of time.
There we go. We're asking them to change the way they think,
their natural instinct for flight, and not only change that but respond to us that is
initially perceived as a predator. I'm in here for domestic violence assault,
and I was a very angry man when I came to prison. I got locked up 18 years ago for a murder
I committed.
I called it self-defense, the lay people said it wasn't. We're the oldest state prison in Arizona. Right now in the wild there are maybe 58-60,000
wild horses and it's much more than the range will support. So Bureau of Land Management, when they have
too many horses for a specific range, they'll gather them and they'll get them to a facility
to find homes for.
I basically call this my morning therapy. The best trainers have no training experience. Because some guys with horse experience aren't
teachable. So the inmates now in the program, the majority had zero horse experience, some
had zero animal experience.
There wasn't many cowboys where I grew up. That would have been hard to fathom. But here
I am. I never even had a puppy.
I've seen goldfish
and people having fishes and people taking on pets, it just was never my thing. When we first got him, we couldn't get near
him. Do you trust me with your foot this morning? Huh? Good boy. Here it is a year-plus later and I really
couldn't imagine life without horses.
Any. Somehow in some form in some fashion. Somebody's gonna fall in love with her.
My baby.
They come out of the wild with certain behaviors
that were key to their survival. These inmates, a lot of them come in with certain things
that they have picked up, right or wrong, that they felt they needed to survive or function. They're going from, from wild, if you will,
to gentle. There you go, good.
Some of the guys that are in for the, what we would consider the more serious crimes,
the more violent crimes, I think they have more to relate to. When these horses first come in, their problem
is trust. When I first come into prison, that was my problem. Eighteen years ago it probably
wouldn't have worked because my attitude wasn't right.
I had a a a, for lack of better words, a street
mentality. I don't think I'd have had the patience. He just bein' ornery this morning. He has
his days.
Now this is what you get now, now I'm just goin' stand here. He gets it. What I learn from my horses is patience, love
and caring. And trust.
Humans hold a grudge. Horses don't hold a
grudge. The inmate's not just in there saying I'm
going to teach this horse how to change, but the inmate needs to understand, I need to
learn from the horse on how to change him. You know when I got locked up, it's like,
you know, because I believe in God, and I.
Asked him, I said, God, you know, give me
the silver lining in this whole thing so I can accept this and be OK with it. And this
is the silver lining in my sentence is this job. You're not breaking the horse, you're softening
the horse. We're not just throwing on cowboy boots and
a cowboy hat and bucking them out.
We'll start a horse just going in a circle.
And that horse is going to have a natural tendency to run. And starting to get that
horse to turn inside, every time the horse turns inside or does what we want, my emphasis
is that we take all the pressure off. Sometimes it comes along quicker. I've had
them within ...
I've had them within 15 minutes walk from one of the ... Well, no, let me rephrase
that. One time in my life I've had them, 15 minutes, this horse went from one side of the pen to the other. And came and put his nose my chest.
The method of training is referred to primarily
as horse whispering. Good for you. Good boy. I think the reason we say that is because
the trainers are whispering.
(Singing) And why should my heart ... (Off camera) The trainers are speaking softly
but it's to keep us soft as well as have that gentle approach. You like that one, huh? (Off camera) It almost sounds like you're
doing something a little mystical. You're whispering something.
Good for you, good boy. (Off camera) And in reality you're just trying
to keep that horse calm. What we really are doing is finding a way to say yes to the horse. Never had one bite me.
Had 'em nip at my shirt.
They're just trying to figure me out. And I've had 'em pull my hat off so I don't want
them to pull my nice hat off. And after awhile the horse figures out, oh,
every time the pressure goes away, I must have done something right. He can be in there for five, 10 minutes, and
that horse is squaring up with him.
Walking up, smelling his hand. The old way of training horses pretty much
was pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure. You get a saddle, bridle on a horse, you get
on and the horse typically is going to either run or explode, especially the wild horses.
And it was all corrective. This is all progressive.
Bottom line is you're not going to force a
horse to do anything you don't want to do, the way we train out here. And once you learn how to recognize the body
language of a horse, they talk to you and basically in so many body language words that
tell you, hey, you know, you're pushing me too far, slow down. You know, I'm trying to
figure out what you're asking. It's a spiritual connection because you're
pretty much listening to them but you have to listen not with your ears because they
don't say anything.
You kind of listen with your heart. Oh now you want a kiss? No, I don't kiss.
I don't like kisses. Wild horses just in general there's a certain
romantic attachment we have. And I think rightly so.
They are very much symbols of the American
West. Mustangs, for one thing, they're just, they're
amazing animals that have learned to survive in the wild. They have real diverse genetics.
There are some of them in the northern areas that came in with the wagon trains. The Native Americans had horses, some of those
had a Spanish genetics or Spanish lineage.
You had the cavalry come in with horses that
had Morgan influence. You had ranchers that come in, their horses
got away or they turned them loose. So over a period of time, just survival of the fittest,
you have this strong genetic strain that begins to emerge where they have strong bones, strong
hooves. This the cream of the crop right here.
You
see their attitude before and then you see their attitude in about a couple months. It's
a lot different. (Slightly off camera) Guys, be picking names
out of that list. Don't be coming up with these innovative names that nobody knows what
they mean.
(Group laughing) And once I know what they
mean, I don't want to know. So none of those names. Nice horse names. Nice horse names.
I've had inmates come up and say, I never
had on the outside, I never had success and saw something through to fulfillment. I always
took shortcuts. It really is a big success when they are able
to see this horse come in, nobody's touched it as far as the horse willingly allowing
somebody to touch it. And to have that horse responding and then
progressing on up to saddle training where they're riding it through obstacles and, uh,
it is really amazing to see.
Any time you came in the pen, she would keep
that head away from you and swing her behind to you. But with a little love and care and understanding,
not forcing her, letting her take her time, letting her figure it out, letting her understand
that I'm not trying to hurt her. Now I can take this and slip it right on in.
She has no problem with it. I'm pretty good at it.
I've actually found
something I'm pretty decent at. I can make a living doing this. I have no other trade,
you know, and I could actually get out of here and make a living training horses. If I had to choose between these inmates leaving
here with a great career or great character, I would choose character in a heartbeat.
It's a sense of accomplishment. And for some
people, they might look at it is, you know, it's small and insignificant. But for somebody who let's say didn't believe
in himself, to actually get that type of response from an animal. I don't know, it does something
to you.
It validates the hard work that you put in. Not just in training the horse but the hard
work you put in itself. Getting to this point. I'm not a kid.
I'm 40 ... I'll be 46 years
old this year. And to finally say, OK, you have something
to stand on, you're not as worthless as you believed you are. For me, that's, that's an
accomplishment.
Yeah, it's huge, it's big. You know, and I
don't take it lightly. They all come in with baggage and it doesn't
excuse what they did. But you get insight into maybe why they, why
they did those things.
And what happens over a period of time is,
they begin to understand they don't have to go back out and live that way. And I've learned through working with horses
how to step back. On the streets I didn't know how to step back. I didn't know how to stop and say, OK, enough's enough, I'm gonna leave and I'm gonna think about what's going
on, you know, and why my anger's getting the best of me.
And that's really the key, regardless of why
they're here, I want them to understand that they can live a different way when they get out. And I don't have a rehabilitation manual or
a rehabilitation plan, it is just a part of the whole process. And I want these guys to think about what
they're going to do when they get out. We let these horses prove themselves, why
can't we let the inmates prove themselves as well? We all need each other.
Hmmm? Yeah. And we need
them too, huh? I need you too. Or else you wouldn't be here. Right?.
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