# 'Rick gore horsemanship'



## risky business (11 June 2013)

Anyone heard of him? Or know what he does at all? 

Seen some interesting comments on Facebook and wondered what all the fuss was about! (Good and bad). 

Iv honestly never heard of him or what he may or may not do. 

Anymore shed some light?


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## risky business (11 June 2013)

Anyone! Stupid phone!


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## Fools Motto (11 June 2013)

You-Tube him....


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## Oberon (11 June 2013)

I get a bad vibe from his text.

Seems to have a problem with women.


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## mandwhy (11 June 2013)

I quite like him as natural horsemanship people go and have found his videos really interesting (ive watched pretty much all of them). A lot of people say he doesn't like women because he mocks women not being able to deal with their fluffy babies when they turn psycho, well he's got a point! He also does not take every opportunity to grab money from gullible people and endorse products and provide meaningless qualifications for cash! His website has some good tips too. It's all western orientated.

ETA the first few videos I watched he seemed to have a bit of an attitude problem and could be too mocking/snidey towards people making mistakes, I can see why he might raise a few hackles!! I just find the content quite easy to understand and makes sense. I think he seems like someone who prefers to be around animals than people.


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## Oberon (11 June 2013)

I think there are better ways to engage people than to mock behind a keyboard and I don't like the way he gets into cat fights with people on the YouTube commentary.

It smacks of insecurity to me and means I can't trust what he says........


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## mandwhy (11 June 2013)

Yes I noticed that, he seems to have made a sort of pact to stop replying to people who provoke him now, which is probably for the best when you are easily agitated!


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## LittleBlackMule (11 June 2013)

I like him. Yes his attitude is offensive to some, but that probably comes from seeing so many people messing their horses up.
Actually he isn't sexist; as he explains in one of his videos, he just doesn't like stupid people. The horseworld attracts more women than men, so by the law of averages most of the stupid ones are going to be women..


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## Caol Ila (11 June 2013)

He doesn't say anything too objectionable about training horses per se, but he can't open his mouth without sounding like a knob.  There are plenty of people out there who have excellent, better even, advice who also don't come across as giant dicks, so why bother with Rick?


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## spacie1977 (11 June 2013)

I love his videos. I think he's hilarious and having been brought up with yanks, I just take it as a bit of fun ribbing when he's commenting on women as he knows the vast majority of his viewers are likely to be women. He does have a point though; us ladies do treat our horses as our babies and often refuse to see them as a seperate species whose natural responses to things are usually far from human


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## GeorgeyGal (11 June 2013)

Check out his website thinklikeahorse it's such an interesting read, I think everyone would get something out of it.


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## risky business (11 June 2013)

Thanks for the replies guys 

So it's his attitude more than his horsemanship people are not keen on! I don't have a horse anymore so doesn't matter to me I just saw this little fuss being made on Facebook and wondered what he was all about!

Thought it might be .. Dare I say it.. Parelli situation!


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## Caol Ila (11 June 2013)

spacie1977 said:



			I love his videos. I think he's hilarious and having been brought up with yanks, I just take it as a bit of fun ribbing when he's commenting on women as he knows the vast majority of his viewers are likely to be women. He does have a point though; us ladies do treat our horses as our babies and often refuse to see them as a seperate species whose natural responses to things are usually far from human
		
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"Us ladies."  Excuse me... the vast majority of skilled and devoted horse women I have met over the years don't "treat our horses as our babies and often refuse to see them as a seperate species whose natural responses to things are usually far from human."  Sure, some people do, but it cheeses me off to no end when people make daft generalizations like "women baby their horses."  

 I AM American and I still think he's a knobend.  Read the introductory comments on his website.  The real winner is: "If you understand a horse, you will understand me." Um, really, Rick?  Wow.

There's a Yank horse forum where his videos have taken a bit of a slagging (deservedly so, in my mind), and in response to that, he has written on his site: "Here is a link to a site that shows the Nasty Horseforum.com people..."  No horse on the planet would be capable of that level of passive aggressive behaviour.  Instead of engaging people in debate, it's far easier to snipe at them from the safety of your own website.


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## ridefast (11 June 2013)

He was really rude in a response to one of my comments on his youtube a few days ago, and then blocked me from replying. NOT very professional.


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## baileyxboo (11 June 2013)

It's mr t I love lol, I love how he treats his horses, like there big dogs! They follow him around and everything, soo sweet


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## JDee (14 June 2013)

He's probably the most disliked and criticized person on US forums and some have banned all threads about him after accusations were made about the forum being a breeding ground for sexual predators
He doesn't say anything useful that's original - all cherry picked from other trainers and a lot of what is says is narrow minded and potentially dangerous
The UK has way better people to learn from - you don't need his sort of thing


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## fburton (15 June 2013)

A lot of blethers about dominance.


