Horse story of the month...

Wanna hear something incredibly dumb?

In Albuquerque, New Mexico there was
a Taco Bell that was being robbed.

Turns out the robber was Timothy Beach
who was 23 at the time.

Beach was wearing a ski mask to hide his
identity.

So how did they know it was him?

According to police, Beach couldn't
resist identifying himself to one of his
former co-workers during the heist.

So he briefly lifted his ski mask
and said...

    "Psssst...it's me,..Tim."

True story.

Now was that dumb or what?

You know what else is dumb?

That horses are afraid of the preverbal
plastic sacks.

Of course, from the human perspective,
it IS dumb.

We know it's just a harmless plastic
sack.

But to the equine, these plastic sacks
have become one of the scariest things to a
horse.

Sue Robertson, who's DVD we just re-
leased a couple days ago, says why:

     "The reason seems to be
      because the sack always
      changes form and they
      have a life of their own.

      They have movement and
      noise.  One part changes
      direction while another
      part moves another direction.

      They don't ever do the
      same thing twice."

That's a good insight.

Sue points out that anything you
can do to a horse that does not cause harm
is going to benefit them (meaning things
like desensitizing him, etc.)

Some people think it scares them.

And to a degree...it does.

But that's because they don't under-
stand it...yet.

And that's what desensitizing is
about.

Getting them to understand that the
scary thing isn't going to hurt them.

So, yeah,...they get scared when
you desensitize them but that's part of
the process.

And you go slow doing it...you
don't want them jumping out of their skin.

Sue says the plastic sack has become
a very effective training tool.

She's had horses that have been
ridden quite a while and puts them in the
round pen and ties the handles of the sack
on the saddle horn.

"You'd be amazed at the action you
get from that horse," Sue said.

Why would you do this?

Because the sack can mimmick any
number of things your horse may experience
and will ultimately keep you safer.

And that's the idea!

Again, if you want to know more about
Sue and her info, click on the following:

www.SuperStarsOfHorseTraining.com/Robertson-Groundwork

So using a plastic sack in this way
gets your horse used to noises above him.

Noises like fumbling in your camera
bag, or getting a snack out of your knapsack,
or putting on a rain slicker.

It's just a lot better to try and get
those fears out of the horse before you're on
them.

And here's something maybe you hadn't
thought of.

Eventually, that horse is going to get
tired from running and possibly panicking when
that sack is tied to the saddle horn.

When he stops moving, guess what happens.
The bag stops moving too. (unless it's
windy)

Thus, this teaches him to chill out and
not make such a fuss.  In fact, if he's calm
and doesn't move then the bag stops moving too.

And when you're on the back of 1200 pounds
of pure muscle and emotion...that's "THE GREATEST"
and safest thing you can have...

"Safety!"

Andy Curry
www.horsetrainingandtips.com
www.SuperStarsOfHorseTraining.com