you react to her being nervous, that tells her that she has a reason to be nervous because you are nervous too.

You have a lot of ground work to do, if she is as skittish as you say, you may have several months before you can even think about getting on her back. I would work her in a round pen. She needs to be solid in her commands and manners because if a horse doesn't listen to you when you are on the ground, you can't expect it to listen to you when you are mounted.

As far as cost, are you boarding the horse or going to the owner's place to ride? If you are going to the owner's place, charge a travel fee to cover your fuel and time getting there, then charge by either the hour or a set price for working her each day.

I have a friend who charges $300 per month and the owner pays the boarding fee. One of my daughters starts colts and she charges $500 per month including board.

If you do not have any experience with a problem horse (which this one is), and if you have never started or trained a horse (beginning from scratch) you might be better off passing on training it. You can not teach what you do not know.

If you do decide to train the horse, be sure to use a training contract and get a liability release. You can google horse training contracts and find a bunch.

Good luck and don't get hurt.

[turn&burn92]

The horse is staying at his house. He has a round pen and a nice spot. It takes me about 15 minutes to get there. I have been working with problem horses for a few years. They are my biggest pleasure to help. I love the feeling of getting their trust, and then knowing I have it. Anyway, she is very nervous b/c she has not been messed with in her life except for the last month or so, and she's 3. In my opinion, you can get hurt on any horse, but thank you for all your information. I know it will take at least a year or maybe two to get her to fully trust me. I am going in slowly b/c of her lack of trust in humans. I am taking the job. I talked to the owner today. I plan on starting in a week or so.

[chippie]

If you can not get her trust in 100 days, you will never get it. It doesn't matter how old the horse is. It either learns that you are OK and will trust you, or it really doesn't care about people and won't.

Talk to the owner about his expectations and goals. Did you tell him that it would take several years?

[codymccue]

all that mare needs to do is decide you aren't a predator and you have your start.
spend some time in the round pen ignoring her.having your back to her is a zero pressure thing.read a book or clean the pen,but pay her no mind for the first day or so.Once she decides yer ok you can round pen her and try for join up.she'll be sensitive as heck so no whips or lines or such.use body pressure to move her when the time comes and once you've started-finish.best you know what steps you are gonna take before you start taking them.

someone already said"you can't teach what you don't know" truer words have never been spoken,so have a plan.

Good luck to you.

[Onthebit]

I agree...there is no way it will take that long. not even 100 days...she is skittish from not knowing what humans expect from her. Join up in a paddock by yourselves and she will be your friend within a week. Then you can begin formal training.

[pdfangus]

none of the popular big name trainers feature this......

but one thing that always served me well when I was a young buck dealing with other folks problems was a good brush and lots of time spent applying it to the animal and talking to em.

[milkmaid]

I agree 100% with chippie.

Last summer I worked for a trainer who used John Lyons methods, and while there were some things this trainer did that I didn't agree with or like, and would never do myself - BUT - I can't deny that he could take a half wild colt who had very little handling, and have him ridable within a week. Round pen, whip, and a good rope, and he used them. He always talked about having an even balance of respect and trust. If that horse doesn't have a healthy respect for you, you are not going to be able to work with him -- he won't respect your space (do you really want him stepping on your feet?) and he won't respect your commands (you really want him running away with you?). If he doesn't trust you it'll be hard to get him to apply his mind to learning.

The definition of trust is another post altogether.

[flaboy]

Round pen and time with her is all you need. You get her respect in the pen and you spend as much time with her as you can.