Routine Health Checks For Your Horse

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Routine Health Checks For Your Horse By J. Foley

As a matter of routine, every horse should be closely observed and checked daily for signs of
injury and ill health. Physical signs and changes in behavior should be viewed in combination,
and considered against what is normal for the individual horse concerned.
Vital signs
Heart or pulse rate, body temperature and respiration frequency (breathing) should be
observed at rest, to determine normal levels for each individual horse. Heart and breathing
rates vary depending on the age and fitness of the individual, being higher in foals and old
horses, and in those that are unfit. In addition, rates naturally increase significantly during
exercise and gradually return to normal as the horse recovers – the fitter the horse, the quicker
rates will return to normal.
Changes to the normal vital signs, observed at rest, are often key indicators of pain or illness.
Normal ranges at rest are as follows.
• Heart or pulse rate of 36 to 42 beats per minute (beats should be clear and regular in
strength and frequency)
• Temperature of approximately 38°C (slight variations are normal in response to
environmental conditions and ambient temperature)
• Respiration rate of eight to 12 breaths per minute (breaths should be quiet and regular in
both depth and frequency)

General health
Ears, eyes and nose
A healthy horse is naturally inquisitive,
alert and responsive to its environment.
Ears should be either pricked up, flicking
backwards and forwards, or when the
horse is resting, held softly forward or to
each side. Eyes should be bright and
clear with a pale pink colour to the skin.
The nose should be clean and the
breathing steady and regular at rest.
Abnormal aggression, evasion, disinterest
or lethargy may indicate that something
is wrong. A head held low or pressed into
a dark corner of the shelter or stable, with
ears clenched back, may indicate more
serious ill health or pain.
Thick nasal discharge from one or both
nostrils and congested or weeping eyes
are also indicators of ill health.
Routine care of your horse should
include regular cleansing of the eyes and
nostrils with fresh water, using separate
(clean) sponges.
Skin and coat
A horse’s skin should be supple and soft,
with a natural elasticity. The coat should be
smooth and shiny. Dry, flaky skin, a dull
coat with hairs raised or excessive grease,
can indicate an underlying health problem.
Regular grooming assists in maintaining
good coat and skin condition, and can
promote good circulation.

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Article Written By J. Foley

Dealing With Your Horse's "Back Problem"

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Dealing With Your Horse's "Back Problem" By J. Foley

The term “bad back” is used to describe a range of health problems, such as muscle tension,
soreness and bruising, which may be injuries in their own right or indicators of more serious
underlying problems.
A horse should be checked regularly from head to tail for signs of tension, soreness or pain.
Signs to look out for that may indicate a back problem are as follows.
• General stiffness when moving or dragging the hind toes
• Resistance or aggravation when being saddled or the girth is tightened
• Dipping when being mounted
• Hollowing the back or resisting when ridden
• Bucking or bolting
• Stiffness to one side
• Refusal to perform usual tasks, such as cantering or jumping
• Uneven muscle development or tension
• Adverse or exaggerated reaction to touch or pressure
It is advisable to get your horse’s back checked if the animal is exhibiting any of the above
signs and also to identify or rule out any of the more probable causes.

A poorly fitting saddle and incorrect riding techniques can lead to a range of back problems in
your horse that, if untreated (and the cause not rectified), can create significant discomfort,
lasting damage and may result in subsequent poor performance. The most common ridingrelated
problems are seen in the following areas – at the top of the neck, behind the withers,
over the back, behind the saddle area and across the pelvis.
Most back problems are the results of a primary issue, for example, a badly fitting saddle.
However, the muscles and structures of the neck, back and pelvis can also be injured as a
result of an accident (such as a fall while jumping, slipping or stopping suddenly or becoming
cast in the stable). It is important for a veterinary surgeon to diagnose the problem and
recommend a course of therapy or treatment. The vet should also identify the probable cause,
in order to ensure that the condition is not aggravated and to avoid its re-occurrence.
Several therapeutic treatment options may be recommended for a horse that has been
diagnosed as having a bad back. In addition to rest, controlled exercise and removing the
original cause, the horse may benefit from a course of physical therapy from an
approved therapist. Therapies for horses are similar to those for humans, and include
physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractics and osteopathy.
Horses known to have suffered a back problem may also benefit from an annual check by an
approved therapist. Also, every riding horse should have the fit and balance of their saddle
checked regularly by a master saddler at least once per year.

