Johnny Boudreaux, of Vermilion Parish and a participant in the Master Horseman program, demonstrates a "suppling" move. Note the loose rein. Boudreaux is asking the horse to relax and yield to the rein. (Photo by John Wozniak)

The Master Horseman program consists of eight 3-hour sessions. (Photo by John Wozniak)

Howard Cormier demonstrates using sticks to simulate the horse's front legs. (Photo by John Wozniak)

Horses, like people, usually figure out it's a lot easier to comply than resist. Through his body position on the horse, Boudreaux is asking the animal to stop. Note the loose rein. (Photo by John Wozniak)

It might seem like that buckaroo who rides off into the sunset was born in the saddle. But the truth is he had to learn equestrian skills, either by chance or instruction.

An LSU AgCenter program, Master Horseman, is underway to pass along that knowledge.

“The ultimate goal is to have a cadre of extremely well-trained leaders around the state and increase the quality of horsemen and horses,” said the program’s founder and administrator Clint Depew, professor and extension specialist in the Department of Animal Sciences. “The idea was to bring them up several notches and ultimately we would ask them to be volunteer teachers.”

Depew said the need for an educational program became apparent in an AgCenter survey conducted in 2002, which showed that most horse owners rely on other horse owners for horse handling advice. A total of 60,000 people in Louisiana own 200,000 horses, according to the 2003 LSU AgCenter summary, and the industry impacts the state economy by more than $1.6 billion.

“Over all, the level of horsemanship in Louisiana isn’t up to the standards of other states, and the Master Horseman program is aimed at improving the expertise,” Depew said. “The Master Horseman Program was designed and developed to provide training to key industry leaders. These trained volunteers would in turn have responsibilities to teach others in the industry.”

The program consists of eight 3-hour sessions, starting with an hour lecture by various experts on scientific and technical advances in nutrition, health, management and care of horses. The sessions cover a wide range of topics, including nutrition, safety, conditioning, foot care, and dental health.

The second hour is devoted to a demonstration of horse training techniques, and the third hour involves practicing the skills they have learned. All of that isfollowed by a test.

Volunteer service required

“When horse leaders complete the training they are required to give 40 hours of volunteer service to the horse industry to train other horsemen and youth,” Depew said. “The trained volunteers have subsequently been active in the 4-H youth program, conducting horse camps, clinics, seminars and workshops.”
Twelve Master Horseman classes have been held since the spring of 2002 with 170 people getting trained.

“We’ve still got a lot to do in the northern part of the state,” Depew said.

Initially, Depew thought the program would be conducted only once in a parish, but unexpected demand in some parishes has led to several additional classes taught by Master Horseman graduates.

Depew also conducts an annual horse tour to visit some of the premier horse breeding and training operations in the country. The first was to the horse country north of Dallas-Fort Worth.

Much of the course work is aimed at getting horse owners to learn more about the way their horses move and what motivates the animals.

Depew said the old school approach to training a horse, using corporal punishment techniques, is being replaced with a kinder, gentler way.

Some refer to it as “horse whispering,” which has nothing to do with talking in low tones to a horse.

Use finesse, not force

“The concept of a horse whisperer should really be a horse listener or observer,” Depew said. “Ultimately you’re developing a language with the horse.”

Once that language is developed, it doesn’t take much for horse and owner to communicate, he said. And horses will respond better.

“You’ve got to reward every little bit of effort,” Depew said.

Punishment for bad behavior also is included in the training, he said.

“It’s similar to teaching children,” Depew said. “The mistake most people make is they don’t make the horse feel there are consequences for their actions.”

That doesn't mean corporal punishment if a horse doesn’t follow a command, but it does mean small discomforts.

“You get better results quicker by learning how to do things with finesse and understanding the horse and its psychology, and not forcing things on the horse,” Depew said.

Howard Cormier, Vermilion Parish county agent, stood in front of his horse to demonstrate that principle. Just by holding the end of a rope in front of horse, he could signal the animal to walk forward, backward and sideways. If the horse balked, Cormier flipped a small loop into the rein, and the horse complied.

Depew said a horse will respond to pressure from a rider to move a certain way, and once the horse responds, the pressure is released, telling the horse it is doing the right thing.

“The release is the most important thing,” Depew said. “If there’s no release, a horse doesn’t know what to do. You’ve got to respond to those positive things quickly and immediately.”

Understanding the mechanics of how a four-legged animal moves is accomplished by using two sticks to simulate the horse’s front legs.

“Until you try to travel like a horse and walk like a horse, it’s pretty hard to understand,” Cormier said, using the sticks to demonstrate the mechanics of a horse walking, trotting and cantering.

Depew explained that a rider can get a horse to move more efficiently once the rider understands what a horse is doing during a particular gait.
Johnny Boudreaux of Vermilion Parish is a veteran of the first program in that parish.

"It reinforced a lot of stuff, but I also picked up on a lot of things,” Boudreaux said.

Boudreaux’s specialty is getting stubborn horses into a trailer, and he said he had to change his thinking to get results.

“I messed up enough of them to know we weren’t doing something right,” he said.

Boudreaux starts by taking the horse to the trailer, letting it sniff the strange new object. If it balks at entering the trailer, he takes it to a clear area and works the horse by requiring it to trot in a circle for several minutes to tire them out.

“You don’t beat ‘em up. You make them work.”

And a horse, like people, usually figures out it’s a lot easier to comply than resist, Boudreaux said. He emphasized patience and advised against expecting too much of a horse too soon.

“You’ve got to keep asking. You’ve got to go slow,” Boudreaux said.

Boudreaux is convinced that riding horses requires a full understanding of equestrian fundamentals. “If you can’t add and subtract, you can’t multiply and divide.”

Richard Hebert of Indian Bayou, has become a 4-H horse instructor. He was named 4-H Horse Leader of the Year this summer at the State Horse Show.

“I’ve been riding for 30 years, and the program put everything in perspective for me,” Hebert said. “It gave me more confidence in teaching.”

Hebert also teaches a session in the Master Horseman class that concentrates on negotiating obstacles that might be found on a trail.

“The key there is understanding, and that’s probably the hardest thing to teach,” he said. “The thing is a horse can’t talk.”

For Cormier, riding horses is about the learning process and the journey, never expecting to reach the end of the trail. “You don’t ever get to a point where you say, “‘I’ve arrived.’”

Horse enthusiasts who want to enroll in the Master Horseman program should contact Clint Depew at (225) 578-2219, or their local county agents.

Bruce Schultz

(This article appeared in the fall 2004 edition of Louisiana Agriculture.)