I'm getting into horses and horse training and I was hoping that someone here could point me in the right direction for horse training.

I learned so much from the Michael Ellis videos and training methods that I was hoping to find someone like Michael Ellis in the horse training world. Do you guys have any suggestions about someone who may have a training system that i can learn and apply to my horse / horses?

Thanks!

I guess it depends on what type of training you are wanting too do. Under saddle, on the ground, tricks or groundwork, what type of riding, what are you're goals. Do you have a horse now. I would suggest reading everything from everybody, some names to start off with are jimmy wofford, denny emerson, buck brannaman, john lyons, mary twelveponies, dave jones, sally swift, xenophon, alois podhadjsky, us pony club manuals, horsemans bible, etc. Some of these are names are from yearsago but all give a good foundation. Lots of others I can't think of off the top ofmy head.

The fun part with horses is that you don't need a horse to start. Most school have school horses that are good to learn the basic.

For me the basic in my riding program include: Ground work/horsemanship, lounge lesson for a good solid seat and flat work to understand how the rider and horse work together.

After that the rider can choose the activity they want to do with the horse.

Books are great but it is hard to teach a horse and a rider at the same time.

A young/green horse is not a good idea for a new/novice rider in general.

I long line my young horses a lot too there is a wealth they can learn from it, I don't lunge all that much anymore just the youngsters to get them ready for long lining. I have never taken a lungeline lesson but know some who really enjoy it, and there are a ton of books on it. I agree with Ariane, nothing beats hands on experience.

Buck Brannaman, nobody else. He is the Michael Ellis of horse training. Most of the other "whisperers" essentially run a colt around in circles until it is so depleted that it appears "broke" but hasnt really learned anything, it's just exhausted.

Buck, a disciple of Ray Hunt , is the real deal. His fundamentals apply to every horse discipline, from dressage to roping to racing. Some of it even works with cattle.

He is the horse whisperer, the one about whom the movies were made.

Willie Tilton, a boarduser, is a equestrian trainer as well as a dog trainer....you may want to send her a pm....

You need someone in person, to work with you, one on one, with both you & your horse & you & your horse together.

I agree: green horses & green riders are NOT a good combination.

With a 'school master', a horse that knows it all, is the best to be partnered with a green rider.

I have ridden since I was 7 yrs old & some one the best times of my life have been shared with my horse. They can love as unconditionally as dogs. If you have their heart you can do ANYTHING together.

Have a wonderful time on your new endeavor.

Thanks for the responses! They give me a good place to get started.

We have had my Daughter in riding lessons for a couple of years now and both both me and my wife has some experience with horses in past. Right now it is mostly western and general riding but I'm sure I might want to get into a riding sport later. But for the past couple of years we have been riding the instructors horses and we are ready to move past that. So we bought a nice horse property and are getting a couple of horses. Obviously we are getting older, finished, and reliable horses for the kids to ride. But I have so much fun training my Dutch Shepherd (using the Michael Ellis techniques) that I want to start with a young foal / gelding myself. Since there are so many different opinions about horse training I thought I would ask this forum about it because I've had so much success with the Michael Ellis dog training.

So this isn't really a green horse / green rider question. All of the green riders will have experienced horses. This is more of a "how do I get into the training question".

Thanks for the information and keep the suggestions coming. Thanks!

It's a lot harder & quite different in many ways to start a very young horse then a puppy. It will take a lot more then just reading a book or viewing training DVDs. Honestly, unless you have been around & watching others do this, you will need hands on experience from someone that knows what they are doing & has trained horses from yearlings. You will be dealing with a animal that will be maturing at 1000 or more pounds. With out proper ground work & manners & riding schooling,they are down right deadly dangerous....not just able to take a bite out of you. Although they can do a good job of that also.

My heart horse was turning 4 when I first got him & he knew very little, was a big 16''2' brat with little to no ground manners & would take a good bite of you if he got the chance. Bringing him along to the point that I could compete x-country trials with him took a number of years.

Training horses does not progress with the speed training dogs does. Takes tons longer & is a lot more complex. Think 100s of hours & not tens of hours.

I would not trade the tons of time it took to get my guy to the point that he was more dog like then horse like for me. But it was a very long road. He died 1 year ago ....2 months short of his 30th birthday. One of the saddest days of my life.

I'm sorry if I'm coming off as a complete novice. I have a wealth of knowledge that I can draw from. We have a close friend who is my daughters horse instructor. My family raised horses from foals up to championship level barrel racing for many years. If I just wanted to break a horse I could just say "Hey Dad, come show me how to break this colt". But here is the problem, it would be a very old school way breaking that horse and training him.

For example, if I just wanted to learn dog training I could have just joined my local training club and listened to them about dog training. But I followed the Michael Ellis training methods and I was able to not only correct previous training errors but train at a much higher level then I would if I just joined the training club. I still train at a couple of local clubs, but several of the methods that I use is different than they teach because a lot of their methods are old school or just different than the Michael Ellis training methods.

If I needed someone to teach me the old school way of training a horse that would be easy for me to find. But what I'm looking for is that gold standard. I want the best training methods and that is not something that I am going to get locally.