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Article Written By J. Foley

Regular Dental Care For Your Horse

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Regular Dental Care For Your Horse By J. Foley

Regular dental care is essential for healthy teeth and gums, to promote normal chewing and
good digestion, and acceptance of the bit and rein contact when ridden.
A horse’s mouth contains two main types of teeth – the incisors (cutting teeth) at the front and
the molars (grinding teeth) at the back. Both types of teeth are important for normal food
intake and proper digestion. Teeth gradually erupt from the jaw, in response to wear,
throughout the animal’s life. Wear is often uneven, leading to sharp edges and hooks
developing on the molars (typically on the outside edge in the upper jaw and the inside edge
in the lower jaw). Additionally, hooks at the back of the mouth can prevent the normal chewing
movement of the jaw, which makes eating difficult.
Sharp edges and hooks can cut into the tongue and cheeks, causing considerable discomfort.
Rasping or filing of these protrusions forms an essential part of healthcare. This can be
carried out by a veterinary surgeon or a British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA)
approved dental technician. Broken, spilt or decaying teeth may require removal, which must
be done by, or under the direction of, a veterinary surgeon.

Identifying possible dental problems
Signs of possible dental problems that may also be signs of other illness are as follows.
• Lack of appetite or reluctance to eat
• Drooling saliva – or a discharge from the mouth or nose
• Sores and swellings around the mouth
• Pain or swellings in the throat and along the jaw-line
• Foul smelling breath
• Loss of body condition
Signs of a possible dental problem when eating are as follows.
• Chewing more slowly than normal or favouring one side of the mouth
• Spilling food from the mouth or deliberately dropping (quidding) balls of partially chewed food
• Sores and swellings around the mouth
• Swellings along the jaw-line or cheeks
Signs of a possible dental problem when ridden are as follows.
• Aggression or reluctance to be bridled
• Resisting the bit
• Head shaking
• Reluctance to move forward
• Rearing or bolting
Routine professional dental care
The teeth of adult horses should receive routine professional attention at least once per year,
even where no specific signs of a problem are observed.
Young horses require more frequent dental inspections, to ensure that the adult teeth come
into wear correctly, and to confirm that the milk teeth have been shed successfully.
Older horses also require more frequent dental inspections as they are more prone to dental
problems and may suffer from loose or damaged teeth, decay or infections from impacted food.

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Article Written By J. Foley

Games People Play

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Games People Play
by Ron Meredith

Close up, horse shows look like serious business. They're certainly business because their economics affect an awful lot of different people in a lot of different ways. For breeders and trainers and show managers and hamburger slingers and farriers and lots of other people, horse shows are a big investment both literally and figuratively.

They're certainly serious because look at what a big thing so many people make of them in their lives. Of course winning or not can make a big difference in the value of an individual horse or the ability of a farm to sell horses or lessons or whatever they have. But winning or not can make a big difference in how a lot of people go home feeling about themselves.

Horse shows are a big ego thing. If you win you feel pretty positive about yourself and your horse. You feel like you must be doing something right and you especially like the part that someone else--the judge--thinks so, too. (Boy, that judge sure saw things right today.) If you lose, your self esteem is damaged. You wonder if you're ever going to amount to anything or why your horse is so dumb. (Boy, that judge was blind today.)

But if you stand back a ways and look at horse shows from a different perspective, you can see they're only games that people like to play with their horses. A bunch of people get together, make up some rules, and then play that game until some one of them starts to win the game all the time. So then somebody else decides they need to change the rules so more people or different people can win and they start all over again with a new set of rules. And so on.

Whether a horse or rider wins or loses at a horse show doesn't necessarily tell you anything about how well the horse is trained or the rider rides. All that can tell you is how well the horse's handler or rider knows the rules of the game--or how to work around them or how to fool a judge -and whether that horse was able to play by those rules on a given day.

A lot of people make winning at a horse show their goal. They find out the rules and then they train the horse to perform whatever specific tasks the rules require. Instead , they should make it their goal to have a horse that has a solid basic understanding of and response to methodically applied, horse-logical corridors of aid pressures. That kind of understanding can be channeled into any game the rider wants to play.

