Horse Training - Restarting an Older Horse

I have a welsh pony thats been out of action for a while and he has a serious attitude problem, thank you so much for this video cause i now have something constructive i can use when he challenges me!

This is amazing work! I am excited to apply this method to my appy.

I'd say everything he is doing is correct. He has a different, more hurried style, but the basic training of teach by the release of pressure is right on.

I can tell you've been doing this for a long time and you have some really nice communication with the horse, but I would recommend reconsidering one technique in particular. Within the first minute I saw you invite the horse in to you when it was acting up. You gave the horse a break at the moment he was acting up and essentially trained him to buck/kick in order to get a break. Of course he tried that again because it worked the first time. You need to keep his feet moving until he stops acting up. The moment he stops acting up you can release pressure and invite him into you for a break.

There is a difference between insuring your horse knows who’s in charge, and saying “I’m just gonna light right into him”. He’s continuously aggressive if this horse acts anyway “threatening “. The horse is protecting himself. I’ve seen many many horse trainers, and heard many. This guy might get a horse trained, but he’s not gonna get respect and softness, just resignation.

Thanks gerry for posting this video! I love your training method and use it myself. I just bought a 19 yr old andalusian gelding who worked with a trainer but the old owner was unable to successfully ride him or handle his hot personality. Im looking forward to working with my new horse and this video has helped me develop a plan. Thanks

Great job.!!!!

i had a little mare who would think she could get her own way. she would buck kick rear trying everything. if i didnt correct that and show her was boss that couldve been dangerous for me

I need some help/advice. I bought a horse that I rode a few years ago on lease. He's Smart Little Lena's cousin and pretty well minded. Thing is, he was trained by a guy who liked him as a colt but had no clue what a horse even was. So, now he's 11 with a bolting problem that I mostly got under control that first year leasing him. Now his owners don't seem to have any real advice about what to do but 'Keep going you'll get it' or 'Don't do that it's to harsh' thing is, he has taken to rearing up on me and my older sister who's working for a professional trainer. They think tying his head down for rearing is a bad idea and abusive. I'm not looking to change his current training, but to completely retrain him... I just need him to give in to what I'm asking... Any tips???

Why hit a horse? If you are a proper horse trainer, you can get the horse to yield without hitting. Poor Horse.

Terrible trainer

Why would u hit the poor horse

It's frustrating to read a lot of these comments. This is exactly what's going wrong in the equine world, people wanting to "love" their horses (affection, affection affection) without any rules, boundaries or limitations. It's as though "discipline" is a bad word. I'm not talking about abuse... abuse is abuse. There is a BIG difference. Unfortunately, the people that live in la la land and let their horse walk all over them have unruly horses, and then blame it on the horse. Whoever disagrees with me, I urge you to watch a documentary on horse behavior then you'll see how they interact with each other. The herd boss demands respect or they get disciplined! Physically disciplined!

I have an ex police horse who hasn't been worked in 10 years, he came into our possession when a fried of my mom's couldn't take care of him, and previously he was from Mississippi where he was living out retirement in a pasture, he was retired from the working force when he was 15, given to rehab at about that time, and is now 25. He is very calm and sweet, depending on what you ask him to do. But I am just 14, I am not sure how to work with him and get a saddle up on him and such. Any tips?

I know this was a few years ago, but I wanted to let ya know you were right with the lameness issue. He appears to have a stifle issue and maybe sore in the back which could be by he's got a pissy attitude.

This is NOT horseman ship. This is manipulation of the horses brain. I'm all for being a little more tough on a horse if they refuse to listen but will never lay any sort of hand, whip or rope on a horse. All you are doing is teaching that horse to fear you. I hope nobody takes these tips from you.

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Good job he does have a attitude but he is off on the rear right back legs when the hope like a bunny in the rear end they are off , I’ve been massaging my horses for a year know and I’ve learned a lot about there bodies, but I think you do a good job training

I for one, believe you did a wonderful job of pressure and release. Also, you have an amazing eye for those dominant gestures, and you corrected him so beautifully. I'll have to try this technique myself.

Gerry Cox this is actually the first video I have seen from you and I am very impressed with your training. These kids that are post your video on Facebook as horrible horsemanship are just that they are kids and have probably never dealt with an actual dangerous horse. I and my husband are both trainers and commend you for your methods. There are too many people letting these 1000lb animals get away with everything and then they come to us and put us in a dangerous situation! So thank you for the video and keep up the good work

Good job, Gerry, on both horses.  It is a sad day in America when the PC, horse huggers are so ignorant that they can't get through their bias to see what the paint was saying to you.  Had he had someone with a good 'sense of self' train him in the first place...he'd never had the thoughts that you read so correctly.  If you don't have respect from a horse, you don't have a good horse you can trust and you need to go raise goats. Leave horsemanship to those who can do the job to produce a reliable mount.  That paint learned respect for you, but if handled the same as his original teachings, he'll be back to his old tricks in no time.  Might have been good to put the owner in the ring...sigh.....

