Are you a horse-riding enthusiast but new to the sport? Because horses are both smart and large animals, gaining control when grooming, outfitting, and riding requires study, skill, and practice. Without this, catastrophe or injury to both you and the horse might ensue. How can you begin to gain knowledge about establishing an authoritative, but mutual relationship with a horse? This article will help you take the right first steps.
1Understand horses. Because horses are such big animals, you aren't going to be able to overpower them. Instead, you'll have to outsmart them. This is not to say that horses are dumb, just that humans can be trickier. Outsmarting a horse means making the horse enjoy what he or she is doing even if it just refused to do that very thing a minute before. To accomplish this, you will need to do something like present your task in a different way so the horse doesn't really think that he or she is working or about to face something unpleasant. Let's say your horse is refusing to rein left and balking whenever you ask her to. To get around this difficulty, make it more interesting by using positive reinforcement (instead of yelling or using a crop). To take another example, when you want to fit a halter on to a horse, carry it behind your shoulder. This way, the horse probably won't see the halter until it is too late.Ad
2Follow the proper guidelines for being safe around a horse. This is essential for owning or training a horse. You need to be extremely aware and use your "horse sense" at all times.
- Make sure you never shout around a horse. Just as anyone would be spooked or jarred by a sudden, loud noise, a horse is also sensitive to such outbursts and change in the tone of your voice. You want your horse to feel as calm and secure as possible when training it. Otherwise, it might jump or sidestep.
- Take care of your own safety before your horse's. Even if you really love your horse, you need to face the fact that people are more important.
- Avoid looping the lead rope around your hand or wrist at all times. If your horse gets spooked and runs, you could very well be dragged along by the lead rope and risk great injury.
- Alert your horse as to where you are, especially if you are walking behind it. Connection and careful communication with your horse is key!
3Gain your horse's trust. Horses need to trust you. Because they are animals of prey, they can instinctively and easily move into fight-or-flight behavior. Your horse should not feel threatened by you, but rather safe at all times. With the exception of stallions, a horse's preference is to take flight. If that is not an option, then it might very well fight.
4Gain an understanding of the equine field of vision--where it can and cannot see. When entering the horse's field of vision, do so smoothly and slowly, talking or making soothing clicking noises to alert him or her that you are advancing. When entering the horse's field of vision, enter smoothly and slowly, talking or making soothing clicking noises to alert him that you are advancing toward him.
5Teach your horse to respect you. Solid and steady respect from your horse is an important requirement for successful training. Without respect you might get kicked, and your horse might get abused if you do not respect them at times.
6Learn how to give your horse the proper commands. Let's say that you're trying to teach your horse to back up; keep tugging lightly on the reins until the horse backs. Do this every single time you're introducing a horse to a something new. This way, the horse will begin to understand what you are asking for and will respond more quickly between commands.
7Always be kind to your horse. When putting on a bridle, try not to shove the bit into the horse's mouth, and try not to bend the horse's ears too much.
8Before riding, always make sure your horse is groomed and properly outfitted (saddle, blanket, bridle, et cetera). You also need to be correctly outfitted (helmet, riding boots, et cetera). If you or your horse aren't outfitted accurately, either of you may be hurt seriously.
9As soon as you get on your horse, have your horse stand still for at least 10 seconds. In the long run, this should keep your horse from trotting off while you're still settling into the saddle.
- While your horse is standing, bring his head around to your knee (both sides). When horses do this, they can't run off, and if they try to then they'll just run in circles and then stop.
We could really use your help!
- Once you've mastered the basics of training a horse, you can advance to more sophisticated forms such as the Clicker Technique.
Always wear appropriate gear when near horses to prevent you from getting injured:
- Riding Helmet
- Riding or cowboy boots
Categories: Horse Training
Recent edits by: GingerRay, Zareen, Accuracy bot
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