PaintMeAMini
Well-Known Member
This is an appreciation post from me and Finnick and I guess you can say a story about this wonderful boy.
When I bought Finnick he had been in a stall with a pregnant mare for months with no turnout. I had no background information on him except that he was around 6, his hooves had recently been trimmed, and that he was chill. The information was false, he was 12, his toes were extremely long and he had no heel, and he was by no means chill. He was horrified of people and didn’t let anyone touch him. I couldn’t get a halter on him or even come within a 6ft radius of him. There was also the stifle problem which I was not warned of when I asked if he had any history of injuries or sicknesses. I wondered how I would even go about his training and if working with him would even do any good. I started off with the only thing I had ever been taught and that was to ignore his clear trauma and treat him like he had never been abused or neglected. After a while he had only gotten worse and his fear of people really began to show. He wouldn’t charge but he would turn his butt threatening to kick and bite at you if you got near him. I cringe now thinking about the fact I didn’t realize it was the way I was acting and “training” him that was causing more harm than good. I began to look at gentle ways of training horses and come across holistic training. Holistic training is training a horse without the use of force, fear, food, or trauma. I started learning about the five fundamentals of training and taking things slow. Flight zone was another thing I learned about and how to read a horses body language. Now I see Finnick as a totally different horse. He is patient, kind, smart, submissive and just an all around good boy. All those who I watched about holistic and gentle training changed the way I train horses and changed Finnick’s life for the better, thank you. Thank you to all who gave me advice on how to better myself and for the wonderful videos!
When I bought Finnick he had been in a stall with a pregnant mare for months with no turnout. I had no background information on him except that he was around 6, his hooves had recently been trimmed, and that he was chill. The information was false, he was 12, his toes were extremely long and he had no heel, and he was by no means chill. He was horrified of people and didn’t let anyone touch him. I couldn’t get a halter on him or even come within a 6ft radius of him. There was also the stifle problem which I was not warned of when I asked if he had any history of injuries or sicknesses. I wondered how I would even go about his training and if working with him would even do any good. I started off with the only thing I had ever been taught and that was to ignore his clear trauma and treat him like he had never been abused or neglected. After a while he had only gotten worse and his fear of people really began to show. He wouldn’t charge but he would turn his butt threatening to kick and bite at you if you got near him. I cringe now thinking about the fact I didn’t realize it was the way I was acting and “training” him that was causing more harm than good. I began to look at gentle ways of training horses and come across holistic training. Holistic training is training a horse without the use of force, fear, food, or trauma. I started learning about the five fundamentals of training and taking things slow. Flight zone was another thing I learned about and how to read a horses body language. Now I see Finnick as a totally different horse. He is patient, kind, smart, submissive and just an all around good boy. All those who I watched about holistic and gentle training changed the way I train horses and changed Finnick’s life for the better, thank you. Thank you to all who gave me advice on how to better myself and for the wonderful videos!