In a good training system, every new thing the horse learns should build horse-logically on what the horse already knows. The horse never has to unlearn something it has learned in order to make progress. When people use horse show rules as the basis of the things they train their horse to do, they can wind up with a "trick" horse. They've taught him to do a certain thing a certain way because that's what judges look for. Then some group of somebodies decides to change the rules a little bit one day and now the horse has to stop doing what he used to do before you can teach him the new tricks he's supposed to know.

Good training means communicating with the horse in such as way that you can control every single step the horse takes. Once you're controlling every single step, you can control a series of steps. Once you're controlling a series of steps, you can stop controlling every single one if you want, but in the beginning, you must control every single step or stride individually.

Back when I was judging a lot, I used the back up as one way of figuring out who was really in control of their horses and who was just sitting there on a horse that was programmed to do tricks. The trick horses were all programmed to take so many steps back and stop and then go forward and they knew the routine. Their riders couldn't modify the routine the horse knew or the whole thing would start to fall apart. The really good riders could get their horses to back up smoothly and quietly one step at a time in any sequence I asked them for.

When people go to horse shows and win, they love the game. When they lose, then they gripe about judges or politics or people weaseling ways around the letter of the rules, or some other excuse for why they weren't the one with the blue or the tricolor ribbons at the end of the day. Horse shows can be a negative experience. In fact, some judges judge them that way. They get a big class and place it by process of elimination. Instead of looking for the horses and riders that are doing everything right, they watch for mistakes and eliminate horses one after another until just a few are left. If you go to a horse show with winning as the only goal that will make you feel good about the day, the odds are that you are going to go home feeling like a loser.

But horse shows can be a positive experience every single time whether you bring home a handful of ribbons or not. Every class gives you an opportunity to play by the rules using the understanding you have developed with your horse about the meaning of corridors of methodically applied pressures. You have the opportunity to shape your horse's performance stride by stride. No tricks, no just hoping the right thing will happen at the right time. You'll shape the horse's performance to fit the rules but if someone changes the rules, you'll just reshape the performance. Your horse won't have to unlearn any tricks because he was never programmed for them in the first place. Every class becomes an opportunity to practice.

Good basic training prepares the horse both mentally and physically for whatever game you ultimately want to play. As the horse gets more advanced, he'll start to specialize in one particular game. But his training is such that if you decided to play a different game with him some day, you wouldn't have to go back and "unteach" anything he knows. If you make methodical, horse-logical training your goal rather than just winning ribbons, you can have a well trained horse that can play any game you want.

© 1997-2002 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. All rights reserved.
Instructor and trainer Ron Meredith has refined his "horse logical" methods for communicating with equines for over 30 years as president of Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre, an ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution.

Rt. 1 Box 66
Waverly, WV 26184
(800)679-2603

How To Use Smart Horse Training To Stop Your Horse From Buck

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How To Use Smart Horse Training To Stop Your Horse From Buck
By: Andy Curry

It can be enormously frightening to be on a bucking horse. If you're a novice rider, a bucking horse can almost force you to give up the "owning a horse" dream. But it doesn't have to be that way.

I've read where people who can ride a bucking horse feel they're a good rider. That may be. But it doesn't mean they're good at training. And training is what we want to do.

Preventing bucking begins when the horse is a colt. One must go to every extent in his training so he won't be inclined to buck - and that includes preventing bucking if he tries.

Naturally, that doesn't help you if your horse bucks already. Thus, if your horse bucks then the question is whether or not it is solvable. The answer is: Usually.

The first thing to do is try and figure out why he bucks. This may be done by trying to eliminate the causes.

As a for instance, one of the most common causes of bucking is that the rider punishes the horse's mouth without knowing it. Also, he may be giving the horse conflicting aids. For instance, the rider may boot his horse forward and jerk on the reins to slow him down. Then the rider jerks his head around to turn him. As the horse fights this the rider gets mad and boots him hard again.

Finally, the horse bucks. Why? Because he's absolutely frustrated.

Thus, fixing your riding habits to ones that make sense and are thoughtful for your horse will solve that problem. If you're a novice rider then riding lessons will help you immensely.

