HORSE EVALUATIONS w/DIAGNOSTIC REPORT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Whether you are training a horse or mule; “A goal without a plan is just a Dream”.  Before beginning training we need to do an Evaluation/Assessment to document; Who the equine is, What does willingly, What it Knows and What it Needs!  Once we have this information we can develop; Horse Specific Training Plans [click to read more] Foundation of Ground and Mounted training plan to meet our Goals. 

 

Often, I am asked to evaluate a horse that needs training or has run into difficulty during the training process, and perhaps one that someone is looking to buy.  It is getting to the time of year when we start riding more diligently, our young horses are ready to be started, or we are ready to help our horses deal with some issues. In order to set realistic goals for yourself and your horse, you should first evaluate where your horse is right now. Once you have a goal, you need a plan to achieve success, because with the right approach success is just a matter of time.  A big part of evaluation is accurately interpreting what your horse is telling you. It’s important not to jump to wrong conclusions because you are blinded by blatant gestures; you must also pay attention to your horse’s subtle actions. The blatant gestures are your horse yelling at you; the subtle ones are him carrying on a polite conversation. We must I try very hard to understand the intention behind each action and not to judge the action by itself.  Are you supporting your horse’s ability to be trained?  Trainability refers to the ability for your horse to process the education you are providing. It requires a willingness and desire to work together as you both progress. It is unfortunate that many training techniques actually discourage “trainability” - although these techniques will continue to state that they get results.

 

I agree they can get results:

• Sometimes that result is a horse that has been bullied into submission, and has no way of communicating his lack of understanding.

• Sometimes that result is a horse that has been forced to shut down emotionally, because they are constantly exposed to adverse situations and then expected to not respond in any way.

• Finally, sometimes that result is a horse that is deemed ‘unsafe’, ‘unsound’ or dangerous. Sometimes that result is another horse on the slaughter truck.

It’s not always doom and gloom. Some horses come through traditional training programs and can do well. But so many horses don’t thrive in traditional training methods - and neither do their owners.

This is why Trainability must be such an important focus for me, and it is why I will always put the concept of first do no harm in the fore-front of any work I do. It is why I work to give more horse owners the capability, knowledge and skills to change the world of their horse.

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When we open our horses up to becoming trainable, we open them to a whole new world. A world that allows them:

• To openly communicate with you, express their confusion or understanding to the task at hand;

• To understand that we are the leader, but we are not going to punish them for something they didn’t understand, but will help them through until they do;

• To feel confident and safe enough to be curious, instead of being reactive to new stimuli & to show their personality in a totally new light.

Even more than that, it teaches us, as people:

• To better understand our horse;

• Methods that we can apply to our horse regardless of education level;

& how to be a better horse person.

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That is why on completion of an Evaluation I use the information collected to develop Horse and Owner horse specific Foundations of Ground and Mounted training plans.  I offer an Owner Training Program using a selection of exercises, activities and theory that shows you, step by step, how to work through the challenge of making your horse more trainable.

 

Temperament and Trainability

A successful horse must have the right temperament to handle the challenges of the proposed discipline. They should be calm, intelligent, and willing to learn. When evaluating a horse, observe how it responds to new experiences and interacts with its handler. A horse with a trainable nature will be more likely to adapt to the demands of a selected discipline and forge a strong partnership with its rider.

 

Is your horse; trainable, energetic, sensitive, adaptable, bold, self-reliant, and enjoys human company, chances are you may have stumbled upon your perfect equine companion.  Equine are different they definitely have desirable and undesirable traits that make up their particular personality it is important to be able to decipher the difference between character traits for problem, green and/or untrained horses.  During the evaluation we view each horse as an individual so wecan develop horse specific training plans and unique implementation strategies. 

 

I use generic Foundation of Ground & Mounted training plans to do the Evaluations but every horse as we know is different also a generic plan does not fit all!!  Therefore I use the information gathered to develop [click to read more] Horse Specific Foundation of Ground & Mounted Ground/Mounted Plans and appropriate training strategies after I have successfully evaluated horses in order to educate them!  The evaluations I do are for the following horses or mules:  

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• Green, refresher and/or Problem Horses - Some horses could be 15 or 20 years old and still have Green tendencies; commonly referred to as “Ever Greens”.  Unfortunately, these horses have never been given the opportunity or educated properly because it has not been consistent, so they are confused and often very frustrated. It would be like going to high school and having each teacher educate you in a different language in each subject before you’ve actually learnt the language. We expect a lot from our equine friends!  We don’t analyze the Green horse in the same way we would their personality. Instead we look at how well they are able to do things we ask of them!  To assess the “Greeness” of your horse we use Level 1 Ground and/or Mounted Generic training plans to develop horse specific develop plans and implementation straties to meet the owners and each horses’ needs!

