Teachings of Andrew McLean

One of the "light" readings I've had the pleasure to indulge in during my break is "The truth about horses" by Andrew McLean.

But, allow me to back track.

Ever since reading "Horse control, the young horse" by Tom Roberts, I have understood that training horses is based on applying an unpleasant pressure, and then releasing it when the horse reacts as desired.

But other questions still welled up in my mind. Why does the horse jig-jog? Why does the horse rear? What does it mean when the horse paws the ground? Puts his ears back? Why do some horses shy in the same spot every single time?

From other sources, some trainers were saying not to lunge horses. Yet other trainers were lunging horses and it was a marvellous tool in their hands (I had witnessed this first hand).

I was majorly confused. Yet when I asked equestrian coaches these questions they were either stumped or silent or both. These are legitimate questions and any coach who is qualified should know the answers to these sort of questions.

Along came "The truth about horses" and all of a sudden I wasn't just reading the book. I was breathing it in. Andrew McLean had answered all of my questions. And like I had suspected, his answers were very simple. (Horses are very simple animals, most solutions to training horses are simple).

Now, if you really want the answers to all your horsey training questions, then I suggest you read one of Tom Robert's books first, and then go and read "The truth about horses". It is worth every cent, and every second of your time.

What really clicked for me was that when we ask the horse to do something, and he is not sure what the right response is, then his behaviour will become random. That's when he will kick, bite, put his ears back, paw the ground, etc. Some horses are more inclined to do random behaviours in close succession than others. What the trainer must remember, is that he must only release the pressure when the horse had performed the correct behaviour.
 
The next part that I really liked, is that most bad behaviour can be fixed by re-establishing correct forwards, stop and backwards responses. So if your horse is prone to kicking. Don't get in there and risk being kicked. Walk your horse, ask it to stop, ask it to walk, ask it to stop, ask it to back up. I've actually experienced this with my horses in the past, but never understood why it worked. It works because you are establishing a control over how the horse's legs move. But - if you have this sort of problem with your horse - go and read the book to get all the detail on it. (It's how you ask the horse to walk forward, how you ask them to stop - the devil is really in the detail.)
 
Then Andrew McLean talks about lungeing. And basically, it's a very powerful tool. If you know how to use it, then you will know which horses not to use it on. And if you don't know how to use it, then don't use it, because you'll do more damage than good. I'm really glad I've finally got the truth on this one, because lungeing doesn't really work for Dingo, but is brilliant for Lilly.