Jarl
Not trusting or knowing how to communicate with humans puts more horses’ lives at risk than anything else we have come across.There are many different types of training issues we encounter with horses. In Jarl’s case we believe he was trained to be a riding horse, but with little to no time spent on groundwork or building positive relationships with humans.
Jarl was one of the 9 emaciated Andalusian stallions found locked in stalls piled high with manure in Oregon City. He likely had not been outside of that stall for months or years. Currently, we are working to encourage him to connect with people and relax. Those two qualities are vital to horses living with humans. Jarl goes through the motions of haltering, leading and tying, but with a lot of nervousness and tension.
When teaching Jarl new groundwork, he will rush through the exercises, desperately trying to do what he thinks we want. He can learn what we are asking of him, but is in a panic to do it quickly. The odd thing we have noticed is that when he has a saddle on his back, he relaxes, licks and chews. We are guessing that his previous training only included tossing a saddle on his back and hopping on.
Unfortunately, that type of response on the ground could easily escalate into a very unsafe situation. He is one panic at the wrong time away from being labeled crazy and resold. The more homes he goes through, the worse his insecurities would get. With that much fear and lack of communication with people, he would always have anxiety and be dangerous.
Fortunately for Jarl, we have some amazing trainers that recognize Jarl’s anxiety and have the patience to work through it. They will teach him with soft timely releases as soon as he finds the right answer. They will teach him how to think through new situations without panicking. They will give him the tools he needs to enjoy a human partner and tools that will help keep him in a good home.
We wish we could say that Jarl’s training issues were rare, but the truth is most of the horses that come through our doors need some type of training help. Seeing a horse like Jarl learn and develop into a loving relaxed horse (and he will!) is one of the most rewarding parts of horse rescue.
Not trusting or knowing how to communicate with humans puts more horses’ lives at risk than anything else we have come across.There are many different types of training issues we encounter with horses. In Jarl’s case we believe he was trained to be a riding horse, but with little to no time spent on groundwork or building positive relationships with humans.
Jarl was one of the 9 emaciated Andalusian stallions found locked in stalls piled high with manure in Oregon City. He likely had not been outside of that stall for months or years. Currently, we are working to encourage him to connect with people and relax. Those two qualities are vital to horses living with humans. Jarl goes through the motions of haltering, leading and tying, but with a lot of nervousness and tension.
When you help feed a horse like Jarl, you are helping us change his entire future for the better!