Cherry Hill - What Every Horse Should Know: A Training Guide to Developing a Confident and Safe Horse

WHAT EVERY HORSE SHOULD KNOW

RESPECT, PATIENCE, AND PARTNERSHIP
NO FEAR OF PEOPLE OR THINGS
NO FEAR OF RESTRICTION OR RESTRAINT

CHERRY HILL

BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF HOW TO THINK LIKE A HORSE

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Edited by Deborah Burns
Art direction by Mary Winkelman Velgos
Cover design by Philip E. Pascuzzo
Book design by Patrick Barber/McGuire Barber Design
Production by Jennifer Jepson Smith

Cover photograph by Bob Langrish
Interior photography by Richard Klimesh and Cherry Hill,
except for Nathan Lake, page 123
Illustrations by Elayne Sears

Indexed by Samantha Miller

2011 by Cherry Hill

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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Hill, Cherry, 1947

What every horse should know / by Cherry Hill.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-60342-713-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-60342-716-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. HorsesTraining. I. Title.

SF287.H554 2011

636.10835dc22

2010030073

To Zinger

PART ONE
No Fear

PART TWO
Leadership and Partnership

PART THREE
The Work

When watching horses, we often say, He should know that similar to what our mothers said as we were growing up (You should know better). Once we reach a certain age and know XYZ, youd think wed have learned ABC, but thats often not the case. Frequently the basics are missing, with both people and horses.

Basics are the building blocks, the foundation of everything that is to come. If there are holes in the foundation, at some point the horse, the person, or the barn could come tumbling down.

Sugar, for example, is a sweet gelding that makes a pretty picture at a horse showif buddy Spice is standing alongside the rail. He also has a habit of moving during mounting, so he must be held while his rider gets aboard; he must be tranquilized before loading; he always jerks the right hind away from the farrier.

Sugar has holes: things he really should know; things he should have learned at the beginning. Although he can walk, jog, and lope with the best of them, important basics are missing from his training.

Before we even begin to make a list of what we think a horse should learn, however, lets celebrate all the splendid things he inherently knows. Ive discussed in detail why horses do what they do in my previous book, How to Think Like a Horse. There I give you a birds-eye view of a horses evolution, physical traits, senses, and behaviors. Horses bring with them beauty, nobility, grace, curiosity, generosity, honesty, and forgiveness. They have amazing physical attributes, keen senses, and strong instincts, and they are very social animals. Such rich character is a great gift to us.

Wild horses know everything they need to survive. They are complete. Its when we domesticate a horse and bring him into our world that he needs to learn new things in order to adapt. As we develop a partnership with him, it is best to preserve those things that make a horse a horse. That way, there are no losers both human and horse emerge winners. If you work together for safety, effectiveness, and unity, it will be a satisfying and successful experience.

There are good step-by-step books that can help you master the nuts and bolts of horse training. This book, however, focuses on the behind-the-scene goals necessary to develop a trainers consciousness. Understanding training concepts is helpful for seeing the big picture. Youll find that certain themes recur throughout a horses life, from foalhood through his senior years.

Horses are wonderful already. Sherlock is an athlete, full of beauty and grace.

Whether you are handling a foal for the first time or asking your riding horse to cross a creek, there will be elements of fear but also, hopefully, of leadership, trust, willingness, patience, mutual respect, obedience, confidence, and harmony. Understanding this when it comes to handling, working with, and riding horses will help you become a more complete horse trainer. Understand the concepts, master the skills, develop the horse.

This book is devoted to those universal lessons that every horse should know, whether a trail horse or reiner, dressage horse or jumper, rodeo or ranch horse. Each discipline will have its own set of specific skills that he will need to learn, but all horses should know certain basics.

Throughout my life with horses, Ive been both a be here now and back burner trainer. When I work with a horse, I am in the moment. Afterwards, I take a bit of time to review what happened, where we are, where Id like to be, and what skills and principles will help us get there. Then I put all of it on the back burner until the next time I work with the horse. Things have a way of reordering themselves in the subconscious.