Author: GPadmin24

Most of the hikers on the trails of the Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale tell me what a beautiful horse Huszar is. Many of them take his photo. I am always the proud owner of my retired racehorse.

The most important thing I feel I can do with my three old colt is to work with him in the round pen, teaching him to pay attention to me while I secure his respect in me. Once we have built up trust, I know he will stop behaving badly. Once I have established his confidence in me, he will stop moving away from me, stop rearing up, stop ignoring my voice commands and stop turning his rump to me. Zum will be less apt to kick at me when he trusts me.

Zum is very intelligent. I give him a lot of credit for his intelligence. I truly want him to trust me and forgive me for any mistakes I have made with his training. I explain to Zum that I have never trained a horse before. He may not understand my words but he understands my meaning.

I try to be subtle and gentle with the reins. A hard pull on the reins teaches Zum to clamp his jaw and pull hard in response. I want to be less confrontational. I don’t want to make the mistake of pulling on the reins to control Zum through the bit. A lighter give and take touch on the reins is more effective.

Once I have successfully gotten on and off Zum a bunch of times, I let him get used to me sitting up on his back. I don’t kick him to get him moving. I don’t steer him. I just enjoy sitting on Zum quietly!

I love spring in the desert! Hiking with my rescue dog, Karuna, I am surrounded with brilliant orange and yellow wildflowers! My mother used to call me her wild flower. So I feel a strong bond to each little masterpiece of beauty trying to survive alone in the wild.

I am training Zum to stand still when I get on his back. If he moves away, he is not ready for mounting. I need to go back to ground work, controlling his direction. With the lead rope, I ask Zum to move left, right, back, forward and then to stop. I reward him when he stands still so he learns that standing still is what I want!

I know that it takes lots of time to train horses naturally. My goal is to teach Zum to do tasks with manners, obedience and willingness to perform. I want Zum to be agreeable with confident responses that will last Zum’s lifetime. I don’t want to train Zum through submission. I want to train him with understanding.

I love spring in the desert! I saw a mother owl in a massive nest in a tall Saguaro recently! She stared at me as I rode by on my horse. I hope she is safe nesting near the horse trail.

I always plan to have my training or retraining sessions when I am relaxed and when I am not in a hurry. Zum depends on me for food and feeling good!