New Discovery - Michael Richardson on RFD

Yesterday, while sitting around looking for something to watch on TV, I ran across a horse trainer on RFD I'd never heard or seen before.  His name is Michael Richards.  He works horses from his wheelchair (a car accident rendered him a paraplegic).  He made it seem natural, as if this was something that no one should take note of, but I did because it affects how you train a horse.  He was wonderfully calm and so was the horse.  His words were well chosen, intelligent, and spoken slowly. 

Snickers and Tequila in the back

I was impressed because he works in some of the things I've been learning about - being gentle, asking not telling, patience, waiting for something to happen...reward.  I found it easy to follow what he was saying because he spoke clearly and slowly.  This is something not to be overlooked, because instead of the repetition that Clinton Anderson uses, since what he says is said slowly, I have time to think about it and incorporate it.  I think so many "TV Trainers" speak quickly, have accents (like Texans, Australians, etc) and expect instant results from people and horses that they forget that everyone needs time to take it all in.  

Bella and Angel having "quality time"

Sometimes they seem so intent on "showing off" or getting their message across that they forget what it's like to be on the learning side.  As an instructor, I find that I need to make myself STOP TALKING when giving lessons.  I am trying to give an instruction, keep it short and let the person work on it for awhile. 


Also, when you think of someone training a horse from a wheelchair, you realize that he cannot pressure them or create so much energy that he loses control.  I wouldn't say, either, that he is overly controlling the horse.  He controls it by keeping things very, very calm.  He asks for a little and uses the little to gain more.  I really enjoyed just listening to him talk and liked the whole picture.  Very cool!

Luna and Tequila

In any case, his show on RFD is called "The Gift of the Horse" and here is link to his website:  http://www.brokenrranch.com


Check it out and let me know what you think. I love to hear people's opinions and my hope with this blog was to get people talking about horse topics that normally don't get discussed.  So please, make yourself heard (herd, lol)!