The Emotion Code and Animals
is that you can get a horse to perform with that kind of harsh training for about a year, and then you are all done, because the horse finally says, “You can hurt me all you want, and I just don’t care anymore. I’m done.” Well, Buck had reached that point, and he was done. He hated his life, hated his job, and hated people, because they had mistreated him so much. Dr. Nelson and his wife checked him out, and found trapped emotions of hatred at age 3 (he felt that the trainer hated him), depression at age 3, and other emotions of overwhelmed, panic, and feeling taken for granted. Since then, Buck has changed in a big way. His cadence has changed, he is much smoother to ride, and feels much more relaxed, which is how he should feel to me when I ride him. In addition, he is no longer afraid of people, and much less guarded. He is now a normal horse in all those aspects, he loves to work now, and is full of energy. It’s really amazing. He is like a new horse. Last month, I took Buck to the NHRA show, where he took 3rd out of 30 head in the stallion class event, and 3rd in the trainer horse event. I am happy to say that he beat his old trainer’s best by five points at this show. Training by instilling fear might work for a while, but trust lasts forever.
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