Workshop details taming the wild in mustangs

By CAROLYN ROST | South Central Texas Edition

Robert Denlinger squats in a nonthreatening postion to approach the horse. He uses alfalfa hays as a reward. -- Staff photo by Carolyn Rost

Nov. 17, 2005 - What does it take to turn a wild horse or burro into a gentle and social animal? 

Plenty of patience.

Participants at the recent Wild Horse Workshop in Seguin spent a lot of time in the pen learning the first steps in gentling and training mustangs. The five-day workshop was an educational project involving Least Resistance Training Concepts (LRTC) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Participants who signed up received “hands-on” training from clinicians from around the United States including Marialaina Batoog, Diane Delano, Corrine Davis, Robert Denlinger, Cher Eastep, Chris Erlon, Brent Huyett, Willis Lamm, Rob Pliskin, Betty Retzer, Donna West and Tony Sumner from Kenya. All have dedicated their lives to assuring that wild horses and burros caught in the wild are adopted into well-trained hands.

Participant Gary Morgan communicates trust and acceptance to the horse by turning its back to him. -- Staff photo by Carolyn Rost

The day following the end of the four-day clinic, participants, along with the general public, were able to adopt the horses.

The training at the Nov. 9-13 workshop was based on the concept, or philosophy, of least resistance rather than on a specific set of methods. 

Willis Lamm, who operates horse adoption agency Least Resistance Training Concepts, Inc. in Stagecoach, Nev., explained the least resistance approach.

�What we are doing here, it�s kinda basically called Gentling Wild Horses 101. The primary objective in this module is to desensitize the horse to being around people so that its baseline behaviors in the domestic environment are to interact with people sort of on a social level,� said Lamm.

Interacting with the horse in a quiet and slow moving manner is the first step to the training. “We want the horse to not be afraid of our movements, our smells, our sights, the raising of our hands, the handling of tools and we also want the horse to start to interact with us in a level-headed manner. The priority being to just be quiet and study what’s going on. If we ask the horse to move, (we want it) to move out quietly.”

After a three-hour session in the Wild Horse Workshop in Seguin, one of the wild horses is comfortable enough to give participant Donna West a friendly “kiss.” -- Staff photo by Carolyn Rost

Once the participants take home an adopted horse, the lessons learned in the pen at the workshop will come into play.

�This is the behavior that we try to establish for people that adopt these horses, that basically only have square pens (where problems of the horse crashing the sides and pressing itself into the corners can occur),� Lamm said.�

�One of our methods, once we see that the horse can safely tolerate it, is we�ll set a number of people in the pen with the horse at the same time so that the horse is really starting to get used to the fact that a lot of people can be on the same side of the fence, which is a big deal to these wild horses,� added Lamm.

The main concept of least resistance training is to not put so much pressure on the horse that it feels that it needs to leave. Pressure is applied through aids such as bamboo poles and ropes. Leg contact and the handler’s physical presence are used to interact with the horse. Only as much pressure is applied to get the needed results and then is released the instant the horse responds.

�We�re doing approach and retreat. It�s our basic theory. Part of the participant learning curve is to figure out how to read the horse, see how much pressure to put on the horse to accomplish a task but not cause the horse to leave,� he explained.

An example is that if “you’re scratching the horse and asking the horse to do something that could generate stress, we want to stop before the horse reaches its stress threshold so that the horse understands - ‘Oh, this is okay and I can tolerate it and it’s going to quit and I feel just fine’ or maybe ‘I’ll even feel better if you get the itchy spot,’” said Lamm.

Robert Denlinger of Kentucky utilizes imaginative and low key approaches in dealing with ungentled and troubled horses. When working with mustangs, he employs participant involvement and his “human round pen” is a popular activity at the workshops.

When training, Denlinger uses a clicker to signal to the horse. “When she hears a click, she knows exactly at that point in time that she did exactly what I wanted. I will then unobtrusively give her the reward, which in this case is some alfalfa hay because she likes that.”

Denlinger stressed that he only uses food as a reward. “We’re not bribing her. I’m getting as close as I can to that little wild horse and saying (by making the click-click sound) because you allowed me to get in close, here’s your food.”

Denlinger said he does the exact movement to her maybe 100 times and the horse then knows it is safe to get the food. Patience in the pen is a virtue to gaining trust with a wild animal.

Jenny Marshall of Bastrop participated in the workshop to refresh her training skills because she plans to adopt another mustang.

�I love horses. I�m stuck on the mustangs. That�s the only way I plan on getting horses. We adopted one and he�s the most awesome horse I�ve ever gotten to work with. He loves people and he�s great with my 4-year-old child.��

Marshall said she likes their size and can’t think of a negative thing about them. “I just like that they’re such true horses. You have to really start from the beginning. You can’t skip many steps or you’re going to get in trouble.”

Assisting potential adopters in the proper care and training of wild horses and burros and getting them to connect with these animals is the number one goal of the workshops.

�There are people here from all over. They do these workshops all over the United States and it�s a great way for potential adopters to see these animals,� said clinician Donna West of Alabama.

�It�s also a great way for the public to see these animals because too many people think that mustangs are crazy, they can never be touched and handled but with the proper tools and education they can. They make wonderful riding horses,� she concluded.

(For more information on least resistance training, visit www.teamlrtc.org. For information on adopting a wild horse or burro from the Bureau of Land Management, visit www.www.doi.gov/horse/.)