As you ride, ride relaxed. Focus on the feel of your horse. Give him the aid or signal to do what you want. Don't over exaggerate it. Give just enough signal to get him doing what you want then let it be.

If you plan to put him into a lope from a walk or trot, or vice versa, then think ahead and do it in a relaxed fluid manner. Don't surprise or startle your horse. Keep him relaxed. A relaxed horse is not going to buck.

Another solution may be changing bits. If you are using a curb bit perhaps you should try going to a snaffle. A snaffle is easier on a horse's mouth. It will still maintain contact with your horse and help him relax.

Another common time a horse bucks is when the rider asks the horse to canter or lope. A horse will sometimes buck in the canter because it's natural for him to. It could also happen if the rider signals his horse too suddenly and severely in asking for the canter.

You see, a lot of people think they have to boot their horse hard to get the canter- - and when they do, they jerk on the horse's mouth when they boot him. Or, the rider may ride with loose reins so the horse will canter and then jerk his mouth to try and slow the horse down right when he begins cantering.

I don't know if you spotted it yet but what's happening here is that the horse is getting confused. Not only that, it's also hurting the horse.

After all, put yourself in your horse's place. If you were asked to canter and the second you did you felt a painful jerk on your mouth...wouldn't you be a little upset? And if it happened every time, wouldn't you think to yourself, "I gotta get this jerk off my back - he's killin' me!"

Now let's say you don't know why your horse is bucking. Let's assume your riding habits are good and your horse bucks anyway.

Here are some helpful suggestions.

First, if your horse bucks you then it is crucial you don't stop him. If you do, he learns that if he wants to stop all he has to do is buck. Very quickly, you'll have a smart horse who knows that to stop he only has to buck.

So, instead of stopping, do this.

First, brace your arms against your body yet keep them relaxed and keep contact with your horse. While doing this, lean back and drive your horse to go forward. (Making a horse go forward is a big horse training secret to help you get your horse's cooperation and obedience.)

Because you brace your arms, it makes your horse's head go up and driving him forward makes his attempts at bucking hard enough he'll quit trying to buck. The point is the horse cannot buck when he is moving forward with energy.

The next step is you must continue moving your horse forward with energy using your seat and legs until he quits trying to buck - be sure to control his speed.

Sometimes it's necessary to hold your horse's head up to stop the bucking while moving him forward. If you need to do that then be sure not to pull his head back. Instead pull it up. You do that by extending your arms and pull up.

If you have a horse that bucks whenever he feels like it then he should be doubled. The trick is to do it on the first buck if you can. Double him then boot him out of it with energy. Then double him the other way and boot him out of it and put him in a trot and make him keep moving.

Remember the horse must slow down to buck. If you can tell your horse is slowing down and getting ready to buck then boot him forward and pick up the pace.






About the Author

Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author
of several best selling horse training and horse care books.
For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com.
He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beery's horse training
methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm


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Afraid To Buy A Horse At Public Auction?

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Afraid to buy a horse at Public Auction?
By: Dale L Anderson

Here are 5 things to do to put the odds of getting a
good horse in your favor.

Let me share a short story with you about public horse auctions and my friend Jack.

I'll show you how to buy a horse at auction so you won't get burned. Jack, an old time horse trader and I use to travel to horse auction all over the state. I'd
just watch Jack and maybe later ask my questions.

Jack was usually pretty closed mouthed, but he let me in on his secrets to buying good horses at auctions.

1 Arrive at the auction real early like 3 hours or more before the auction starts.

You want to be there as the horses arrive, so you can see who brings them and how they unload and walk to their pen.

Who brings the horse? A horse trader, private party, woman, man, kid, also how many horses did they bring? You need to
know this so you have a clue as to who you will possibly be buying from and who to talk to about the horse before you
bid.

2 If you see a horse you like the looks of, go to the horses holding pen.

Watch the horse and how he moves. If the horse is tied up in the pen this could mean trouble as the horse owner might
not want you to see the horse move. Check the horse for blemishes and soundness, make sure the legs are clean and the hooves are healthy and maintained, there should not be any limping or signs of lameness.

I do not like scars, divots or bumps on the head and neck, This shows the horse has been in a wreck of some kind, which
could mean the horse is prone to panic, I’ve been stuck with a couple of panic prone horses and they did hurt me. If you
don't know about lame horses and what to watch out for, take someone with you who does or don't bid.

