Brandy

New York's First Competition Agility Horse

Brandy was found wandering loose in New York state, so feral it took months to trap her so she could be hauled off to a rescue farm. Scars showed significant wounds, and her udder indicated she’d had a foal. Her teeth said she was only three. I met her three years later when I volunteered to foster and train a rescued horse with the goal of making her more adoptable. At that point Brandy was so fearful of people that her adoption prospects were non-existent. Brandy’s fear prompted me to radically change the way I relate to horses. Conventional pressure-release training applied by a dominant leader had led to disastrous results with her, so I focused instead on earning her trust by offering protection instead of pressure. I call this Protector Leadership. My article The Wayward Recycle Bin and Other Adventures shows how this works in real world situations. Then I restarted her training by inviting her to copy me, a method that Vanessa Bee describes clearly in The Horse Agility Handbook. Thus I could teach her cues using little or no pressure. Five months later Brandy became one of the first horses in the United States to compete in Horse Agility. Brandy’s transformation from “wild” pony to confident, reliable partner inspired me to research and write What Horses Really Want. In it I explain how and why Protector Leadership works, and how you can use it to create a successful partnership with your horse. Brandy now competes at liberty in upper level agility courses. Play Video She also enjoys doing agility with my grandchildren. Play Video