Casper

Question
I have recently adopted a rescued horse and is only about  years old. I don't really know what his previous history is but i can tell he has had little to no training. I am only 15 and just starting big in horses. I have rode a well mannered horse to start off with. My horse Casper spokes easily and i am a little nervous riding him. my dad has lead him around with me on him a i was shooing a horse fly and he started dancing around and i fell. he didn't buck but he did rear up a little but we calmed him down and he was very shook up. i was wandering what the best rout would be for me and him and if there is anything i could do to help him not be so skittish and more safe . I had also thought about a trainer we found but my mind was changed when we saw 2 of his horses that were supposedly worth 5000 dollars but were super skinny! hope you can help
-Jill-

Answer
Jillian,

Your email was a little broken, you left out how old the horse is but that doesn't really matter much.  I have a number of suggestions for you.  You need to know more about riding before you start trying to teach him anything.  You want to be sure what you teach him is correct.  I would suggest you get some riding lessons for yourself, on a decent schoolhorse, so that your riding improves.  In the meantime, you need to start over with your own horse.  Forget riding him for a little while and take him into a round pen and do some round pen work with him.  If you aren't familiar with round pen and natural horsemaship there are dozens of books out there and Pat Parelli has some excellent videos as well.  I like the videos because you can watch the horse's reactions and see how it's done. If you don't have a round pen you can improvise one in a small paddock by closing off the corners.  You don't want corners he can retreat to or feel trapped in.  I have found the wide, yellow CAUTION tape that you can get at hardware/home improvement stores to work very well.  I lace in back and forth across the corners.  Horses will not generally run into it, at least not at first, and if they do it will break harmlessly.  You can work through a lot of his fears and gain his trust and establish a working relationship with him in the round pen.  Working through Pat's 7 "games" will help both of you a great deal.  You will learn how to "read" him much better and how to get him through scary and/or unfamiliar situations and he'll learn to trust you.  Then, when you feel he's ready, and this may take a while but it's not something you want to rush, you'll be ready to get on him again.  You need to build a solid foundation with him of the basics upon which to build the horse you need and want.  

But, again, I emphasize that you need to get some more training yourself so that you know what you are doing when you get on his back.  And how he's supposed to respond to the aids you give him.  In the meantime you can work on him from the ground.  

This type of training takes time and patience but will turn out a very nicely trained animal that won't be spooky and will be able to do whatever you ask.  Love him to death, don't be afraid to use treats for rewards but make him earn them, don't dispense them too freely during training.  I do give a lot of treats to my guys, they are all spoiled rotten, but they are as a result very people oriented.  They know I never go out to the field without stocking my pockets first so come to me readily but also know that I will not tolerate unacceptable behavior from them.  No nipping, grabbing, pushing, shoving or otherwise disrespecting me and demanding the treats.  And when I go out and the herd comes up there are no ugly faces or any rude behavior allowed.  The offender will get chased, by me, yelling, away from the rest of the group, same as a lead mare would do in a herd.  

Good luck with your horse.  Rescues can have a lot of issues if there was any abuse involved and benefit greatly from round pen work.  I get a lot of horses with behavior issues in for training and use it with all of them.  It works.  

Lyn