09/02/2026
"Over the many years, I have worked with horses, I have had the extremely good fortune to work with and learn from some of the best horseman in the world. I learnt so many ways to interpret the signals from my horses and to reply or answer in a respectful, yet commonsense way. I will never forget watching Ray Hunt for the first time. WOW... that experience really changed my whole way of thinking. How did he make the horse do that, I didn't see anything happen to get that result? In reality, I wasn't as 'tuned in' to horse and what he was doing, I was just going to make the horse do it. That...was SO wrong! Every moment I spent with Ray, my brain literally could not fathom how he made it so understandable to me. It all started to come together, make sense. How I had been training was not helpful to the horse, I'm big enough of a person to say when I was wrong. Ray Hunt taught me the subtle way of asking the questions and when I got an answer back, how to interpret it and respond. My whole world had just opened up, like picking up a book and starting to read, it honestly just made sense. Little things, such as these lessons, have given me endless joy in succeeding with horses. Watching and listening to the horse has prevented lots of mishaps, because the horse wasn't ready and was trying to tell me. Having a great teacher helps, but many teachers give you different perspectives. Tutelage from Ray opened up another tag in the brain and added more finesse to my training techniques. I will still revisit the memorable and informative lessons I received over the time spent with them. Though I admit, I could have paid a lot more attention, but I was a young ringer back then!"
Paul Rushton