Training Methods!

caliber · Training Methods!

Pro! I think is important to compare different methods of training. In our Paso Breeds we have several methods that are often used, Doma Criolla Tradicional ( Traditional), Doma Racional ( Natural Horsemanship) and combinations of others like Dressage and what ever works (LOL).

What can you tell us based on your experience?

Many Thanks in advance!

Saludos!

The Professional

Sorry I couldn’t answer any sooner but I’m having trouble with the server in my area, something with the optic fiber the only thing I know is that the system is extra-slow and fails each time I want to send a message. Anyway, I can tell you many thinks base in my observations on the tame subject. There are many techniques, methods, equipment, and different ways of doing the same thing, which is taming the horse.

To me, there always has been a difference between tame (doma) and training (entrenamiento). Tame is like the basic, when you take horses completely green, raw, wild, and start to domesticate it, making them acceptable to be around with humans. In the other hand training is like a school for horses, it’s the use of those techniques and methods to teach the horse to make anything you may teach him to do.

Dejame barajearlo mejor…. (Allowed me to shuffle this better…) Tame is to bring a “wild” horse to come in contact with humans and to get acquaintance with him. He will be used to your presence, accepted to be handled, and will follow you around, etc. There are some basics to teach; communication, to establish control and practical care. It’s like military basic training. Of course it’s training! Each time you come in contact with a horse for the first time you’re teaching him things you want him to do.

Horses don’t know the difference between good or wrong according to human’s parameters, that’s why one have to be careful not to teach him wrong and assume then, that it’s his fault each time they do something that they aren’t suppose to do. Then comes the training, which involves a more demanding approach to educational activities for the horse. Now, training the horse goes back in time to the Stone Age and if I recall clearly (not that I was there) in the V century BC according to what I have read, there were paintings of domesticated horses on cavern walls and on some ancient Greek vases. It was also a Greek who wrote the first book on horse training; Xenophon was his name, if I’m not misspelling it. There has been a lot of changing methods and in comparison with today’s methods, I have to say that horsemen have arrived to a new era of comprehending the equus-caballus, the horse.

BFF

What is your view on Imprint training?

The Professional

Caliber, you’ve mentioned a couple styles or better said, disciplines of training horses. I would say that each country has its own discipline which varies from generation to generation. Let’s take for example the doma criolla or native tame, a few generations ago the trainers use some methods that the new generation of trainers may find…old fashioned. Then, if one compares the ways of past generations it’s true that they may use some obsolete methods, but it’s also true that the new generation use some techniques that could be considered as barbaric by the old timers.

Dejame barajearlo major… long ago our ancestors used to tie two sacks filled with sand one to each side of the horses back, as if they were a dummy rider. Then they coax the horse so he will get used to a rider. It’s no need to say that this is a big No, No; method by today’s training standards. In the other hand we have a young trainer that has no idea of how to control a “puller”, a horse that pulls too much by the rains. As he become frustrated, he then use a metal alzador, a long shank bit, or any other piece of metal they can put on the horse nose to overpower it. That in the eyes of an experienced trainer is a sin. That’s a way to compare some methods or techniques use by different time dispensations.

The Professional

The Professional

Psychological training, indian taming or natulal management. It's a new approach to an old method.