THOMAS TRAINING

Over the years I have developed my own naturalistic methods of training and have trained hundreds of horses with incredible results.  Included is the mare featured in the picture on the home page, she was a five year old paint mare, restarted by me from the ground up in the round pen.  After two years I had her trained completely natural to include doing demonstrations with no saddle or bridle.  She was trained to turn from my pre-signals through my leg, seat, weight and mental cues.  She was even taught to bow, lay down, and I could mount her on the ground and have her get up on cue.

I was interviewed by a publicist on the west coast and she asked me questions about what I thought good training should include.  That was when we came up with the “Tzone” name for my training.
 

Alpha Always:  At the top of the T is “Alpha Always”.  You must first establish dominance and leadership with each and every horse you start to train.  You must think herd sense when I say dominance and not take it as a harsh word.  If you watch a herd of horses, they have a hierarchy or ‘pecking order’ established within the group.  You always have an alpha an omega and beta horses in between.  The alpha will use body language to establish him/her as the herd leader.  Sometimes the language might be ear pinning, threatening charges, or contact such as a kick or a bite.

So, we as the human are thought of as another horse to our horses.  We are not their buddy, and if you try to just be nice and be a buddy, your horse will take advantage of you.  Examples of taking advantage are biting or nipping, turning the rear and possibly threatening to kick, or walking over you when being led.  This kind of behavior can be very dangerous and lead to injury to you.  When you are accepted as the alpha to your horse, you have become the leader.  Horses are meant to be a herd type animal to follow an alpha.  Most horses don’t want to have to make the decisions; they would rather take direction from a confident leader.  When your horse feels the confidence from you, then you can ask your horse to do difficult tasks such as jumping, crossing that river, or loading in the trailer with minimal difficulty.

Clear Communication:  At the left of the T is “Clear Communication”.  When you are working with your horse it is important to always use clear cues.  Meaning you need to be consistent each and every time you work with your horse for him to understand you and not get confused.  If your horse gets mixed signals, then he will lose confidence in you and you will lose your leadership in his eyes.  Then he may start to challenge you as the alpha and you are back to square one.  Cues can include body language to verbal cues.

Positive Reinforcement:  To the right of the T is “Positive Reinforcement”.  When you are establishing dominance it may be necessary to be firm in the beginning.  Once he respects you and your space, then you are ready to train with positive reinforcement.  Horses love to be told when they are good!  They just eat up the attention and then will try even harder the next time to please you.  But remember, there will be times when your leadership will be tested and you may need to be firm to get the point across, but when they do the right action, give them an immediate reward.  A reward can be a positive word such as “good boy” or an affectionate pat on the neck.  Don’t use treats for your positive reinforcement, this will only lead to them getting into your space and challenging you as the alpha once again.  If you like to feed treats or carrots, throw them in their feed bins.  They know where the treats came from but this won’t lead to nipping from them expecting them out of your hand.