Hearing the horses : Area trainer works with wild animals by trying to understand them
Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2008
Among the tricks that Jose Aviles has taught his horses is how to play guitar, a trick the animal accomplishes by pursing its lips across the strings. “ He plays better than me, ” Aviles said of the horse.
Horses don't lie.
The animals will tell you if they are unhappy. They will respond to the lightest touch, the softest whispers. They can reward you if they are content. Jose Aviles knows these things. For most of his life, he has been watching, listening, learning and working to determine what it will take to make a particular horse obey his commands.
The third-generation horse trainer has spent his entire life - since he was 6, he estimates - as a working trainer.
It started as a hobby, something he did at his father's insistence. But after he couldn't find happiness in other professions, he turned to training full time.
At his new ranch south of Greenland on U. S. 71, Aviles has a menagerie that displays his talents. A stallion gallops and whinnies in the presence of mares, but comes to attention when called. The black stallion Espresso watches Aviles' every move, turning to the subtle movements of Aviles' fingers. The ornery zebra named Bar Code darts about his pen, but when summoned, will allow Aviles to jump on his back, as if a fly had landed on the animal instead.
Aviles participates in horse training exhibitions in the region, gives lessons and breaks horses from wild, untouchable colts that will soon allow him to run his long red brush down their backs and not flinch. The animals will also learn commands, and some will learn tricks such as bowing and playing guitar. This is what Aviles was meant to do.
A trainer for life Aviles, now 50, began riding horses when he was 4 years old. His father was a horse trainer, as was his father before him. Aviles' grandfather would round up wild horses from the mountains near the family's hometown of Morelia, Mexico, and use them on the farm. He gave his skills to Aviles' father Victor, who added tricks and stunts to the animal's capabilities. Victor then passed his knowledge to Aviles and his brother, who is also a professional horse trainer and tours North America for shows and competitions.
It was at about 6 years of age that Aviles understood horses well enough to begin training them. But the process of training such animals, sometimes more than a thousand pounds and much taller than what a 6-year-old would have been, is often neither easy nor tidy. To this day, Aviles cannot part his dark black hair down the middle - he must part it forward. Otherwise, one would see the crossshaped scar on his upper forehead, the result of a kick he took from a horse when was about 7 years old, he said. There is also the long scar on his left forearm from the bull riding injury that took place many years ago. But that's a different story, a different time. There have been many such detours along the path that would lead him to his career. He spent a year studying to be a priest when he was still a preteen. Later came thoughts he should be a doctor. Or an electrician. Of course, none of those things were what he was meant to be. While he pursued other interests, he always trained horses as a hobby. Eventually, he realized it's what he should have been doing all along, he said. He has been training ever since that revelation, spending the past 15 years in Northwest Arkansas, where he chose to live because it was halfway between some of his family in California and some of his ex wife's family in Chicago.
Wild, but willing Anever - mal instruction on his craft, just what he has gleaned from his father and what he has developed on his own. He works in what is considered the baroque and vaquero styles of training, and while definitions can explain those methods, it is much more fun to watch him work.
Aviles is a showman; he clearly loves what he does. He is like a joystick while riding his animals, as the slightest movement he makes with his hips, knees or hands instructs his horse on which way he expects it to move.
He often takes wild stock - like those his grandfather would have trained - as projects. When many of them are received, the animals rebel at the slightest human touch.
Getting to know the particular animal is the key.
"The approach is the whole thing. You have to understand their language," he said. It's also helpful to understand that the horse is a smart animal, one that can be stubborn, Aviles said.
"You have to be two steps ahead of the horses, and think about what they do," he said.
He rarely uses a bit, and he does not often give the animals treats for their accomplishments, either. Instead, he tries to build a level of trust with the animal, he said.
Watching the animals follow his command, it is clear Aviles is in control. Pointing his arm to the left, a big gray mare spins in a circle around him in that direction. Pointing his right arm in the other direction, the animal responds, turning around, then choosing her speed by the height of the trainer's hand.
Rebecca Gilpatrick, a fellow horse trainer who owns Rancho del Renacimiento east of Goshen, met Aviles when he helped her break a colt in October 2004.
"I watched Jose with some horses one day, and I knew he had something that I hadn't seen before," she said. Eventually she became Aviles' apprentice, working with him for the past four years. "I learned more from Jose in one week than I had learned in 14 years of instruction," she said.
Any animal Aviles and Gilpatrick have shown horses at exhibitions throughout Arkansas, where the duo can showcase their animal's abilities to cantor, trot, step, bow or even play guitar. Yes, really. After Aviles plays a few chords, he invites a horse, such as Espresso, to put his lips against the strings, making a noise.
"He plays better than me," Aviles says.
The arena is also where he can show of the animal he is perhaps most proud of: Bar Code, his 9-year-old zebra.
Aviles had always wondered if he could train a zebra, an animal that is known to have a fiery temperament. So he acquired one from a local veterinarian just to see what would happen.
All his life, Aviles only hoped to make his father proud. Not once did he receive a compliment on his training abilities until his father saw Bar Code.
"' He learned more than I ever did," his father would say about his son's progress with the zebra.
"Man, my heart was here," Aviles said, pointing to a spot in his throat.
Make no mistake, Bar Code is still a very stubborn animal. The stout beast has been known to throw Aviles across an arena using just the muscles in his neck. But it is also remarkable what Aviles has accomplished with the animal. Bar Code can sit on his haunches, and Aviles can scratch him between the ears, a move that would have once prompted Bar Code to try and head butt Aviles. The trainer can get his animal to do many tricks, including, if Bar Code is in the right mood, a quick ride on his back.
Aviles isn't sure there is an animal he can't train.
There isn't an ounce of bragging in his voice, however, and he attributes his success to other factors.
"I have good luck," he said. "I always have smart horses."
He says he can make his chickens do tricks, and he said he was once able to train a mouse at a dirty restaurant in Chicago to crawl up his arm for food.
One might say he was born for it.
"You don't choose this job," he said.
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