Sprinkles, aka Sprinx, is a 2018 QH x Hanoverian cross. From the ages of 4-6, she was ridden as a gaming horse for Oregeon High School Equestrian Team (OHSET) speed events. She was fast, but she wasn’t happy. Loose in her pasture, Sprinx welcomed attention from her people. But all handling of Sprinx had become a “shit-show,” in the words of her former owner.

Indeed, Sprinx showed her true colors on the day I picked her up, running over her owner during leading , kicking at whomever was at the end of the lead rope (including me) and of course refusing to get into the horse trailer. Sprinx would as soon run over a human as take any direction from one.

Methods of dominance and control were used to get Sprinx to “shape up.” A former trainer made use of lunge whips and “shin hobbles” (securing the two front limbs to each other at mid-cannon level, just below the knee) to “teach” Sprinx to back-off. Naturally, these methods appeared to work while Sprinx was handled by the trainer, but her dangerous behaviors returned as soon as anybody else handled her.

Whatever “control” this trainer had over Sprinx had been obtained entirely through physical restraint and fear.

When I heard that Sprinx was looking for a new home, I knew she would be a fantastic demonstration of teaching a horse to cooperate without physical dominance. You can follow the full chronicles of her clicker training journey here.