Horse Training Time Frame

HORSE TRAINING TIME FRAME
and mistakes owners make.

PLUS…

HOW TO HAVE LARRY TROCHA TRAIN YOUR HORSE
Even if you live hundreds of miles away.

Dear Friend and Horseman,

Larry Trocha here.

Well, I'm finally settled in at my new training facility at the Sliding J Ranch.

I gotta tell you, it is really nice!

Even when the weather is bad, this huge indoor arena is great to ride in.

Within hours of sending out the email announcing the move, I received several phone calls from people in the Sacramento area, wanting to reserve a spot for me to train their horse.

I also received a bunch of email from folks saying how they wish I lived closer to them so I could train their horse.

What these folks don't realize is that they don't need to live close to me to have me train their horse.

It's not uncommon for owners to send their horse to me even if they live a long ways away.

I've had training clients live as far away as Florida, Hawaii, Texas, Canada, Mexico and Europe.

These days its pretty commonplace for owners to send a horse whatever distance necessary in order to have it trained by a trainer they trust.

And, it's a lot easier to do it than you might think.

HERE'S HOW YOU GO ABOUT IT…

First, give me a call and make sure I have the room and time available to add your horse to my training schedule.

If I agree to take your horse, the next thing you need to do is make arrangements with a reputable horse hauler.

I highly recommend Greg Dickson of D2 Horse Transport (800-248-2645) or contact Gary Mitchell of www.HorseHauling.com to find a hauler for you.

I'm especially impressed with this transport company… www.thompsonhorsevanlines.ca

NOTE: To cross state lines, your horse will need a negative coggins test from your vet. The coggins papers must travel with the hauler.

The hauler will come to your house, load your horse and deliver him to my barn, safe and sound.

And the cost is usually LESS than you could do it yourself.

Once the horse arrives, I usually give him a day or two to settle in and then we begin the training.

Most of the horses in my barn are here to have a good handle put on them, get them working a cow or get them ready for the show pen in reining or cutting competition.

Those are the areas I specialize in and enjoy doing the most.

One of the most common questions I get from prospective clients is…

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?

Well, that depends on a number of factors.

The horse's previous training (or lack of it) will play a part in how quickly the horse will advance.

If the horse has a bunch of pre-existing problems or nasty habits, those will need to be worked out as we proceed with the training.

Horses also greatly vary in how "trainable" they are.

Some are easy to train… some are pretty tough.

As a rule of thumb… on the average riding horse… it takes approximately three months to put a good handle on him.

Now… by "good handle", I mean the horse will stop decent and rollback, do a good turn on his hocks, maybe even spin a little, pick up the correct leads and back-up straight.

He'll also do a controlled walk, trot and lope and do it with a LIGHT MOUTH and GOOD HEAD POSITION.

Be aware, with three months of training, the horse will be working pretty darn good and he'll have a good foundation on him but he sure won't be solid or ready to compete in a reining class.

To have a horse ready for competition, usually takes 12 months or more.

If the horse is a "natural", it may not take quite as long.

COW WORK TIME FRAME…

It's a little different with the cow work.

Here the horse's natural aptitude to work cattle plays a HUGE part in how well the training goes.

Hopefully, the horse has a lot of cow.

If he does, then nothing will be more fun for the horse than working cattle.

A lot of good training can be accomplished when working cattle without the horse even realizing he's being trained.

A cow is the best tool I know for helping a horse overcome problems and advance quickly.

However, a horse that doesn't have much cow will take much longer and will never be as good as a horse that is loaded with cow.

And if the horse doesn't have ANY cow, having a trainer work cattle on him is pretty much a waste of money.

Better off to just put a handle on the horse and call it good.

It takes about three months on cattle to get an idea of the horse's aptitude as a cutting or cow horse.

It takes six to eight months to know if he's a definite cutting prospect.

With most horses, six to eight months on cattle is enough for them to do a decent job at team penning, sorting and ranch cutting.

A "competition" cutting horse usually needs 12 to 18 months of concentrated training before he's ready to go to his first show.

And usually another six months of show experience to get solid.

HORSE TRAINING ISN'T ALWAYS PRETTY…

It's been my experience that most horse owners don't realize that training horses doesn't always go smoothly.

They think if the horse ever gets upset, resists or gets scared, the trainer must be doing something wrong.

THE REALITY IS…

There will be highs, lows and some rough spots along the way.

MOST of the time, the training will go smoothly and the horse will come alone fine.

However, there will be short periods of time when it's not so great.

SIDE NOTE: This is the biggest reason many owners don't have success training their own horse.

They hit a trouble-spot and quit, thinking they must be doing something wrong.

It doesn't occur to them, that "problems" are a natural part of horse training and they just need to work through it.

The BIGGEST PROBLEMS usually occur the FIRST MONTH.

Here's why…

When a horse first comes into "concentrated" training, the horse is usually NOT in the correct FRAME OF MIND to accept the training.

More than likely, the horse's previous training has been pretty inconsistent or very low-key.

He's really never been asked to do much… let alone do it lightly and respond immediately.

He's in the habit of being heavy, taking his sweet time responding or maybe not responding at all.

Nor does he know how to concentrate or how to search to find the release of pressure.

When this new training is introduced, most horses will initially RESIST it and want to ARGUE about it.

If the trainer hangs in there and insists the horse respond, some horses will then get really WORRIED about it.

So, that first month, its not uncommon for the horse to waffle back and forth between being teed-off and being scared.

For a lot of horses, this is normal.

A good trainer will know how to work through this without it getting out of hand.

And of course, it's this first month the owner wants to see some big progress. He wants to see results to justify the training fee he's paid.

In reality, seldom will there be any big results that first month.

The trainer is more concerned with getting the horse to LEARN HOW TO LEARN. (read this sentence again)

He knows until that is accomplished, RESULTS will not happen… at least not any good ones.

Once a foundation of "UNDERSTANDING" is established, the horse will settle in, have a good attitude and be willing to quietly learn.

In the second month of training, things will start to get good.

And its usually the third month when the real advances come.

Now, I realize not every horse owner can afford to have their horse trained by a professional trainer.

And many owners who have spare time available, prefer to have the satisfaction of training their horse themselves.

For those folks, I highly recommend my…

FOUNDATION TRAINING PACKAGE

And my…

PERFORMANCE TRAINING PACKAGE

Or they can get a huge DISCOUNT and four, FREE bonus DVDs by ordering my…

MEGA TRAINING PACKAGE

Okay, that's all for now.

Take care,

Larry Trocha
Larry Trocha Training Stable
24846 N. Tully Road Acampo, CA 95220
www.HorseTrainingVideos.com
www.HorseTrainingTack.com