12 year old Approved Dutch Warmblood Stallion by
Uniform, owned by Martijn and Sarah Stuurman of
South Attleboro,MA.
Gregor came to us two years ago with a long
history of abusive riding and treatment behind
him. Martijn worked for the Dutch stud farm from
which Gregor came in 1991, when Gregor was three
years old. An intelligent, sensitive and hormonal
youngster, Gregor was handled forcefully from the
beginning of his career as a riding horse. Force
was not something that he understood well; 5
trainers and 7 years later, it was clear to us
that Gregor had not learned much about how to
behave - he had mainly learned how to fight ( and
win!). So our challenge was to get through to him
in a way that would decrease his defensiveness and
increase his understanding.
A year and a half of excellent riding and
consistent, fair handling did wonders for Gregor,
but the methodology of traditional training
methods began to reveal its limitations in the
summer of 1999. Gregor was improving in his work
ability, but his attitude was inconsistent. We
could see the downward spiral of negative
reinforcement coming on, and decided to utilize a
reward-based system of training. Clicker training
began September 1, 1999, and Gregor's behavior and
attitude has improved by leaps and bounds ever
since.
Currently we are working on repairing the damaged
foundation of Gregor's training pyramid "brick by
brick". It has been amazing to discover how
little he actually understood, and yet he still
managed to "get along"! As we continue to explain
the basics to him with the clicker, his
understanding, confidence and enthusiasm grow
daily. It has been so rewarding to discover the
cute, sensitive, charming genius under all of that
armor!
It is our hope that someday Gregor's tremendous
athletic ability will be realized in his
performance under saddle. But for now we are just
enjoying the learning experience that this
phenomenal has presented us.
