One good whack is better than a thousand little taps. My mentor, Gordon McKinlay, shared this piece of advice with me and it taught me to be an effective horseman. Nagging a horse only teaches him to be resentful and dull. When you apply pressure, expect an immediate response. There are four stages of pressure: low, medium, high and extra high. Every time you apply pressure, you do so in four beats—one, two, three, four; one, two, three, four. With each set of four numbers increase the amount of pressure until the horse gives you the correct response, then immediately release the pressure.

You have certain responsibilities and your horse has certain responsibilities. Your responsibility is to be black and white—to make training easy for the horse to understand. Whenever you are a shade of gray, it makes you unclear or inconsistent, which is unfair to the horse and makes it hard for him to understand what you want him to do. Your horse's responsibility is to respect you. He may not always do everything right, but he should always try to find the right answer. A disrespectful horse doesn't try. He doesn't care. He is only concerned about what he wants and what you can give him.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when working with horses is sneaking around them and making excuses for their behavior. In reality, trying to protect a horse from objects he's scared of only makes the situation worse. As a trainer, your goal is to desensitize your horse to as many objects that move and make a noise as you possibly can. You can't get that done if you're afraid to scare him. When I'm desensitizing a horse, if he wants to get scared, that's fine by me. Heart attacks are free. As long as he stays out of my personal hula hoop space, I don't care if he has a heart attack.

When you are desensitizing your horse to a new object, keep in mind that resistance is normal. Often, the reason for resistance is related to the horse's desire for safety and comfort. Imagine a bull's eye on a target. In the middle of this bull's eye is your horse. The area around the bull's eye is his Comfort Zone. He is familiar with everything that goes on in that area, and he is comfortable with it. When you first start working with your horse, his Comfort Zone will be very small, but the more you work with him and introduce new objects to him, the bigger his Comfort Zone will become.

Buy a horse that will build your confidence when you first get into the horse business. When people who are just getting started end up buying the wrong horse, things go downhill in a hurry. I can't tell you how many people buy their first horse, get into trouble, get bucked off, fall off, lose their confidence, sell the horse, sell their saddle, sell the trailer and never want to ride a horse again! Let me save you some trouble right now – buy a horse that will give you confidence.

Horses don't learn from pressure; they learn from the release of pressure. While pressure motivates the horse to look for another answer, it is the release of pressure that teaches him that he did the right thing. That's why timing is such a crucial element in training horses. If your timing is off, you may be rewarding the horse for the wrong behavior and sending him mixed signals. Whatever the horse is doing the exact second you release the pressure is what you're rewarding him for. So if he rears and you release pressure, you've just rewarded him for rearing.

Every single moment you're with your horse, you should be training on him. When you're cleaning his stall, have him move around you, rather than vice versa. If he puts his head up when you're putting his blanket on or taking it off, pause a moment to desensitize him to the blanket and remind him to remain standing still. As you're leading him, insist that he follow obediently, without hanging back or dragging you forward. The old adage is absolutely true: You're either training your horse – or untraining – your horse every moment you're with him.

Horses are naturally afraid of objects that move and make a noise, something that the plastic bag does both of. Desensitizing your horse to plastic bags will increase his tolerance of strange objects and acceptance of your tools. Remember, your goal as a horse trainer is to desensitize your horse to as many objects that move and make a noise as possible. Many horses are afraid of plastic bags, but by using the Approach and Retreat Method, you can teach your horse to use the thinking side of his brain, rather than just reacting with panic.

Horses establish dominance by being able to move each other's feet. The most dominant horse in a herd can make all the other horses move their feet forwards, backwards, left and right. Horses use that same principle when they are around us. Anytime you can move your horse's feet forwards, backwards, left and right, you are establishing yourself as the leader and commanding his respect. Anytime the horse moves your feet, in his mind, he's establishing himself as the leader. Remember, whoever moves first, loses.

When I was studying under legendary Australian reining and cow horse trainer, Ian Francis, he used to remind me that there are a lot of heroes in the graveyard. What he meant by that was that too many people get on horses that aren't ready to be ridden and get bucked off. They break their necks and die because they don't use their heads. Preparation is the key. Groundwork exercises are designed so that you can get control of your horse's feet on the ground before getting in the saddle where you have less control.