Complaint Review: Russ Grossman -Trail Horse Naturally

There are two reasons to lay a horse down: 1 to help a horse trust 2 to humble them. Done correctly it is not cruel and can be very effective when other training methods seem to be not yielding the desired results. 

The horse in the video was a 5 year old colt with little handling & no riding experience. He was sent to me for colt starting. In the first few weeks we were off to a good start! The colt was easy to catch, could stand quiet to be groomed, work in the round pen: walk-trot-lope, lope-trot-walk etc. The colt liked me and followed me around like a puppy. All was well so I added a bareback pad for a few days. Next came the saddle and that's when all hell broke loose. The colt bucked violently! Now generaly some bucking is expected the first few times a young horse wears a saddle and I'd rather they get it out of their system sooner than later. in this case though he just could not or would not accept it. In my opinion the saddle seemed to fit ok, and, I tried an alternative saddle just in case I was mistaken but with the same violent results. Later I came to find out that this colt came from a family of buckers. I gave the situation much thought and decided to stop working in the round pen and instead pony the colt on the trail, letting him wear the saddle for extended periods of time. This seemed to help considerably. However when we came to water or the colt would snag a twig he'd go to bucking. Seemed like bucking was becoming his default for everything he didnt like or that scared him. After more thought and consulting with one of my teachers from school, I decided to lay him down.

In the video you will see that I did in fact tie up a leg, then ask the horse to move around. Things can get quite western! Watch closely and you will notice that any time the colt thinks about or moves toward going down, I momentarily release the pressure. It took only a few minutes until the horse was on the ground. He starts to get up and then voluntarily flops over and lays back down. As I recall he stayed down for about 7 to 8 minutes, the entire time I was sitting with hm, stroking his neck, talking to him in a soft quiet voice. When the colt got up his eye was soft and his body posture more relaxed. Just what I'd hoped for. In the following weeks I added a snaffle bridle and taught the colt to drive. He became quite good at driving! We did more ponying in the arena and out on the trail. The day came when I thought he'd safely be able to handle a rider on his back and did so while being pony'd. We got about a dozen successful rides on him in this manner. There is a video of one of these rides on YouTube: search Jessie's ride with Russ Grossman. If he would have stayed longer I would have started riding him independently, but, his owner decided to end the training and take him home. I explained that I did not feel the colt was safe to ride yet.

The following month I came upon an interesting article in Western Horseman magazine. The article profiled a colt on a cattle ranch with similar issues to the one who'd been in training with me. After various techniques and methods the ranch called in a top clinician who decided to lay the horse down.

I work with many horses throughout the year. I endeavor to put out horses that are safe, responsive & fun to ride. In most cases and given enough time they turn out this way. Sometimes they do not. I am not a horse whisperer. I am a horse trainer. Some times the best solution for a problem horse is to, in the words of another one of my teachers, "well just sell that horse and get one who is a better match."