Gerry Gesell’s philosophy on horse training comes from years of working with, for, and alongside cowboys from different regions as well as horse trainers from many different disciplines such as polo, cutting, ranching, dressage, and English.
Everyone has their ideas for training horses and starting the young horse. Gerry has implemented many of these, and has a unique way of combining methods, but he is always open to new ideas or even a reminder of an old method. Gerry has had the good fortune to test and work out many methods on many different horses and has learned that what works on one horse might not work on another. With that being said… imagination and an open mind is key.
Of course, we all believe that there is a large mental part to training a young horse, but in order to get to that part in a horse’s mind we must work on the physical part of training. This is the blood, sweat, and tears of horse training. This is what makes it all worth it! The rope burns on your hands, the sore back, and the stiff arms are what makes him go over his days work to figure out what he did right, what he did wrong, and what he will do the next day to be successful with the horses. Gerry likes to believe that the horses are going through the same motions.
Gerry believes in putting a young horse to work right away. He is always studying and observing each colt and knows when to move and when to hold. He truly sets a horse’s mind working and finds creative ways that are natural and productive to a horse’s learning. But all the while, work is straight forward, upfront, and obvious, either on the ground or in the saddle.
Gerry wants people to understand that we are humans and we make mistakes, and a horse’s problems are usually caused from those mistakes. So he has a very strong belief in establishing the obvious: we are man, you are horse. We must draw the line between man and beast for a safe, successful, and useful relationship with our equine partner.
Edward Larocque Tinker said it best,
“The horse is faithful friend of man and servant of civilization.”
