Beaten with a whip? Retraining a whip-shy horse that has bolted.

Learn more about our horse training; subscribe to our Carriage Driving Video Library at Alfie was imported from Ireland after bolting in harness. He was terrified of the whip and very uptight in harness. After 3 weeks with us, this is his progress showing his reaction to the noise of the whip and explaining our reschooling principles for him. In our opinion he had been badly frightened or hurt by the whip. We discuss how we will get him used to the whip, why it is important that he is used to a whip even though he is currently frightened of it, and the importance of using a rubber bit in carriage driving horses that have run away. Barry also talks about making the decision to reschool a horse and invest financially in its future as a harness horse, or whether to change career to riding; especially relevant in this case as Alfie has fantastic naturally expressive paces. It is always something we like people to think about as you also need to take into account your own drivi