Horses are like people. They grow and learn just as we do. Imagine being only taught half the ABC. You can appreciate the kind of trouble you might run into later in life, and the horse is just the same. Wherever you go you see horses being pushed or pulled, or the horse resisting pressure - barging into the handler, or shying away. There seems to be a lack of communication between man and horse. Horses react to pressure instinctively, by trying to get as far away from it as possible, looking for a comfort zone.

John Chatterton has spent the last 35 years working in Australia with young and problem horses. In this book John covers everything from foal handling, his unique "Ten Step" training system, through to the answers for problem horses.

It covers all aspects of foal handling, right through to the correct weaning process to produce a calm, self-confident, obedient horse.

This horse was happy to walk on - even without a halter.

There is a comprehensive section on loading problems in the problem chapter of this book.

Step 1 : Facing Up

Facing up teaches your horse to approach you on a signal, and that his comfort zone is with you ... to follow you without a halter or lead rope rather than being caught by you. Catching or trapping is what predators do.

Step 2 : Standing Still

Standing still is a very important stage of training a most problems arise from the horse NOT standing still. Tying up is restraining the horse, but standing still teaches your horse to willingly stand on a loose lead - untied.

This young colt was taught the Ten Steps at an early age. He stands still willingly whilst being groomed - with the lead rope laid on the ground.

Step 3 : Touching All Over

Touching all over teaches your horse to RELAX and ACCEPT being handled on every part of their body without any resistance or restraints. A relaxed horse that willingly accepts you is a much SAFER horse.

Step 4 : Backing Up

teach your horse to back up CORRECTLY, from both sides of the horse. It solves a lot of problems, such as barging over the top of you when leading. This step is a great asset when lunging, especially for the downwards transition. Once your horse is backing willingly, he will respect you as a teacher and leader.

Step 5 : Flexing

Flexion is the key to a well trained horse. You have more control, feel safer and gain confidence when on their back. Flexing teaches your horse to communicate - to reach out and touch you with their nose is one of their ways to accept and communicate. Some horses are harder to train as they have learnt to 'switch of' and stop communicating. Once they learn to flex they start to communicate again. John teaches five stages of flexion in this chapter.

Step 6 : Yield to Pressure Forward and Down

There are six stages of yielding to pressure - down, forward, from the poll, from the legs, and a verbal signal to lower head and go forward.

Step 7: Yielding Shoulder and Hindquarter

Teaching your horse to move his shoulder has many advantages, such as not baring into your path when leading. This step also encourages your horse to increase the circle when lunging and to free up the shoulder when under saddle. As your horse understands the signal to yield the hindquarters, he will move off your leg under saddle. It is easier for you to manage your horse on the ground in everyday handling, e.g. moving off the wash bay wall, moving across in the float.

There's often times when a horse will startle when being ridden. John is demonstrating how calm your horse can be when taught the Ten Steps. John is sitting on this horses back, with only a halter on doing his "spooky stuff" ... he has a plastic bag on the end of a lunge whip and is waving it from side to side over the top of the horses head, whilst the horse stand calmly - now this is BOMB PROOF!!!

Step 9 : Leading in Position

Now you are ready to practice previous steps whilst leading your horse. You can give him a verbal signal to move forward; a hand signal to turn his shoulder away from you; a signal to step and back up; all whilst he accepts spooky objects to prevent shying. If your horse has successfully learnt and accepted the above steps, he will calmly lead alongside you WITHOUT the use of a whip, bits or chains.

After being taught the Ten Steps this horse will lead in position - even without a halter on!

Step 10 : Lunging

In this step you will be teaching your horse to go forward on a circle whilst learning to listen to your signals from a distance. Lunging is made easy using the Ten Step System, giving him a verbal signal to go forward instead of using whips or swinging a lead to drive him forward. There is also a signal for the downward transition or to halt rather than pulling on your lunge lead to stop him, which encourages him to disengage his hindquarters, rather than engage them. The signal produces a correct, square halt.

This book covers a large cross-section of problems owners may experience with their horses. Most problems start at an early age by putting a halter on the foal, and holding onto the halter while handling the foal. When the foal tries to move, the normal reaction is to hold the halter firmly to control the foal. It doesn't understand the pressure it feels on its head, so it learns to pull against the pressure. A foal can easily be restrained by holding the halter firmly, but they feel pressured. As it is natural for them to run away from any sort of pressure, they can easily hurt themselves by running backwards, rearing up and flipping over. From this you will have taught them how to resist the halter, instead of how to give to it. Even with a quiet foal, holding onto the halter to handle them will make them resentful and switch off. As the foal grows and gets stronger, you will find it harder to control. I often hear the phrase "this horse has got a lot of dirt (fight) in him". I call it spirit. A lot of training methods are breaking their spirit. I think that is where the words 'halter break' and 'breaking in' came from. I prefer to think of it as stages in education, as we do with our own schooling (pre-school, primary, high school, etc.).

