Building your dream horse : Charles Wilhelm's ultimate foundation training

209 Pages·2005·30.514 MB·English

by  Charles Wilhelm, Allison W Houston

TLFeBOOK
B
UILDING
Y
OUR
D
REAM
H
ORSE

B
UILDING
Y
OUR
D
REAM
H
ORSE
Charles Wilhelm’s Ultimate
Foundation Training
CHARLES WILHELM WITH
ALLISON W. HOUSTON
This book is printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. All rights reserved.
Howell Book House
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise,
except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without
either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the
appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA
01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to
the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc.,
10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, [phone], fax [phone], E-mail:
[email protected].
Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, Howell Book House, and related trademarks are trademarks or
registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the
property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or
vendor mentioned in this book.
The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or
completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without
limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by
sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for
every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in ren-
dering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the serv-
ices of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall
be liable for damages arising here from. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this
work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or
the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommenda-
tions it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may
have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support please
contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at [phone], outside the U.S. at
[phone] or fax [phone].
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in
print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, please
visit our web site at www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Wilhelm, Charles, date.
Building your dream horse : Charles Wilhelm’s Ultimate Foundation Training /
Charles Wilhelm and Allison W. Houston.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-7645-7915-0 (paper: alk. paper)
1. Horses—Training. 2. Horsemanship. I. Houston, Allison W. II. Title.
SF287.W72 2005
636.1'0835—dc22
2004024049
Cover Design: Wendy Mount
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This book is dedicated first and foremost to my God, who makes everything
possible. And then to the many other special people in my life who have
made it possible for me to be living my dream of being a horseman. I wish
I could name all of you who have made my life so rich and blessed.
To my family and staff, your commitment in helping to run this busi-
ness is what makes it a success.
To my wife, Anne, whose unwavering support and love keep me going
through every high and low—I love you very much, Honey-Bunny.
To my son and daughter-in-law, Jeff and Severine, who put in such
long hours with the daily grind type of maintenance that keeps the ranch
running—much love and appreciation to you both.
To Karen Werth, my operations manager, you are truly indispensable
and I cannot begin to express my gratitude for all that you do and for your
endless patience.
To Allison Houston, who has given a written voice to my life’s work
by co-authoring this book, thanks for being persistent, consistent, and
knowledgeable in an area where I am not.
To John and Carleen Enyedy, who have provided ongoing spiritual
support, something I need very much to keep everything in its proper per-
spective.
To the countless clients with whom I have worked over the years, your
horses and your stories are what make every day such a complete joy and
exciting challenge.

Contents
Foreword ix
An Extraordinary Man for Horses and People
Preface xiii
How Charles Wilhelm Became a Horseman
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction 1
Why Every Horse Lover Should Read This Book
1
Understanding the Horse 7
The Emotional, Mental, and Physical Aspects of the Horse 7
The Emotional Aspect 7
The Mental Aspect 13
The Physical Aspect 18
Horse Personalities 21
Conditioned Response 24
Ten Secrets Every Horse Wants His Owner to Know 28
2
Understanding Foundation Training 31
What Is Foundation Training? 31
Working with Pressure 33
Incremental Training 38
Setting and Raising Standards 38
What Is Natural Horsemanship and How Does It Apply
to Foundation Training? 39
What Is Ultimate Foundation Training? 40
No Magic Gadgets: The Role of Equipment in Horse Training 43
3
Ultimate Foundation Training 49
The Ultimate Foundation Exercise: The Go-Forward Cue 49
The Round Pen 49
Line Work 61
vii
viii Contents
Leading Manners and Respecting Space 73
Emotional Control and Despooking 80
Giving to the Bit 90
Moving the Hips Over 99
Stopping 102
Shoulder Control 104
Engagement 107
Transitions 109
Collection 114
Training Babies 116
Foundation Training and the Foal 116
Training a Baby for Veterinary and Farrier Work 119
Starting Older Horses 123
4
It’s Never, Ever the Horse’s Fault 127
Buying the Right Horse 129
Mental Training for Horsemanship 137
Common Problems and How to Solve Them with Ultimate
Foundation Training 142
Pullback Problem 143
Spooking 146
Bolting 150
Rearing 151
Bucking 154
Trailer Loading 157
Buddy Sour 159
Barn Sour 161
Cinchy 161
Head Tossing and Pulling at the Bit 164
No Control: Stud Chains and Bigger Bits 166
If All Else Fails: Finding the Right Trainer 169
Building Your Dream Horse 171
Appendix: The Charles Wilhelm Training Facility 173
Success through Knowledge
Index 183
Foreword
An Extraordinary Man for Horses and People
I met Charles Wilhelm pretty much the same way he meets most of his clients:
a phone call, e-mail, or chance encounter at a horse exposition that starts out
something along the lines of this conversation:
“Help, Mr. Wilhelm! I don’t know what to do. My horse ________.” Into
that blank, you can insert any of these all-too-familiar scenarios: bucks, rears,
spooks, won’t trailer load, is heavy on the bit, needs to be started under saddle,
doesn’t engage, is buddy sour, crow hops, won’t collect, pulls back, refuses
jumps, is cinchy, and so on. You could insert just about any issue into that sen-
tence and chances are, someone has talked to Charles about how to fix it—and
he has. A recent example was a call for help that came from a nice woman des-
perate for training assistance because her horse would allow her to mount only
after he had been blindfolded. He was “fine” once she was in the saddle, but
unless his eyes were completely covered, he would rear and kick when some-
one tried to climb onto his back. I’m still wondering how she discovered that
trick worked in the first place!
But these kinds of calls for help come to Charles all the time, because that
is what he does and in some ways, what he is. He’s a problem-solver. Charles is
one of the few horsemen who specialize in reschooling horses with severe prob-
lem behaviors. And frankly, that typically means reschooling owners and han-
dlers at the same time. He runs a full-time training operation in California’s
Bay Area and is often both the last resort and the first hope for discouraged
horse owners.
In addition to working intensely with a variety of equestrian issues, his
same methodology (collectively known as Ultimate Foundation Training) is
also the base program for starting horses under saddle as well as achieving per-
formance improvement for top competitive horses in many disciplines.
Whatever the training goal may be, each and every horse goes through his
Ultimate Foundation Training program.
ix