Neil Davies training - Does it work?

So, continuing from my previous post, I did try out Neil Davies method early last fall. The things I look for are: 1. Is it easy? 2. Is it effective?  3. How does it affect my horse's attitude to training?

So allow me to clarify.  If the method is too difficult to do, then it's not going to work for me, and maybe not other people. If it doesn't do what it's supposed to do, then there's no point in continuing, right?  If it pisses off your horse, or creates more fear, it is also not a good method in my mind. If you go to train your horse the next day and they won't come up to you, then it isn't a positive experience for them. 

My first lessons in horse training were of the standard variety "let them know who's in charge, get an immediate response, keep increasing the pressure and use as much "pressure" as needed to get a response" type of training.  This is very old school and still very prevalent. If you are a trainer or have horses you know that this is the standard way of training.  Most horse training marketed is this method.  These trainers frown on giving treats, being overly patient or using too much kindness.  Even Natural Horsemanship really is not much different.  I watched a few videos by various trainers of this ilk showing how you could get a horse to come to you by using the "join up" method (round penning).  Yes, after you chase them for 20 minutes they will come to you.  It seems magical at first, but it really is not.  This does not create more trust, doesn't make a horse easier to catch in the pasture, and if done incorrectly it can cause them to have more fear of you! 

Then I watched a girl train her horse to come to her in the pasture (it was notoriously afraid of being caught in a pasture but no where else) and after a few sessions it comes up to her easily.  I give my horses treats and scratches whenever I go in their pen and they crowd around me when I go in.  They are eager to be around me.  It's a good place to be.  What I noticed in going back to watch the join-up videos was that the horses were not actually that happy to be around the trainer.  Food for thought. 

Earlier in my evolution in training I went to see Clinton Anderson. At the time I really liked him and thought he was wonderful!  I bought a video and the stick and all that.  I tried the ground work at home and quite frankly, it pissed off my horses and wound them up.  I'm sure there are people who would say that I'm not doing it correctly. Perhaps.  There are always differences in style and application. This is why learning horse training from a video is extremely difficult, unless it's easy to implement like my rule #1. In any case, back to the Clinton way.  I found his methods needlessly harsh and kind of difficult to implement.  My gelding Snickers became very adversarial and unwilling to do anything.  He has never really learned to lunge, so I started there.  He got violent and pulled away over and over, jerking the line out of my hand every time I got more aggressive.  He is an older horse, full grown and strong so he had no problem making a fool out of me.  Angel, my other horse, also older, gave me the look of death when I tap-tap-tapped her with my stick and then whacked her because she didn't move.  It made me feel bad and I just stopped. It wasn't that effective and made things more difficult. To me this style of training is more like boot camp in the Marines.  It's aggressive and only fosters instant obedience, not real trust or understanding. 

From Clinton I went to clicker training, which I think I've covered on here.  It's fairly easy to learn from the book or videos, although somewhat tedious in the end to fully utilize. However, the horses LOVE it!  They would be standing at the gate waiting for me every time I went to train them.  I still use it and it is a very safe and effective way to train and communicate with them.  The downside is that how you go about training something is quite different than what I've learned previously since timing and giving treats is involved.  I inadvertently taught Snickers to trot forward 7 steps and stop dead instead of just trot forward until I asked him to stop.  He is very smart...!  And I guess I am not. 

So, with that short history on to Neil Davies.  Snickers has always been a domineering and distracted guy because of his early non-training by previous owner.  He is generally a good horse with some rough edges.  Leading him around the barn can be problematic, though, because he's not focused on me.  So I started with leading - and when he started mentally wandering I jiggled the halter until he came back to me.  I paused a few times and rubbed his head and other places he likes.  It worked like a charm and instantly!  No fighting, no expectation of treats, just calm walking forward. 

Next I rode him and he was pretty rusty. Again, kept him focused on ME, asked consistently for him to maintain speed, and direction. He came around well.  Next I rode him down the road towards the dreaded turkey house (they keep turkeys in a pen by the road). NO STOPPING!  I had to keep asking, but didn't get desperate ("Do it now"), just kept asking until he responded and then stopped giving the cue. Wonderful!

Next I started working on Luna.  I haven't mentioned this yet, but one thing Davies says is that when you tie your horse or whatever you do with them, they should stay where you put them and not move around.  If they do, keep asking them to go back to the original spot.  I have done this with all three of my horses.  The first time is hellish and kinda frustrating.  I think I re-positioned Angel about 23 times!  But the next time I got her out, she got into place and stood. Which is gratifying! 

Back to Luna.  Poor Luna has gotten the shaft for too long.  If I have on regret in life it's not spending more time with her.  I've tried to get her going many times, and here she is...an older mare that has only 10 rides on her.  The thing is, she's not calm and relaxed.  Leading her is, well, a pain in the butt. She's afraid of everything and is not focused on me.  Jiggling the halter doesn't work as well with her.  She doesn't like having her head rubbed, either. She's not safe and not trained, period.  

So I began talking her for walks.  I'd get her so far, until she got scared, and tried to rub her head and she'd toss my hand off, push into me and run in circles.  I was frustrated and disappointed, but it was my own fault.  I did this a few times and finally just took her 10 yards from her pen and kept rubbing her where ever it felt good - her rump, under her neck, withers, etc. She began to calm down some.  I went further the next day, but it was still a fight. 

I didn't feel like this was working too well, so I took her to the round pen where we've previously done the most positive work.  She was excited, it was windy, so I free lunged her.  She'd come in to me and I just rubbed her until she relaxed. Then I'd send her out again.  This isn't strictly in following what Davies does and doesn't do.  He never uses a round pen or free lunges a horse. He says you can't wear them out, that they should be calm first.  However, in my experience they are like little kids in that sometimes they are wound up and the best thing is some exercise. This where I disagree with some of the things Davies says. Also, it seems as if the bulk of his training is done with young, untouched horses which allows one to use a more consistent routine since they are blank slates. 

Allow me to explain my reasoning for going off "method".  In keeping with Davies principles, the first thing to do is get them relaxed, but this is no yearling foal.  Luna has also had some previous training and just walking around was taking her out of the routine.  So I decided to return to the routine and keep to it until she can is no longer excited or afraid.  She calms down much faster this way and even started to "hug" the way Bella used to. Previously her hugs were me with my arms around her neck while she bounced her head off my shoulder. Now she wraps her head over my shoulder gently.  The next step is to then go on some more walks in between the round pen sessions. The idea is to start from a safe, comfortable place for her and build on that. 

So I'd have to say that I have a challenging horse due to my own actions and not because of any particular training method.  She likes the clicker and I used it to get her to hold her head still when I rub it.  Not sure if she likes her head rubbed, though.  Time will tell!  Using any kind of training is going to take more time and patience because of what hasn't been done. One thing that many many trainers say is that every horse is different and may need vastly different handling.  So much depends on their history, your skills and situation.  

In a perfect world you read the training book, get an untouched horse and apply the training, but that isn't always possible.  I've realized that I've lost my connection to Luna, that she is afraid because I've neglected her.  I take full responsibility for that! What got me inspired to find that connection again was a trailer for the movie Herd.  Not "the" herd (that's about something ELSE!) But I'll talk about that tomorrow...