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Real Life Horsemanship - Kelly Westover's Story

I am a volunteer at the Therapeutic Riding and Off-Track Rehabilitation Center (TROTR) in northern California, and work with horses that have been rescued. I am not an extremely experienced horsewoman, but Dennis has helped me make my recent training experiences much easier and a lot more rewarding.

I've been working with an 8-year old Clydesdale mare named Ella since April. Ella was found running wild on a ranch, with no socialization skills whatsoever. When we first met at the rescue, she'd been stuck in a stall with not much interaction, and no training.She was frightened,and had to be heavily sedated to do anything, like having her feet trimmed.

Another TROTR volunteer and I work with Ella about 1-3 times a week. By using Dennis' roundpen techniques, we can now halter and lead her outside the roundpen. Establishing leadership was a challenge, because she was highly indifferent to us. For several weeks we had to use treats (her usual grain pellets) as incentive to invite us in.

She will now approach us in the roundpen with interest,stand quietly for the halter, and allow us to lead her around without the constant treats. We still have a long way to go. She has definite "personal space" issues, she won't allow a lot of touching, and I suspect her jumpiness might be due to abuse in her past.Our next major goal is to desensitize her legs and feet, and to teach her to pick them up for the farrier. We are happy she is finally showing interest in us, is not as treat driven, and even seems to be forming a bond with us.

Dennis taught me how important it is to consistently establish leadership; that using treats doesn't have to be a taboo; that running a horse until it is tired and give up is not constructive training; and he reassured me that gentleness, patience and awareness are key.

Just watching the training DVDs once is not enough. There is a ton of information packed into each lesson. Whenever I go back for another view, I either learn something new or at the very least gain encouragement that I am doing things the right way. His way can sometimes take longer than some other "natural horsemanship" techniques, but they provide more genuine and longer lasting results.

Kelly Westover
Woodland, CA