Natural Horsemanship Training

Natural Horsemanship got my attention a few years ago. A friend invited me to see a guy that was coming to the Monroe Fairgrounds, so we went. Although he was entertaining to watch, I wasn't that thrilled with his training technique. Next I went to a Pat Parelli weekend seminar. That was it for me. No roundpen work, no running them around until they submit, this was really communcation with the horse. I watched them transform horses that were out of control, speaking THEIR language and helping them understand what we are asking them to do. After a couple of years I began talking to my cousin Melinda who was living in California at the time. We did not grow up together, but our mom's discovered we were both using Parelli training on our horses! So, she talked me into going to Colorado to the Parelli ranch for the big conference, already being hooked I had a great time. Then talked Melinda into moving to Washington. She wanted another horse, but couldn't afford another one where she was. I told her with what she paid for her condo mortgage, and board for her horse, she could buy her own property here and could have another horse. So, she did. We now have our own Parelli Playground started at her house, and have been having our own little playdays on weekends.

My fascination is in trailer training horses. I have of course trained all of mine to load, and stay IN the trailer!! I have a friend that bought a horse, we picked her up, she loaded just fine. The forgot to mention to untie her BEFORE opening the gate, she backs out of the trailer in a big hurry. Then she was having trouble getting her in at all. So, next few weeks was working on getting her to go in, once that was accomplished we worked on her STAYING in the trailer. Last I worked with her, she would load on her own, but still came out a little faster than I would like. I didn't have the opportunity to work with her anymore as she was moved to a stable for the winter.

Summer of 2008 I worked on trailer loading the weanlings, preparing them for their first haul to a show in Spokane. I had halter trained them, so they had a great foundation for the trailer training. My goal is to get horses to load willingly, and BACK out of the trailer. I have heard many stories of people getting their horses in, going somewhere, then can't get them to back out. Some are just too big to turn around, so have to be taught to back out. I have heard of nasty injuries with horses that just can't back out of the trailer, and aim to help people prevent this from happening to them.