Now the horse should show signs of life maybe be a little bit excited, what with all the other horses and the new surroundings, if not you could be looking at a drugged horse.

3 Talk to the person that brought the horse

you know this person because you seen them arrive. Make sure they are the owner of the horse, if not who are they? The standard stories are:

It's my neighbors horse, this often means it is my horse but I am not going to admit it to you, as I don't want to be held
accountable for the lies I'm about to tell you.

Or I'm a dealer trying to pass off this horse as a good old horse so gentle to ride, the neighbor kid rode bareback on
the road when in reality it's a dink horse that he can't sell off his trading string.

Jack use to saddle up to the person who brought the horse and softly ask; say can you tell me a little bit about your horse? ( then he SHUT UP! ). They would tell all the nice things about the horse and Jack would just look at the horse, not saying a word. After they got through the string of lies or half truths, they would start getting nervous because it was so quite they thought they had to ramble on
some more and that's when a bit more of the truth starts to show up, yeah old Barley don't buck except that one time
when he broke my collar bone opps...




4 Follow the horse from the pen to the sale ring

Jack use to walk right into the sale ring with the horse and watch it move in the ring too. The other advantage is you
can see who is bidding. The owner or someone with them may be running up the bid, you know this because you seen them
arrive right?

Now you may not be able to get in the ring but you can stand next to it so you can see the horse and the crowd too. Most
owners try too hard to get their horse to ride well in the ring which is usually too small to work a horse in anyway so you get to see how the horse responds under pressure. Watch for rearing, head tossing, humping up or crow hopping,
usually the small size of the ring prevents them from bucking.

5 If you still like the horse bid on it.

How much? Jack would only pay about $15 to $20 above killer price. How much is that? You need to snoop around before
the sale and ask the dealers or auctioneer, I've seen it range from 15 cents to 1 dollar a pound, so that could mean from $150 to $1000 for a 1000 pound riding horse.

Jack was comfortable paying that price as he would take the horse home, try them out, if there was a problem he would
run them through the next auction and not get hurt too bad, out $20 at most.

This works good if you, your wife, or kids don't fall in love with old Barley, Jack use to say if you don't send them right back to the auction. you end up with a field full of cripples and buckers.


You can get a nice horse at a rock bottom price following this method. My experience has been that I can get older
well trained horses that people are bailing out on because the kids all left home and they don't want to feed the horse
any more, or they just were flash in the pan horsemen and need the money for a quad runner.

I have also bought young unbroke horses that people do not have the skill to train, if you think you want a go at that,
make sure you have a medical plan and go for it.

I do not pay top dollar for exceptional horses at auctions because, again experience has taught me there are no
exceptional horse at these auctions, if you think there are some there, look close as there is usually a hole in them
somewhere.

Now put this plan into action and you will find a nice horse that you can use and even make a profit on if you so choose
at some time in the future, just do all the steps and you will get the successful results.

About the author:

Dale Anderson

http://www.breeds-of-horses.com

mailto:dale@breeds-of-horses.com

360-398-1261






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The Secrets That Keeps Horses Trainable!

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The Secrets That Keeps Horses Trainable!
By: Andy Curry

As you likely know already, horses have at least 10 times our strength. If they also had our intelligence, they would probably be riding us humans. Fortunately, horses cannot reason like human beings and therefore will never have superior intelligence.

Since they don't have reasoning abilities, horse training becomes a challenge because you now have to understand how their intelligence works. You have to know what works and why to really be effective.

The biggest secret that makes it so we can train a horse is the fear of pain and/or punishment that our creator instilled in their mind. We can use that built-in fear to our advantage and teach the horse what we want him to do.

The trick is to not push the horse too far with his built-in fear. We must never abuse this knowledge because it will backfire. Once it backfires then we will have problems with the horse we're training.

How does it backfire? Let's take a novice horse owner who fulfills his dream to have horses and train them. Unless he's studied a horse's nature he will probably get into big trouble with his horse because of the delicate balance of the horse's built-in fear.

For instance, the very first lesson you must teach your horse is to have confidence in you. If your horse doesn't have confidence in you, he will neither trust you. Both are enormously important to horse training.