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## muff747 (15 June 2013)

I found his website a couple of years ago and refer to it sometimes for some horse sense advice - not seen him on facebook or forums.
He did used to make me chuckle a bit on some of the videos on his site.
Overall, I think I like his methods - even if they are used by others   We all pick up methods and advice from others and adapt them to our own style of horsemanship - or rather majority of others do.  
Some just have their own weird methods, totally alien to the majority, and don't need to learn any more cos they know it all


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## Tinypony (15 June 2013)

Anyone who is critical of Parelli would probably not like what he does.  You can't put a fag paper between them imho.


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## mandwhy (15 June 2013)

Well if anyone would like to recommend people who write online or produce free videos for my perusal I would be interested  I just came across his vids by chance on YouTube  

I'm more interested in classical type things to be honest but I feel some NH stuff is useful too... No point sticking to just one school of thought if you can combine them happily.


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## JDee (15 June 2013)

Tinypony said:



			Anyone who is critical of Parelli would probably not like what he does.  You can't put a fag paper between them imho.
		
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I'm not a Parelli fan but would take him above Gore any day. PP isn't so much of a one trick pony and doesn't stoop to being so rude and offensive when people don't see things his way
Gore has only one way which is his way. He comes over as having very little knowledge of anything but placid long suffering horses.
He is - no bits, no spurs, no whips, no shoes, riding in a rope halter, seems to despise competitions and horse living out 24/7 with no middle ground or tolerance
If advice is worth having then generally its worth paying for - you don't get owt for nowt!!!


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## kellybee (17 June 2013)

I stumbled across his channel whikst looking for videos on herd behaviour. He can be patronising but i'm of the opinion that he doesnt say anything that isnt really true. Women do faff, put pink fluffy rugs on native breeds and think the horse needs kisses a hundred times a day, but he disagrees and i like his attitude. I learned a lot from his videos, and he talks in real simple terms - i appreciate him for what he is!


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## Brontie (17 June 2013)

Cannot tolerate the man.


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## bellydancer (21 July 2013)

LittleBlackMule said:



			I like him. Yes his attitude is offensive to some, but that probably comes from seeing so many people messing their horses up.
Actually he isn't sexist; as he explains in one of his videos, he just doesn't like stupid people. The horseworld attracts more women than men, so by the law of averages most of the stupid ones are going to be women..
		
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I totally agree with you there (I just did a search on here). I love his videos and I'd love to add a positive on here.
Rick Gore's information really opened up my eyes to a lot of things -- and I couldn't recommend it enough. I'm quite addicted to his videos actually, haha --- and I love how he is just all about ''the horse''. I really respect the guy for doing what he does.


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## VikingSong (24 August 2016)

kellybee said:



			Women do faff, put pink fluffy rugs on native breeds and think the horse needs kisses a hundred times a day..
		
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I'm sorry, but that's a terrible generalisation. Have you met every horsewoman and observed how she interacts with her horse(s)? Of course you haven't. So how can you state, as if it were a fact, that "women do faff, put pink fluffy rugs on native breeds and think the horse needs kisses a hundred times a day?"

I can't speak for American female horse keepers, which RG bases his opinion of female horse keepers on, but I can speak for British female horse keepers. In all my years, I have never encountered a single one who treated their horse(s) like a baby or put "pink fluffy rugs" on natives breeds (I own several natives myself and can't say that I've ever done that nor known anyone who has). 

However, I do find it amusing that the guy frequently accuses "barn witches" (women) of babying their horses only for him to then start kissing his horses and speaking to them, in that high pitched squeaky voice he puts on, like they're babies. He does the exact same thing he criticises the "barn witches" of doing and I'm not the only one who's noticed that about him. If it's one thing I detest it's hypocrisy.

I've watched all of his videos and I do agree with approximately 90% of the things he says. There are some things I disagree with or would do differently, but that's horsemanship.

To be honest, I don't understand why he doesn't just stick with "this is how/why I do this" rather than "this is how/why I do this. My way is the only right way and anyone who disagrees with me or has a different viewpoint is a dummy/idiot/barn witch" ad nauseam? Perhaps if he left out the generalisations, digs and snidey comments in his videos he would receive less negative feedback?


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## fburton (24 August 2016)

bellydancer said:



			I totally agree with you there (I just did a search on here). I love his videos and I'd love to add a positive on here.
Rick Gore's information really opened up my eyes to a lot of things -- and I couldn't recommend it enough. I'm quite addicted to his videos actually, haha --- and I love how he is just all about ''the horse''. I really respect the guy for doing what he does.
		
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I still dip in from time to time. My impression is he is talking less about dominance these days, and more from a "behaviourist" pov (how horses learn). A welcome shift in emphasis, if true.


