Gentling a Feral horse

Gentling a Feral horse

Post by Brandy and/or Crey Rocke » Fri, 13 Feb 1998 04:00:00


Here is a question concerning training of horses.  A while ago I helped
train a friend's horse, an Arab-X gelding that had been living as a
"yard ornament" for most of his twenty years.  He had been halter-broke
as a young horse and had an extremely willing and gentle nature, so we
were able to work with him.  He is rideable if someone takes the time to
work with him regularly.

My question concerns this horse's buddy, a slightly younger gelding who
was never worked with at all and is rather feral.  He will approach
people for grain, but will not allow himself to be handled.  After a few
months of trying, I was able to touch his head and neck a bit, and did
get a halter on him.  But that seemed to be the limit to his tolerance.
Any pressure on the lead rope produces an extreme negative reaction.  It
was suggested we try tying him so he learns to respect the rope, but he
broke the halter right away and, I'm sure, could break another rope or
anything else.  That experience made him more wary than before, it was
probably a mistake.  I should add that this horse is very attached to
his "buddy"( the Arab-X) and becomes very agitated if he cannot see him,
eg. runs around, whinneys, trembles and sweats.  The owners are afraid
to separate them at all for fear the one horse will injure himself.  Is
there any hope for a horse like this to become trained?  I am curious
about what techniques could be used to gentle him and encourage
willingness.  Unfortunately I do not have the resources to hire a
proffessional to train a horse, but I do have lots of my own time to
devote to a "project".  In the area I live in, such kinds of horses are
very common, and owners are sometimes willing to give them away if they
cannot keep them, just so it doesn't end up at a meat market.  Any
advice on gentling the semi-feral horse would be much appreciated.

                                                                        Thanks in Advance

 
 
 

Gentling a Feral horse

Post by Eileen G. Morg » Fri, 13 Feb 1998 04:00:00

On Thu, 12 Feb 1998 09:02:09 +0000, Brandy and/or Crey Rockel
<snip story of feral horse>
OK--time time time is the first thing you need--which you seem to
have. I'd get a smaller area constructed in/attached to his current
paddock--basically, a round pen. Feed the horses in there, shut the
gate behind them, and then work from there with desensitizing and
round pen training.

John Lyons has a good book out, as well as some videos, which might
help you here. Look on your local book shelves for western based
trrainers, who have had expereince with feral horses like the
mustangs--Pat Parelli's book might be useful to you, although I don't
buy a lot of his theories, I think many of his techniques work well. I
would NOT freak this horse by doing any "flooding" methods (ie, the
just let him fight it out school). if you can get a smaller area, and
learn a bit through book/video about round pen techniques, and take it
SLOW, you'll probably end up with a nice horse at the end.

good luck
eileen morgan
The Mare's Nest

 
 
 

Gentling a Feral horse

Post by Richard Bish » Fri, 13 Feb 1998 04:00:00


Quote:
Morgan) writes:

>On Thu, 12 Feb 1998 09:02:09 +0000, Brandy and/or Crey Rockel

><snip story of feral horse>
>OK--time time time is the first thing you need--which you seem to
>have. I'd get a smaller area constructed in/attached to his current
>paddock--basically, a round pen. Feed the horses in there, shut the
>gate behind them, and then work from there with desensitizing and
>round pen training.

>John Lyons has a good book out, as well as some videos, which might
>help you here. Look on your local book shelves for western based
>trrainers, who have had expereince with feral horses like the
>mustangs--Pat Parelli's book might be useful to you, although I don't
>buy a lot of his theories, I think many of his techniques work well. I
>would NOT freak this horse by doing any "flooding" methods (ie, the
>just let him fight it out school). if you can get a smaller area, and
>learn a bit through book/video about round pen techniques, and take it
>SLOW, you'll probably end up with a nice horse at the end.

One thing to add, make VERY sure you have a stout round pen.  I watched
John Lyons working a very *** and domineering mare at the Equine
Affaire.  She actually tried to charge the pen fence, slamming into it.
If it had been wood, she would have shattered it.

Quote:

>good luck
>eileen morgan
>The Mare's Nest

Sue