RON HANSEN

       TRAINING FOR SAFETY AND RESPECT 

 People consider me to train with natural horsemanship.  I call it pressure and release; the same way horses learn in the wild and when they are in a herd. I use as little pressure as possible to get the horse to move, but will use as much as necessary to accomplish movement.  You cannot train a horse that will not move.  The horse learns to move by the release given to him as soon as he moves.  I spend extensive time if necessary making sure the horse is totally desensitized before riding.  I also work on flexing the horse's whole body.  You must be able to move any part of the horse at any time. This is the only way you will ever get a foundation on a horse that will last.  For example, I lead all my horses around backwards by their hind leg. This an awesome way to loosen up a horse's hindquarters as well as resolve many other issues with handling the legs. 

 

  Every horse is different with different backgrounds, different temperament, and different breeding.  To guarantee all horses at a certain level would not be fair to the owner with a quiet, quick learning horse that can be finished in three days.  Nor would it be fair to the trainer to have to spend three months working with a knot head to get the horse to a certain level.  Every horse is advanced to the highest level possible in the time they are with me in training. 

If a horse comes in and they are soft, flexing, and not spooky, scared, or stubborn I can move on to extensive riding.  I will not ride a horse until I feel they are ready and totally in control from the ground.  I am not a bronco rider and never intend to be.  It is rare that I have had a horse buck with me on them and I have started horses that were totally wild and spooked when they showed up. 

 

The nondirect instruction comes from learning to stand tied patiently, hobble training, being ponied behind another horse, standing contently in a trailer and being trailered down busy highways with traffic passing by there head side of the trailer.

 

When I am riding, I ride the horses in water, across dead falls, washouts, up and down steep inclines, through brush and tall grass. I make all sorts of sounds while riding to help desensitize the horse to as much as possible.  We spend extensive time working on getting the horse to rate their speed so they will go at any gait without having to be pressured or slowed down to maintain a constant speed.  I work on getting the horse to pick up the right lead when going from a walk to a canter.

 

This is just a short list of what I am about and how I train horses.  I have nothing to hide in how I train horses and recognize that my methods do not suit everyone, but they have been very successful for me.  My currant rate is $800 per month; this includes training and board.  All horses must have a negative Coggins in the last year and currant vaccines including Pinnacle (For Strangles).

Hope this is what you were looking for.

Ron Hansen

701-645-9088