Teach Your Horse Basic Safety Manners
26.December, 2009
This is basic ground manners explained. Simply put, your horse should do what you ask. However simple or routine a task may seem, it’s important that your horse knows how to move safely. The very basics include not pushing, stepping on or otherwise endangering you whether intentionally or not. These may seem like simple annoyances, perhaps, but you can see that there is definitely potential for someone to be seriously hurt. Since horses outweigh you by a ton, literally, a misplaced hoof can break your foot. Better not to find out the hard way whether your equine insurance will cover you for this! The best way to avoid this is to establish, and then maintain, a personal space bubble.
Allowing your horse to nuzzle into your pockets in the search for crunchy treats could land you with a nibble in a rather inconvenient place. A horse’s love nibbles are painful when applied to mere human skin. Horses in a herd treat each other differently than they must treat us. Horses are somewhat more robust and durable than humans and it’s OK to them if they sometimes nip, bite or crowd each other.
Unfortunately, the space bubble lesson has been learned by many the hard way. My first, and subsequently the last, experience with the concept of crowding occurred when I bought my first horse years ago. My wonderful new four-legged friend liked to “help” me with the paddock cleaning. He liked to place his nose into the manure cart as I was filling it. Then one day he actually lifted his front hoof and put it into the cart when I put a rake full of manure in. He knocked the cart over, which spooked him, which in turn spooked the other three horses in the paddock. Suddenly I found myself within the midst of hooves and tails every which way. Thankfully I was not hurt, but this could have been a mild or even a serious disaster – and may have even necessitated a claim on my horse insurance.
This occurred during the learning curve time period of our relationship. I was so amused at his trying to help me with my chores that I didn’t think about the potential consequences. On that day I learned the importance of manners. From that moment on I taught him how to respect my space when going about my tasks within the paddock and with the other horses. There was still plenty of time to be cute during our training time.
You can use the three Ps of horse training to instil basic safety manners into your horse. Whether training or riding your own horse or someone else’s it is crucial to the future relationship between you and the horse that you remember the rules of patience, persistence and positive reinforcement.
Patience. Remember that your horse doesn’t yet know what is expected of him. Your patience in showing him and letting him try until he gets it will go a long way in building trust between you and your equine. Enter the training session with a clear and stress free mind. Take a deep breath and relax. It is part of the natural learning process for your horse to test the waters. He needs to check and see if what he thinks you want is correct. This can occur several times before the horse has confirmed his correct assessment of the task.
Persistence. Don’t simply give up when things don’t happen quickly. Communication will be tricky to begin with. After all, you don’t speak the same language yet! Stay with it and be consistent in your cues. Horses are very perceptive to even the slightest cue. It will not usually take long for a horse to learn what a cue means - then you will have cooperation.
Positive reinforcement. Show your horse a signal to let him know he’s done something right. The best rewards don’t always come in the form of a tasty treat. Horse love to be released when they have done a job correctly. Imagine the “whoa!” or “stop” cue. It’s a pull on the bit within the horse’s mouth. When the horse exhibits the signs that he understands that you want him to stop, release the bit immediately. This will tell him that he;s doing things correctly.
Horses need to know their limits. How close can he stand to you before you feel crowded? Can he pull on the lead rope if he doesn’t want to go the way you are leading him? Is he allowed to get away with things that he may not wish to do on a whim? What seems to us like common sense does not come naturally for a horse. A correctly and carefully trained horse will forever be both a most pleasing companion and could also represent a lower liability when it comes to renewing your horse insurance policy.
Respond