and the pony is beautiful!

Sadly not everyone has endless amounts of money but i hope he ended up with someone nice

I really appreciate this video.

well they are all individuals. I saw horses being trained for jumping and they hated it, even did not lift their feet and proned to horrible falls. Was told about a friesian once. Trainer said, he had to do some small jumps. Owner said, nope, don't. Trainer did not listen, endet up with a heap of firewood (former cavaletti) and a very silly look on his face after the horse had ploughed through the material. You cannot FORCE it. Saw nice folks working with a huge and nice warmblood gelding. Did EVERYTHING with/for his owners who both were beginners and not easy on his back, but he was patient, nice and willig. Only thing: Any piece of painted wood reminding of obstacles for jumping. NOPE. He would not even step over it. Raised a big fuss. Soured for good? Maybe. Well, he was a nice and reliable horse for everything else. But here, there was no talk possible. Sometimes s.o. else had messed up before. And the horse has a big NOPE written across its face. Won't do that again. Sometimes owners and trainers have to accept and adapt - or even change horses before everyone involved becomes terribly unhappy. No use spending money in training a discipline the horse hates or feels bad with.

A happy horse would do anything for his human

Angela P: I agree with you. I have found people to lie or train horribly because they are ignorant, don't care... I knew quite a few who did this type of thing. It's just sad for the horse. I love the Barry Hook videos. You can tell how amazing he is with the horses and if I had the money, the horse, the need-I would definitely hire him to train my horse or pony.

+VmasterS Saddlery commented just too soon, just noticed, that the breast part of harness has been changed in to more narrow one and well lifted as you can see from 4:15.

I've always wondered that too.

Absolutely, we have seen here a handful of times a horse that would drive very well but was clearly not very pleased about it!

katana489 Hello, this is the only film of this pony that we made. He was only with us for 2 weeks, so the other pony you mention with the full blaze would be another client's horse and not this one. There is no follow-up video to the pony in this film as he went home to his owners afterwards.

thanks 4 the reply, i was just wondering after u worked with him, if he felt any better about having harness on n how he progressed.? its wonderful that u help out these horses getting over their problems/ fears.:)

barryhook2

We train some horses in open bridles too - its not necessarily a longer process but some horses go happily in blinkers right from the outset, however here in the UK blinkers are used more often that not, whereas in Europe you see more horses driven without blinkers. We didn't train this pony from the start so don't know whether he was initially trained with or without blinkers; as you say, its often owners who do not want to put the time and finances into the horse, which then limits how much the trainer can achieve with it.

We do not know; in cases like this where we give the owner an honest opinion, sometimes people get offended and then do not stay in contact to let us know how the horse is. Once it left our yard we did not hear from the owners again, so we don't know what has happened to this pony.

That's a shame. You do great work and are incredibly patient with all of them!

Michelle, at the risk of repeating ourselves, we presume you are new to our channel. There is no 'correct' way to hold reins - especially when training driving horses. If you do not know this, it is unlikely you have much experience with driving horses at all and your opinion over whether or not a pony is 'struggling' with the cart it has been hitched to is essentially null and void due to lack of education on the matter. Whatever your opinion or experience, Barry has more than enough experience of his own to know what horses are capable of pulling comfortably and does not need the opinion of someone over the internet watching a clip amounting to around one minute of driving. And again, the condescending way you phrase your remarks is not appreciated - please take your comments elsewhere.

@@barryhook2 just been on a carriage course, and have been driving since I was 17. If you don't like criticism, either turn off comments or stop putting up videos that do not promote correct and safe driving procedures. And my name only has one L.

Apologies for the misspelling Michele, but we cannot apologise for our reply. In our opinion, 'just been on a carriage course' or driving since you 'were 17' does not supersede Barry's 65 years of training horses for carriage driving to be safe, confident and happy in any sphere of harness work and in rubber bits. 'Correct and safe' is entirely a subjective thing - what is 'correct and safe' for one turnout, is the exact opposite for another. Just because it is taught on carriage courses or promoted by driving societies, does not make it right for every horse. We will not stop putting up videos showing our training methods. We will not turn off comments as we like to hear from people. Criticism is also welcome. What we don't like is the childish and condescending comments such as 'tut tut tut' and 'naughty naughty'. May we suggest back that if you do not like our channel or what we do here at HDP, there are a great many alternatives on KZfaq that you may prefer.

@@barryhook2 that's great then! If you like to hear from people, you will of course expect all sorts of replies! I'm well into my 90's and still driving, correctly! Thanks for your insightful comments!

I don't think he can emphasize his points enough. There are so many backyard trainers out there that don't listen to what is being said that yea, sometimes it means lots of repetition in what is being said. This man's philosophy is the right way to deal with horses, esp damaged horses. They are special in the way you need to handle them, train them, be with them, etc. I have a horse that was damaged somewhere between 2 and 3 years of age by one of those backyard, self-taught, can't-tell-them-anything trainers. This horse is now 20 years old. I rescued him right when he was going to be sent to the killing pens because no one could safely even get on him. I sent him to one of the countries best Morgan trainers who was reluctant to even take him on. This horse trainer only took him because he thought of my (then) 13 year old daughter's safety around our gelding. He had him for 1.5 years and he came back to me as an incredibly well trained horse but there is a caveat--he has got to know you VERY well and TRUST you very well or you cannot even approach him with a saddle. You can ride him and he is amazing, but those demons never leave horses. And for this reason, he is not a safe horse to ride. I have had him for 17 years and those demons are always buried in the back of his mind and can suddenly come out of nowhere. All because of some idiot who didn't take the time to listen to a knowledgeable trainer like this man is. Because someone couldn't take the time to really listen to what was being said. This was a younger guy who thought he knew everything about horses and he really didn't know anything. So yea, say those valuable points as many times as you think necessary sir! HOPEFULLY the right people actually hear what you are saying and you thereby save at least 1 horse from the lifelong, deeply embedded terrors that my horse, and so many others, have had to endure.