I was raised on a farm north of Harmony, MN. Just like the cattle and hogs,   horses were a commodity on the farm. My   father would buy a pony or horse at a local sales barn, bring it home, put me on its back and when I stopped hitting the ground the horse was considered finished. That was the way it felt to a small boy back then. After high school I received a vocation as a Behavior Analyst, learning how to identify and alter behaviors in humans. Since 1987 I have adapted my skills from being a human analyst to being a horse analyst and methodically rewarding desired behaviors and not ‘breaking’ horses anymore. In short, I make the undesired behavior uncomfortable and the desired behavior easy.

Today’s famous trainers such as Monty Roberts, Pat Parelli and Clinton Anderson, in my mind, are all basically behavior analysts who specialize with horses. They combine their methodical training skills with the issue of man being a predator and the horse a prey animal. They all talk with their horses using the nonverbal language of the body, otherwise known as natural horsemanship.