‘Backyard Trainer’ Initiative Gives Equines Opportunities
Submitted by: Aeron Mack
Phone: 540-364-1446
Email Address: aeronmack(at)yahoo.com
Date Added: 1/7/2009
‘Backyard Trainer’ Initiative Gives Equines Opportunities
by BETSY MANIERRE, For Middleburg Life
(Created: Saturday, November 8, 2008 3:55 PM EST)
A $100 horse from the Marshall Livestock Exchange auction sounds like a recipe for disaster. The mare doesn’t load into a trailer, doesn’t allow herself to be caught or haltered, and has almost certainly never seen a saddle or bridle.
She’s 4 years old and knows only two things: people are scary creatures, and whatever’s gonna happen to her next probably won’t be pleasant.
Sadly, Sundance’s equine outlook on the world is not unique, and there are lots of nice animals out there that share it. They can be bought for a song at the livestock sales, where they often end up when their exasperated owners don’t know what else to do but sell them - cheap - to whomever will take them.
Such unhappy situations can provide opportunities, however, for people like local horse trainer Aeron Mack Hynes.
She’s the “Backyard Trainer,” and without the benefit of fancy facilities, she uses simple but effective methods of natural horsemanship to transform problem horses into useful animals.
Her tools include lots of time and patience, a simple rope halter and lead, and her round pen (a portable corral constructed of sectional metal fencing) set up, literally, in her backyard.
A big fan of the reality television show “Flip that House,” in which real estate investors hope to purchase, renovate and resell residences at a tidy profit, Aeron has developed her own kind of equine rescue operation along the same lines, and her “Flip That Horse” program was born (www.flipthathorse.com).
Her goal is three-fold.
Primarily, she wants to save nice horses in need, by rehabilitating problem animals as efficiently as possible and placing them in good homes.
Secondly, she wishes to highlight and demonstrate the techniques of natural horsemanship, methods that she has gleaned from the work of the well-known trainer John Lyons and others, and perfected through her own experience.
Her Web site, www.naturalhorsemanship.biz, describes these in detail, and serves as an outlet for products that she recommends and has developed herself, including the Aeron Riding Halter.
Finally, her business requires that by investing her time and knowledge into these equine projects, she makes a profit.
“Just like houses, horses cost money to keep,” she notes. By invested a very modest amount in the purchase of the animal, she is able to increase its market value many times over after she transforms it into a safe, happy horse.
Sundance is a prime test case. Aeron spotted her at the Marshall sales about a year ago, and liked what she saw.
She was a 2-year-old palomino filly, according to her owners, who wanted $400 for her. They were unable to find a buyer at that price, and at the end of the day Aeron offered $100, with a quarter of the stake from her “silent partner” in the project, her 12-year-old son, James.
The owners gratefully accepted; Aeron paid up and walked Sundance back to her home nearby.
A visit by the vet three days later revealed the horse’s true age as 4, and despite her undernourished condition, confirmed that she was generally healthy and sound.
More importantly, however, the vet appointment brought the challenge into high relief. Sundance had been traumatized by past handling; she was frightened of people and virtually uncatchable. In short, she was the perfect candidate for Aeron’s round pen training.
Throughout the late fall of 2007, Aeron worked with the mare, first luring her into the enclosure, in her backyard, and teaching her simple lessons about turning toward her, coming to her, and accepting a halter. She recorded her progress on YouTube and on DVDs, which are available for purchase from her Web site.
Like all good trainers, Aeron always begins a lesson where the horse is, in its so-called “comfort zone,” before she begins asking anything of it.
She carefully observes the animal’s demeanor - its breathing, posture, ears, tail movement - and reacts accordingly as her lessons proceed in baby steps.
“This is very important,” she said. “John Lyons emphasizes that the safety of both human and horse is absolutely central to natural horsemanship. The goal is to at all times remain relaxed and safe, so that the animal is at least as calm at the end of the exercise as it was at the beginning. This litmus test helps us evaluate and avoid a lot of mistakes.”
“Ask yourself, ‘Will my horse be more calm after I chase him onto my trailer with this broom than he was before he approached the ramp?’ Clearly not, so don’t do it.”
After the winter off, Sundance made rapid progress this past summer.
“I wish all horses were started this way,” she says during Episode 6 of “Flip That Horse,” in which she saddles the mare for the first time. “Think of all the problems we could avoid.”
This story has a happy ending: at the end of the summer, Aeron sold her mare to a wonderful home.
“Of course; I was picky about where she ended up,” she noted, before she handed James his tidy profit.
Her new goal: with new horses and additional investors, she’ll be on her way to “flipping” many more lucky horses.
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