Rescuing, rehabilitating and finding homes for more than 1,600 horses over the past 10 years, Pure Thoughts Horse Rescue co-founder Brad Gaver focuses his horse-training energy on teaching skills for life. Here, Gaver shares some tips for working with rescued horses:
- Spend as much time learning about the rescue horse as you can before you bring him home. Learn about his routine, training schedule, diet, strengths and weaknesses.
- Don’t focus on the horse’s past struggles. Instead, focus on the future.
- Use a positive reward system. “I don’t go out of my way to correct bad behavior,” says Gaver. “Instead, I teach appropriate behavior. Then negative behavior usually disappears.”
- Don’t assume there’s anything wrong; just guide the horse and go slow.
- Don’t overthink training or mistakes.
- Avoid food rewards; use rest and love instead.
- Don’t put a time limit on your goals. Give the horse time to decompress when you first bring him home.
- When you transition your rescue horse to his new home, make things easy for him by maintaining as much of his schedule as possible (especially meals and training).
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This article originally appeared in the January 2014 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!
My husband and I have worked with rescue horses a few times and it is always a new and challenging experience. It really helps to focus on the future rather than the past and help them learn. Some friends of ours suggested using some alfalfa cubes as a form of reward. We usually use sugar so they would be interesting to try.
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