• Untrained Horses are uneducated horses that have yet to experience the world of humans and riding!  To assess untrained horses, we identify if they are willing participants, how scary they find new things, how consistent they are and are they willing participants. Sometimes the new things are scary so we need to be consistent when building their confidence.

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However, there are other reasons such as:

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• To help owners decide the direction of a present or future training method or process.

• Review past or present training program; does the program consist proper training plans with step by step progressive ground and/or mounted exercises with descriptions, purpose, objectives and goals?   Even though the goals or objectives or exercises may change, the implementation needs to be flexible to accommodate the horse person as well as the horse.   

• Identify whether the present training is; effective and does it match the goals of the owner or if the goals have changed.

• The evaluation will may suggest modifying, cutting or keeping a training program entirely. However, the evaluation itself will not suggest changing or disregarding training methods that have a positive improvement in the horse’s performance and the owner’s safety.   For example; if one or more parts of a training program are nonexistent or are ineffective, this is the portion that will need to be changed or discarded.

 

​Purpose of the Evaluation/Assessment

A good evaluation with a written diagnostic report of who your horse is, what he knows, and what he needs will offer you the chance to educate the horse you have into the horse you want. With this information you can make an informed decision about the right approach for you and your horse from the many training methods available. John uses a training plan containing a triad of exercises that every horse must know essential for a solid Level 1 Foundation of Ground & Mounted training!  It identifies:

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• Who your horse is?   

• What your horse knows? 

• What your horse offers willingly?

• What your horse needs?

 

The results of the assessment reveal the:

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• ​Emotional, mental & physical state of each horse

• Temperament

• Holes in the foundation training

• Horse is trained or needs work

• Trainability of each horse

• Information required for the development of a proper training plan required to education the horse

 

Focus of the assessment/evaluation

The assessment focuses on the Equine Natural Survival Instincts all horses are born with!  During my evaluation I ASK the horse to perform specific exercises and/or assist you with the following:

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• ​Each horse have similar characteristics but the desirable/undesirable personality traits, temperaments, behaviors and patterns 99% of the time often are different therefore requiring horse specific training plans.

• Brings awareness to learned behavior & coping mechanism

• Who the horse – is the horse; calm, flighty, curious, aloof, friendly, focused, willing to please, responsive, reactive, dominant as well as undesirable personality traits

• Is the horse good minded -  Is it fearful, flighty, confident, stubborn, augmentative, is its coping mechanisms acceptable - is it trainable to meet your goal

• What the horse knows – more important is it trainable and is it safe to ride

• What the horse offers willingly – the evaluation is not a test it is what the horse is offers willingly and what it will actually do

• What the horse needs - I develop horse specific training and implementation plans to balance each horse emotionally, mentally and physically to be respectful, trustworthy, willing partners and safe.

 

If at some point during the evaluation process you realize that the direction you thought you should be going in is not working, it is time to reevaluate. This may happen frequently until you find the method that your horse believes in rather than the method that you thought might work. Don’t take it personally if things don’t always work — if that was the case I would have stopped working with horses long ago. Keep your horse’s best interests at heart and you won’t be far off the mark. Just be prepared to adjust your aim from time to time.

 

Additional Information

During the one hour+ session you will have:

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• A  better understanding of the relationship that currently exists

• Spend time with Q&A

• Assessment of horse’s nature, temperament, work ethic, physical stature and natural agility, responsiveness, or lack of, to requests

• Spend time discussing  where you are, where you want to be, and how you’re going about it, as well as what changes need to be made to help you get where you want to be in your horsemanship

• Time spent working with you and your horse together

• Create and provide horse specific ground and mounted foundation plan of action customized for your horse​

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Fee

• $60 hourly

• Travel mileage fee if over 20km return trip.

• Duration approximately 2 hours and if it takes longer will charge a maximum of 2 hours!