Mark Bolender, a pioneer of Extreme and Mountain Trail riding, builds training around equine instincts, patience, and mutual trust. His core philosophy emphasizes allowing horses to think independently rather than relying blindly on the rider resulting in a bold and confident partnership.

Years ago, the late Howard Hale asked Washington horse trainer Mark Bolender what his number one rules are when it comes to training horses. Let's listen in to that answer. It still applies today.

Rule number one that we train under in their world, there are no equals. You're either above or below it, but they don't understand equality. Not only do they not understand it, it confuses them.

Rule number two is if you watch the alpha mare move from one part of the pasture to another or from one pasture to another, all the horses follow. Or you're on a trail ride, the first horse on the trail is pretty alert and bright. The rest of them are halfway sleeping because they know that if Cougar gets number one, then they have to wake up, but until then, they relax. They naturally like to follow. That's just part of their ingrained nature.

Rule 3 is if a horse sees you as a leader or sees the alpha mare as worthy of leadership, then they try to please that horse or that human.

Rule number 4 that I train under is instinct.

Instinct drives one, two, and three. Instinct is not right, wrong, good, or bad. It just is, but it's a sign of a different type or greater type of intelligence than what human beings possess.

Washington horse trainer Mark Bolender on today's Horseman's Corner. Our longer extended interviews can be found on horsemanscorner.com. Along with those extended interviews, you will also see that we have been offering website design services for over 25 years. If you need help, give us a call.

The numbers are on our website at horsemanscorner.com or our main website at halebroadcasting.com. That's going to do it for today's program.