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## Damnation (24 August 2016)

mandwhy said:



			.... A lot of people say he doesn't like women because he mocks women not being able to deal with their fluffy babies when they turn psycho, well he's got a point!
		
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Good lord.

I am female and I can cope better than most *people* when a horse goes "pshycho" and have actually helped sort out quite a few including my previous mare. Don't think I am even going to bother looking up this guy, sounds like an arrogant tw*t!


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## Damnation (24 August 2016)

kellybee said:



			I stumbled across his channel whikst looking for videos on herd behaviour. He can be patronising but i'm of the opinion that he doesnt say anything that isnt really true. Women do faff, put pink fluffy rugs on native breeds and think the horse needs kisses a hundred times a day, but he disagrees and i like his attitude. I learned a lot from his videos, and he talks in real simple terms - i appreciate him for what he is!
		
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Ya what? My horse is a horse. No pink, no fluffy, yes rugs but for functionality not looks, she doesn't kiss me. Me and my mare respect eachothers spaces, I don't cuddle her because although she tolerates it she doesn't actually like it...

If she misbehaves, (which is almost never as believe it or not I am female AND a capable horsewoman) she is not a "fluffy baby" she is a health hazard. Infact, she is never a "fluffy baby" she is ALWAYS a horse. Half a tonne of potentially dangerous animal.

This man sounds like a prized kn*b. I will never ever respect anyone's opinion for being sexist. I don't care about his logic behind it, I just think its such a hateful way to speak about ANYONE.


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## ester (24 August 2016)

This is a 3 year old thread just saying


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## Damnation (24 August 2016)

ester said:



			This is a 3 year old thread just saying 

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D'oh! I am usually so good at spotting that 

Still stands though, man sounds like an idiot!


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## LadyDarcy (7 September 2016)

I've been watching his videos recently and wanted to search for opinions about him in the forum which is how I came across this thread.

With his mockery and abrasive attitude aside, I really like what he has to say, sure it would be great if he came across better, but he is who he is.

I do agree with some of the above comments though.

Does anyone have any links to any British trainers videos on youtube?  I'm really interested in observing different methods, particularly from fellow Brits.

Thanks!


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## fburton (7 September 2016)

I watched a recent video of his showing a mule foal (looks more like a filly than a colt to me) playing in a yard. As in previous videos, he interpreted the behaviour in terms of dominance. *sigh* Yet in one of the comments he writes: "I let babies test and explore, I don't like beating or pushing the playfulness from babies, I know I have a good two years to correct and get him under control, unless he gets close enough to hit me he can act like a badass all day from a distance." which I think is entirely reasonable.


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## LadySam (7 September 2016)

I find him to be a bit of a mixed bag.  He's pretty good at handling horses, but people he doesn't have a clue about!  He really does have no time for stupid, and I can get on board with that.  But it seems to me that in his game you're training people as well as horses, and his 'training' methods for people suck.

A lot of stuff he does is basic horse psychology and common sense that's been done by good horse people since the year dot.  For my liking, he does go on a bit about dominance.  I've only ever met one horse in my life that had true dominance issues (and it's the only horse I've ever met whose head I would have happily put a bullet through).  That might be a semantics thing.  I see a clear difference between 'trying it on' and real dominance issues; maybe he doesn't.

The main thing I really don't have time for is the whole evangelical attitude - bits are wrong, shoes are wrong, my way is the only right way.  Apart from the ego, it suggests that all horses in all situations are the same, which they're not.


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## VikingSong (8 September 2016)

ester said:



			This is a 3 year old thread just saying 

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Damnation said:



			D'oh! I am usually so good at spotting that 

Still stands though, man sounds like an idiot!
		
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I was the one who dug it up. I was going to start an RG thread, but did a search and saw that there already was a thread about him, so thought I'd add my thoughts to a preexisting thread rather than creating a new one. 

The man's still uploading videos, so he's still relevant. &#9786;


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## pansymouse (8 September 2016)

There's an Australian chap called Neil Davies who makes a lot of sense to me - I think he has videos on YouTube but I mostly see his stuff on Facebook.  Worth checking out imo.


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## ester (8 September 2016)

VikingSong said:



			I was the one who dug it up. I was going to start an RG thread, but did a search and saw that there already was a thread about him, so thought I'd add my thoughts to a preexisting thread rather than creating a new one. 

The man's still uploading videos, so he's still relevant. &#9786;
		
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I just wanted to point it out because people start responding to people who posted 3 years ago and are quite likely to never reply back!


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## VikingSong (8 September 2016)

ester said:



			I just wanted to point it out because people start responding to people who posted 3 years ago and are quite likely to never reply back! 

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Lol. Guilty as charged! &#9786;


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