Thomas Equestrian Services since 1987

Breaking In Methods

Luke is currently breaking in horses at Oberon full time until the 1st May 2010 after which he will commence work as the Stockman/Entertainer at The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach until October 2010.

The methods demonstrated here are used during the first 2-3 days of the breaking in process. What I have shown you are the three different methods I like to use. We have highlighted this period because we feel that the first few days are crucial. What we have shown you is the building of a solid foundation over the first 2-3 days. Once the foundation is solid the rest is easy.

The J.D. Wilton Method

This is the J.D. Wilton method. Developed from earlier part of the century by JD W who broke in around 10000 wild horses on cattle stations in Australia mainly in QLD. The horses being wild had to be lassoed to be caught.
Lasso Lesson:
Mainly these days maybe only one in a thousand horses has to be lassoed. For the sake of demonstration these slides are included.

The Davies Method

The photos in this section are loosely based on the technique developed by Neil & Henry Davies. The main aim with this technique is to keep the horse from bucking.

 

 

 

 

The Jeffrey's Method

This method was developed by Kel Jeffrey in the early part of the century - he was studying law at Melbourne University & suffered a collapse and was told to head of into the country to recuperate - he had no previous experience with horses. He was on a big cattle property resting up. All the stockmen had gone out mustering one day, there was one horse left that he was told could not be broken. When they came back that afternoon he was riding the horse to the amazement of the stockmen.
Now the key to this technique is what Jeffrey's called the magic lunge - were he would take hold of the lasso and would give the horse a very firm pull on the rope followed by an immediate release. This would give the horse the impression that the handler was an awful lot stronger than the horse was and that resistance was futile. Jeffrey's then used what he called the advance & retreat approach.

Moving in slow motion until he could handle the horse all over and eventually mount and ride. We have some footage of Jeffrey's when he was 78 yrs old breaking in a wild horse the film was taken in 1950 and is a remarkable piece of Australian horse breaking history.