I have a real problem with people describing horses as being difficult. This isn't a secret and it isn't anything I'll ever apologize for.
When you call a horse difficult you completely dismiss and disregard them as an individual creature who has its own set of emotions, feeling and motivations; just as humans do.
If a horse is being difficult it's because you made them that way or gave them a reason to be.
Today I watched this brief video of Larry Trocha explaining a ride on young mare:
This is a kinda interesting filly because she's really well bred, she's bred to be a top horse. I own this horse. Her conformation is really good, her breeding is really good. Unfortunately, she's just really difficult to train. She's pretty hard-headed. She resents being asked to do things. She's fairly stubborn. And she's fractious on top of it. And so it's just really difficult to deal with.
— Larry Trocha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBkROT6hXl8
When you watch the video, notice he remarks about this mare that she first doesn't respond quickly enough so he kicks her – the first time is a really big and over-the-top kick. It's completely unnecessary in how sharp it is in my opinion; and naturally the mare reacts accordingly to this over-applied aid.
I wouldn't call her behavior an over-reaction, I think she reacted an appropriate amount for that given aid (which was over-applied).
And what continues throughout the ride after is the mare being reactive to his aids until she begins to ignore their over-application. When this happens Larry then remarks that she's finally beginning to settle into the work (specifically commenting on the change in her posture and appearance of her ears/expression).
This mare is not difficult; Larry Trocha is being a difficult rider.
If your horse is over-reacting then you are over-applying an aid or you are inciting pain or fear in your horse. That is nothing to be blamed on the horse; the ownership is 100% on you as a rider.
You solve ‘over-reaction' in your horse by reducing the amount of pressure, speed, pain or fear that you're inciting with your aids with until the reaction is appropriate. IT REALLY IS THAT SIMPLE, this is not fucking rocket science, and if it was you'd know you blew up your space ship because you put too much rocket fuel in the tank.
But the saddest thing about this whole situation, is that this mare was subsequently passed through (at least) 5 more owners and trainers who also completely failed this horse.
So next time you're out riding your horse and they're not responding; if you give them a hard kick or yank on the reins then act surprised when they return a huge reaction please do your horse a favor and punch yourself in the face. Punch yourself in the face as hard as you can so you can burn that lesson into your memory and never forget your horse was giving the perfect response to your shitty riding.
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did you need to use four letter words s… f…… in this article? I appreciate your thoughts but they take away from your message.
Nope, didn’t need to but chose to.
*chuckle* Glad you did. It worked.
A sign of childishness trying to sound big and all grown up by using vulgarity. I stopped reading the moment you became vulgar and fifth-grade-ish.
Please see the Fine Print.
I think that the word “difficult” can be somewhat nuanced, at least in the case of my mare. She was born with a stiff back–from the moment she hit the ground. She’s also strong as an ox. She is not rebellious or unwilling, rather, there is a lack of suppleness that makes it really hard for her to appreciate the fact that if she just unlocked her jaw and lifted her back everything would be so much easier for her. My trainer and I have been gently reshaping her and strengthening/flexing the parts of her that will help her loosen up. Two and a half years later the light bulb is finally coming on and she is about 80% of the way to lightness and throughness. We have never stopped calling her “difficult”–but we do it in view of the fact that this mare is a body-builder, not a ballerina! She can do all the dressage moves 1) because of her strength, and 2) because she has shown us that she was born knowing how to do them. But, she will struggle to look elegant doing them. I don’t care, as long as in the end she is “correct”. She will never have an extravagant trot, but some day her collected moves will blow everybody away. You take your virtues and develop them!
The premise of the title is hilarious. The reality of the observation for this one trainer is that the ugliness of this ideology in trainers is at an epidemic level. And too many horses suffer for it. If the horse has gone through 5 more trainers/owners and none of them can gain the trust it’s only because the idiots don’t know how to listen to the horse for what it is asking. The stigma given by Larry Trocha carries on and the expectation is that the horse is difficult brings up those expectations, therefore, the same harsh approach to gain control unsuccessfully is repeated. Maybe try communication over subjugation.
Yes, true, communication over subjugation. Because after all, that’s the way horses do it, right?
Except for my boss mare, she reigns supreme over all of her subjects in the pasture. And somebody subjects somebody else, and so on and so forth all the way down the line. And it isn’t really done with reasonable communication. Think about that.
I also noticed what a “difficult ” rider he is for this poor mare. His seat came out of the saddle several times, and he keeps falling forward throwing the horse off balance. He rides with an awful slouch.. Horses are born with a beautiful natural ability to move, and here is hanging all over her calling her difficult. I think he needs some riding lessons…. from the horse
Thank you so much for the free publicity.
Your negative post about my YouTube video, “Difficult Horse to Train” has brought me many new training clients and video customers.
Much appreciated.
Please feel free to bad mouth some of my other YouTube videos.
Take care,
Larry Trocha
via GIPHY
I’m a rather novice rider always looking to improve and be safe doing it. What I’ve learned about horsemanship from Larry Trocha’s videos is amazing. I highly recommended them.
I promise (borrowing your words) not to read, share, or obsess about what you write. 🙂
Love your comment Larry Trocha! I for one have no issues with your training. Some people are to much of tree huggers to see anything other than their perfect little world. Obviously this horse wasn’t in for doing what you needed. That’s why other trainers couldn’t get her to do good too. Some tough horses make good buckers and they love it. That’s the job they want and they do good at it and are fed well and have good care. Some people just don’t know horses like they think. Keep on bringing videos Larry. You have and teach valuable information.
Be prepared for legal retaliation. The picture you painted is far from the truth. I won’t stand for it.
Larry Trocha