Lol where the hell did you get 13 from?and this is NOT the video you showed earlier.... you were mean

hopefully you answer... I have a POA gelding who is turning 18 this year and was only loped at a much younger age (about 9-10 years ago) and a friend would like to use him, how would you recommend we get him to lope? he acts just like the horse in the video... he is in great health and the vet says he is sound for Riding. thanks

Very Interesting! If I may ask, what do you mean when you are asking for the "vertical" (the part where your horse tends to step back)?

I have watched the first two minutes of this video a few times. This horse was getting ready to challenge him big time. You could see him gathering up steam to throw a big fit. If Gerry had not got on it right away the horse would have only escalated. If you watch the very first time the horse got light on his front end Gerry gave the horse the rope. And yet the horse continued to challenge him...then and only then did Gerry get on him. This is called timing....this horse knew exactly what was going on here....the communication between them was crystal clear.

The poor horse didn't know what you were asking. in the beginning i thought okay this is the kind of training im looking for no hitting or anything. As soon as you hit that horse my eyes started to water. The horse flinched when you threw the rope over the saddle because it was scared because you just hit him. You NEVER go towards the front of the horse in any situation. He also backed because he was scared people believe that is training but you do it in that order so the horse is scared every time you shake that rope that you are going to hit him. You are turning him and turning him and he doesn't know anything. He has been on a long break and forgot everything. HE WAS SCARED AND WORRIED THAT YOU WERE GOING TO HIT HIM. People like you are the reason people come to me, a 13 year old, to train their horse because they hate the way you and others treat horses.I feel bad for all people who hand over their horses to you expecting actual training. Instead they get a frightened horse that learned off of abuse.

This guy is hilarious and fun to watch him work!

Good vid! Gave me some tips on how to work with my older mare.

I am just learning about horses .Such training is tremendous . These clips are very helpful . I will talk to my trainer. Thanks Randy Bandy Carol Stream IL.

wow i just love watching u ride horses =) and u handle horses with magic sir...i sure would never call u a coward ! u are one of the best horse trainers ive seen...sure wish u could work with my fella =)

I have an Arabian whom I just got a few months ago... For a while he was fine, but recently he started taking off whenever I'm on him, to a couple occasions where I've had to emergency dismount.
Then to add to it, he'll run my against trees and such... He also has started striking out with his hooves and shoving my older horse into the fence whenever we're out on a trail.
I think I'm going to try this method and see how it goes...

This may seem like a dumb questio +GerryCox but can this be applied in English saddle as well? I shareboard an older pony who only obeys my queues in one direction and throws his head up and hip out when I use the horsemanship skills Iearned over the last 6 years.

This may seem like a dumb questio +GerryCox but can this be applied in English saddle as well? I shareboard an older pony who only obeys my queues in one direction and throws his head up and hip out when I use the horsemanship skills Iearned over the last 6 years.

Maybe a bit to harsh on a horse. But in general I like how you gain horses respect.

Carrie Hancock: I'm not sure which portion of the clip you are looking at but the rule of thumb goes like this:  Once the horse has been taught to stand on a soft rein (lateral flex) and has the understanding that he needs to stand with a flexed rein and then makes the decision on his own to move after being cued to stop, he needs to be corrected for making decisions on his own..  In this scenario we allow him 3 strides to fix himself or we reach back, wave our foot and give him a little boot... 3 strides to fix himself or boot.. 3 strides or reach wave boot...  soon enough he decides he better try something different than continuing to move around and once his feet stop and he gives a soft face he realizes Life is Quiet again...  Seeking softness..

Love your vid! My horse was out of training for awhile, and this is teaching me so much! :)

Thank you for this vid!! It gave me a couple tips to try with my gelding.
I have a Standardbred gelding that acts almost identical to the paint horse in the start of your video.  I know my guy is VERY smart, and fairly dominant. And if I don't correct him, he WILL get aggressive. But, I do like him, and he's a GREAT trail horse because he's not scared. :)
And dealing with a willful horse is completely different than messing around with a dead broke lesson horse.
Please don't let the know-it-all haters get to you. I think that some people are just so used to seeing the plodding along lesson horses and never have to deal with a horse that's not perfectly bomb proof, and beginner safe. (Plus I'm sure you know that those armchair trainers are experts, and can always do better than a true professional trainer! LOL)

Good job - I didn't see you do anything I personally wouldn't/haven't, and you praised him at the right times, and rewarded with release.

I saw him challenge you. What these people don't understand is that attitude could turn dangerous fast. I was lunging my stud pony that I had just gotten as a project and after a few minutes of circles, I asked him to change direction and he kicked out at me and I quickly put him in his place. If I had let that go unpunished, he would've taken that as submission and bullied me much more in the future. It's like a pecking order in the herd. Horses gotta find out who's boss before they can get along.

please keep posting videos like this!  your wisdom is invaluable to me....this is so opposite to everything i've grew up learning in the walking horse stables.  i've seen so many horses abused/beat for not listening....but the "trainers" weren't communicating clearly what they wanted the horse to do.  this is all new to me...but i'm putting it into practice & people it works!  we could all learn from Gerry's widsom!

Gerry you are amazing!

What if the horse tried to rear while doing that bc my horse has a problem with rearing and I'm working with him but it's getting frustrating do u have any suggestions