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From John Lyons Trainer Keith Hosman

Trailer Training Horses [Downloadable PDF version]
A Downloadable Book

A sample from Day 4:

Any time we work with a horse, it behooves us (pun intended) to break things down and make our lessons as simple as possible. Of course, take this sort of advice to an extreme, spend too much time on minutia, and you may never get the horse in the trailer. Every situation naturally begs for a judgment call on your part as to which steps are necessary. The information covered in Days 1 through 3 gives you the process that I follow for most horses. Should you find yourself with a horse that's proving to be a challenge - and you know that you didn't skip any of the steps outlined, then this segment (Day 4) will provide a few additional steps you might take.

Due to the fact that trailer training can be so ... well, boring, I find that it helps when I'm "extra objective." I'll stay on my game by being careful to count how often something happens, then see if I can't get "one more" the next time. First, making a game out of the process keeps us from turning into a zombie. Second, "quantifying" keeps us honest: If I've instructed you to do something 200 times, you're less likely to cheat your training. Third, counting removes any guess work and tells us when we've reached an impasse. For instance, the horse puts four feet in but leaves four inches of hiney hanging out 204 times, tells us we've reached a plateau. It says we need to change things up to continue improving.

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Available Downloads:
"Stop Bucking"
"Rein/Speed" (for Nervous Horse Owners)
"Round Pen First Steps"
"Trailer Training"
"Your Foal: Essential Training"

Lyons Training 101 Issue Number:  One Get Control of Your Horse written by Josh Lyons & Keith Hosman

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Issue One, Part 2 of 5

How To Get Your Horse's Attention:
Recognition, Response, Control

A "give" is three things: recognition, response and control. First, a horse has to recognize the signal from the trainer, which is pretty simple. It could be anything: it could be picking up the rein, it could be putting your leg on the horse. That's your signal, your "cue." He first has to recognize that. Second he has to respond to it - and third, he has to give control of that part of his body over to you. Remember: Recognition, response, control.

Horse trainer or not, I could walk by my horse all day and he doesn't have to even recognize that I'm here - and it would be a waste of my time to ask him to do anything. But if I took a stick and started poking him, then all of a sudden it becomes a whole lot more important to the horse that "I'm here." When you ask a horse to do something, a lot of other things are going to draw his attention and it's important that you become more important, no matter what it takes. As the trainer, the horse has to fully recognize that you're there. That's important, otherwise, you can't get to the next step: You can't get him to respond in a certain way.

You've all heard that you want to get your horse's attention first. That's nonsense. We don't care about the horse's attention; we really don't. When I ride, I don't expect the horse to think about me before he does something. Have you ever been on the trail with your horse when he did everything you wanted him to do? What were you doing? You were looking around, talking to people, enjoying the ride. Did you care for even one moment what your horse was thinking? No, you didn't, because he was doing exactly what you were asking him to do. You didn't care what he was thinking because there he was, walking down the trail, turning right when you asked him to turn right, stopping when you asked him to stop. You didn't care at all what he was thinking. You care when the horse either does - or does not - stop when you ask him to stop or turn when you ask him to turn. Getting his attention is a bi-product of training, of improving his performance. The better your horse stops or turns when you ride out on the trail, for instance, the more of his attention you get and the more control you have.

When you first go out to ride, you're not going to have your horse's attention. Your horse is going to be looking at all the other horses and looking around the arena or objects on the trail. You're not going to have any "attention" whatsoever. We don't need his attention; all we ask is his performance. We need him to turn right when we ask him to turn right and to turn left when we ask him to turn left. As you ride, concentrate on making those turns better because, again, as the turns get better you'll get more "attention."

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