In this book I will give you a ten step program that you can follow to teach your horse to communicate, to understand what you want, then they will work with you willingly and relax with you. I never liked the term "make him do it". How do you like someone telling you "I am going to make you do this"? You would immediately get your back up and retaliate. A lot of problems start by not teaching your foal to yield to the halter. Many horses pull back when they are tied up. They have been taught to pull against the pressure for it to release. People think the horse is stubborn and fight against them by holding the halter tightly. The horses reaction to all this pressure is to pull against it. as they instinctively want to get away from pressure.

Some of the problems addressed are:

Hard to catch.
Won't stand still.
Fidgets, paws and snatches the lead.
Don't like being touched, wormed, clipped, washed, rugged, etc.

Loading problems:

1. Won't approach the float.
2. Rearing up and pulling back.
3. Veering to side of ramp.
4. Swinging hindquarters out.
5. Walks in but rushes out.
6. Hits head when backed out.

John Chatterton is a horseman in the true sense of the word. His unique perspective demonstrates a rare depth of understanding of horses. John grew up on a cattle ranch in Paraguay, South America. The Horse was often a person's most valuable possession. The care and respect of the Gouchos (local natives) for their horses was reflected in their horsemanship. Studying their technique and many others over the past 40 years, John developed his own unique method of communicating with the horse using specific signals and training, which he calls his TEN STEPS!

35 years ago John settled in Australia. He has bred many foals, which gave him the opportunity to study young horses behaviour and habits, giving him an insight into why most equestrian problems occur no matter what category the horse is trained in. John observed that young foals are very sensitive and responsive to signals to get them to go where they are needed, rather than man-handling and over powering them for even the simplest things, such as putting a halter on. John's technique has been developed over the last thirty years, which has now given him a name as a horse psychologist for training young and problem horses. One of the most common problems John is asked to correct, is float loading. His methods are quiet, calm and effective, often astounding the horses owners. After years of studying horses on floats and trying to solve scrambling problems, he designed floats that are safe and comfortable for the horse, known as JR floats.

Followed correctly, these ten steps will give you a greater understanding and communication with your horse. It will increase their willingness to learn, making them calmer, more responsive and attentive to you, and will improve most under saddle problems as a result. After many years working with people who are experiencing problems, John has found that most horses have these problems as a result of not having had their basics well established. The degree of respect and confidence necessary for a horse to be comfortable, is just not there.

You can easily and inexpensively convert a horse which is dangerous, into one which is safe and a pleasure to be around in only a short period of time. Some habits your horse has may not be dangerous, such as being hard to catch, hard to float, not tying up, walking over you, or not paying attention to you. All of these and many other common annoying problems are easily overcome using the Ten Steps. These Ten Steps are very easy and simple to learn, but I can't stress enough how important they are to every horse and horse owner!

"Giddy Up Australia proudly supports John Chatterton and his 10 steps. These steps make the handling of horses as easy as ABC. My wife and I have watched John work with problem horses over the past 10 years. These problems range from floating to catching to tying to spooking and all these problems are from bad horse management. John can show you the ten steps to an easy, relaxing and enjoyable relationship with your horse, without force."

"The Ten Step approach to horse handling and training has been used exclusively at Skye-Mist Stud for the past seven years. Horses and ponies started from birth are so relaxed and responsive with training and older ones re-trained using the Ten Steps suddenly want to learn. Thank you John for putting so much of your knowledge and experiences into this book. I know that anyone who reads it and uses the knowledge will find it invaluable in establishing a trusting partnership with their horse or pony."

"I have been training with John for over 15 years and seen many other trainers in between. In my opinion, nobody compares to John. He's the best trainer I have seen or come across."

"I owe many thanks and gratitude to John Chatterton and his Ten Steps. Without them I would not have learnt to understand the importance of Natural Horsemanship - patience, love, understanding and communication. I was lucky enough to cross paths with John - an extraordinarily quiet spoken gentleman, who had some sort of inner bonding with these intelligent creatures. With his help and understanding and the Ten Steps, not only did my relationship with my horse Ziriha improve, but his whole nature changed from the Arabian colt from hell to the most loving, affectionate and calm horse, who was willing and interested to learn. My friend, my teacher, thanks heaps John."