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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 604
 
Location: Cookeville TN | Sorry in advance for the novel, I tried to include all the details I could think of!
So I bought a coming 3 year old Mare Mule as a project. She is a complete sweetheart and knows when it's time to work (she's all ears, no pun intended) lol.. anyways, in the round pen she is very responsive, walk/trot/canter on hand cue with some vocal encouragement, but picked up on hand signals very quickly, which impressed me. I bought her as broke to ride, pull a buggy, and pull logs. To me, she seems a little young to already know all that and all of it was demonstrated before the sale, but here's where my issue comes in:
She will do absolutely ANYTHING you ask of her and do it well with a bit in her mouth, she knows its work time and all of her attention is on me (or whoever is working with her) BUT with her, there's no such thing as pulling her out of the pasture, throwing a halter on her, snapping a lead rope and leading out.. NOPE. She KNOWS that she can get away from me (or anyone). I don't like it. AT ALL. I want respect, regardless of what is attached to her, and I'm getting tired of nearly getting my arm ripped off to walk 200 ft from pasture/stall to round pen. A chain over her nose works to an extent but not really. Now, in the round pen, she can have NOTHING on, no halter or anything and is amazing...
I'm at a loss with her.. Any tips/tricks/training techniques anyone can recommend? | |
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The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
 
Location: PNW | So cliche..... But...... Clinton Anderson
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 604
Location: Cookeville TN | I do use a lot of Clinton Anderson methods, but I've never had one that was already "trained" so to speak.. Do I do the whole going back to basics ?? That's where I'm stuck at, is there a "fix" or would the best route be re-training completely?? If it's an easy fix/solution, just something I haven't thought of, specifically involving leading, that'd be awesome.
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Expert
Posts: 1543
Location: MI | I was watching some of Warwick Schillers YouTube videos and he has some on seperation anxiety, etc. In them he talks about being the 'leader', and doing exercises when leading, anytime the horse gets his/her attn off of you. As simple as a direction changer, or even lunging serpentines in front of you while leading. that might be something you can start in the round pen or arena, then use when leading also? | |
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The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
Location: PNW | bringinithome - 2014-04-14 6:55 PM
I do use a lot of Clinton Anderson methods, but I've never had one that was already "trained" so to speak.. Do I do the whole going back to basics ?? That's where I'm stuck at, is there a "fix" or would the best route be re-training completely?? If it's an easy fix/solution, just something I haven't thought of, specifically involving leading, that'd be awesome.
I would take her all the way back to groundwork basics, yes. Even in the round pen.
Buck Brannaman is another great one - I love him like I love Cody Ohl - A LOT. Lol
I had a mare when I was a teenager that was an absolute See You Next Tuesday on the ground, but was a dream and a half to ride. I did A LOT of Buck B. work with her and made huge progress. | |
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 Certified Snake Wrangler
Posts: 1672
Location: North MS | Warwick Schiller! He has videos detailing this exact thing. Start to finish. Andalusian stallion series involved a pushy horse. His method starts when you go to get them out of the stall, you train on the way to the area you intend to work in. You make them not want to be near their happy place (buddy, barn, stall, pasture, gate etc). For $24 you get a month to watch any and every video he has. Best advice for the price in my opinion. Plus he answers questions on both his forum and facebook page. But everything goes back to groundwork. He breaks it down step by tiny step. If he finds a hole or problem area- it gets totally fixed before moving on. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | Do you have experience with mules? I'm just asking because I don't, but my neighbor is a professional mule trainer, I know how that may sound, but she's legit and sells high dollar endurance competition mules. Apparently, you don't train mules exactly like you train horses. They don't learn the same way. So applying the same techniques won't yield the same results.
I would research training for mules specifically. I just don't know how helpful our barrel racing advice is going to be in your situation. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| BamaCanChaser - 2014-04-15 9:07 AM
Do you have experience with mules? I'm just asking because I don't, but my neighbor is a professional mule trainer, I know how that may sound, but she's legit and sells high dollar endurance competition mules. Apparently, you don't train mules exactly like you train horses. They don't learn the same way. So applying the same techniques won't yield the same results.
I would research training for mules specifically. I just don't know how helpful our barrel racing advice is going to be in your situation.
You are correct, you don't train them the same. Mules seem to have better critical thinking skills than horses and often times will out think the owner. Horses give you a little room to make mistakes but Mules don't. One mistake with them and it takes months to fix. Find you a good mule trainer and talk to them. They may have some good suggestions for you. I've trained a couple but I it took me awhile for both and I reached out to a local guy a lot for help. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 604
Location: Cookeville TN | I have started a handful of mules before, but it was from the start, there was no previous "training" involved. I will look into everyone's suggestions for sure! Thanks :) | |
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