People helping horses ~ Horses helping people

Ellison and Coyote

     “I bought an off the track thoroughbred, knowing it was not the wisest of choices, but I saw something in the way he moved that grabbed me. I’d looked at a lot of horses and nothing felt right until this one. I knew OTTB’s had numerous potential problems, but this horse was sound, had already been let down for 2 years and was quiet every time I went to see him. I knew he’d need work but with time I thought we would learn together, I would become a better rider and end up with a good horse – my forever horse.

     When I got him to my barn, everything that could go wrong seemed to. He cut his leg in the pasture and began to bully me every time I tried to treat his injury. He began to rear to intimidate me (it did). He became difficult to ride and wouldn’t leave the barn. If I tried to push him he always felt like he would rear. We took a trail ride once and as soon as we got out from the barn he went backwards…..for 45 minutes. We backed over small trees, ditches, into fences, over asphalt. It was a challenge. If I learned from his mistakes, I must say I was learning a lot! Even so, I was losing my confidence, getting terrified his rearing would become a habit and most of all not enjoying what was supposed to be my forever horse. I got to the point many owners of difficult horses get to of “shoot him or sell him”.  Instead I found Bruce Anderson and Nature’s View.

     The first time I worked with Bruce, I couldn’t even load my horse into the trailer to meet him at the round pen. What was supposed to be a round pen session at his location became a trailer loading session at my barn. We worked for 3 hours getting this horse to load. I was blown away with Bruce’s patience. Let me add here that I had talked to many other trainers before I found Bruce. Some wouldn’t touch us with a 10 foot pole. Some were cowboys that had a “tie him to a tree in the sun until he breaks” mentality. Many said he would probably regress once I got him home. I know these are all good trainers, but they weren’t the one for me. As my horse reared and spun Bruce would just grin and say “That doesn’t bother me! He can’t learn unless he does it wrong”. One result was after watching this horse rear repeatedly, I no longer feared it I began to see it as his “vertical exclamation point”! I knew he was saying “I really don’t want to do this!!!”. But Bruce doesn’t give up and he finally stopped rearing. He hasn’t done it since that day, but if he does it won’t intimidate me. Hopefully we’ll communicate better and he won’t have to “emphasize” his point to me!

     The best analogy I can use for Bruce is he is like a pediatrician. You have a sick child and you need help. There are a lot of guys out there who can help your child get better, but how many want to help you become a better parent? Take it a step further – how many tell you “I want to empower you with what I know so that you won’t need me down the road”. Yes, many systems can sell you a do-it-yourself kit, and its good for helping you improve your relationship with your horse. But Bruce’s philosophy spills out across your whole life. I’m looking at what he says now and applying it to how I discipline and communicate with my kids. It does change your life. I am a scientist and I am skeptical of anything that can’t be quantified or measured by data, but watching Bruce work with a horse does touch something in your soul. He helps you talk to your horse.

Ellison’s Story