Horse owners who sometimes have trouble getting their horses into a trailer may feel somewhat chagrined by the prowess of Tommie Turvey, who brings his equine showmanship and training skills to this year’s Royal Manitoba Winter Fair scheduled for March 31 to April 5 in Brandon.
Born in California, the son of a former rodeo cowboy, Turvey has spent his entire life around horses.
He got his start in the business at a Florida dinner theater featuring medieval jousting at age 18.
Turvey now operates the Equine Extremist Equestrian Centre in Sterling, Illinois, and has appeared as a stunt man in TV commercials and feature films, including the HBO miniseries John Adams.
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Famous for his outlandish stunts, such as setting himself on fire and Roman riding astride two horses over fire, Turvey credits his ability to make his animals do virtually anything he asks to his exceptional understanding of what it takes to gain a horse’s trust.
“It’s a lot of work every day. I have a very personal relationship with my animals, as far as the grooming and taking care of them. I haul them myself down the road. I’m there 24-7 with them,” he said.
“That’s basically the main thing with horses, they want a leader very badly. But if there isn’t one, they don’t have a problem being one,” he said.
Consistency by the handler is the secret, said Turvey. He said every moment is an opportunity to build a relationship with the animal when working with his horses. If a handler puts the bridle on carelessly, and knocks the bit against the horse’s teeth, a measure of trust is lost that will need to be regained.
His training strategy involves a lot of incremental steps taught in short lessons as he works his way toward a training goal.
Then, if something goes wrong during the training, he can quickly resume making progress by backing up one step.
For example, before hitching to a wagon the first time, he tests the horse to see if it is ready for the real thing.
Then he might hook the horse up to a drag with a slip knot to avoid the possibility of a prolonged, traumatic event that could create a setback to the training program.
“If the horse freaks out, all you do is let go of the rope and it’s off the horse instantly,” he said.
The round pen, a relatively new innovation in the horse-training world, is the best place to start a new horse, said Turvey, because it forces the horse to pay attention to the trainer.
“He can run around in circles for an hour and still get nowhere. So, ultimately, if he wants to stop running, he’s got to stop and face his fears. Then he can overcome them.”
Main ring performances twice daily at the Manitoba fair will include an array of stunts, including his trademark Roman riding over fire.
Turvey will also demonstrate Liberty, or longeing without a rope, in scheduled half-hour afternoon clinic sessions. Traditional longeing is a practice in which the trainer works at getting the horse to respond to voice commands while it’s at the end of a long rope.
A horse doesn’t have to be a genius to learn advanced tricks, he said, but they need to have fun while working with the trainer.
“If you can get a horse to trust you, you can get a horse to do anything you can think of,” he said.