Think of confidence in this way. If you're a child who's just seen a scary movie on TV you probably want to sleep with Mom and Dad for the night. They'll protect you. You'll be safe with them. Hopefully, you know these things to be true because you have experienced it with your own parents.

But if you didn't feel like they'd keep you safe you wouldn't have confidence in them, would you?

A horse's thinking is similar to that. He must have confidence in you when you're working with him.

A horse can be taught confidence in different ways. I prefer to the Jesse Beery confidence lesson.

Jesse Beery, a famous horse trainer from the 1800's, uses his confidence lesson as the beginning place of training his horses. He said, "This is the most important lesson of all."

Interestingly, it's also the easiest.

How nice it is that the most important lesson is the easiest to do.

Essentially, the confidence lesson takes advantage of (but never abused) the horse's built-in fear. In a way, the fear is harnessed and carefully used to get the horse's confidence in you. It's akin to getting a child to watch a scary movie and being there to protect him or her when they get scared.

When the horse experiences the fear, you're there to save the day. You make it so he depends on you to be his superhero.

When the horse gets fearful, you have to be there to tell him everything is okay. You do that through petting him. Talking to him in a soothing manner. Using a pleasant tone of voice.

I have a friend, Gene, who loves his horses but when they don't do certain things he think they should do, he punishes them. (By punishing, I don't mean he hits or whips. A horse can feel punished just by a threatening tone of voice for example)

Anyway, I rode with a group of people one day and Gene was in our group. We came upon running water. You could call it a small river or a big creek. It was about 30 feet wide and varied in depth from a foot to three feet.

Every horse crossed the water but Gene's. Gene got so upset that his horse wouldn't cross that he began booting his horse in the ribs. That poor horse wanted to comply with Gene's request but the running water scared him. The horse was spooking.

The horse paced back and forth, occasionally sniffing the water but never crossed it. The whole time Gene's legs were wildly kicking the horse trying to get him to cross - yet the horse remained spooky.

What Gene didn't realize is the horse was fearful and needed his help. Anytime a horse is fearful of a place or a thing he should be reassured with pleasant, soothing voice sounds and/or petting him.

If you do what Gene did, you just gave your horse another thing to fear. Not only does that horse fear crossing running water, now he fears he's going to be punished for it. And it's likely that anytime the horse comes upon running water both fears will crop up and Gene will have a horse that would like to comply but his instincts are so powerful that he probably won't (unless Gene figures out what to do)

Think of it from the horse's point of view.

You're a horse that cannot reason and you're instincts are self-preservation. What keeps your self-preservation in check is the built-in fear. Fear makes you run from danger. Fear is what keeps you alive. If you don't understand something you fear it even more.

Now knowing all that, imagine you're the horse and you're standing at the edge of the river. You won't cross it because you think there's danger in it somehow. On top of that, someone is on your back, pissed off and kicking you in the ribs because you won't go forward.

Not only are you scared of the water, but now you're getting kicked in the ribs and feeling punished. You want to be obedient and go forward but your instinct is too powerful and tells you not to.

It would be like telling a scared child who just saw a scary movie that he had to sleep in his own damn room.

But what if Gene had understood his horse was scared? What if he helped his horse deal with his fear.

How would he do this?

When Gene and his horse approached the water he could have spoke to his horse in a pleasant, soothing manner. When the horse was getting scared Gene should have recognized it as fear and not as disobedience.

He could have petted his horse to reassure him all is okay. He could have talked to his horse in a pleasant manner. He could have let his horse sniff the water and check it out on his own.

Instead, the horse was now confused, scared, feeling punished, less trusting of his rider, and who knows what else.

But if Gene would've recognized the fear in his horse then he could have helped his horse overcome it. Gene lost the awesome opportunity to gain a significant amount of the horse's confidence and friendship in that river scene. Too bad too. That's a beautiful paint horse.

horseback riding


About the Author

Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author
of several best selling horse training and horse care books.
For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com.
He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beery's horse training
methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Importance of Directing Every Stride

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The Importance of Directing Every Stride
by Ron Meredith

When you first start training a horse, everything is about getting his attention. Once you've got his attention, you start directing his attention where you want it to go. To get the horse to pay attention to you, however, you first have to pay attention to the horse.

We call our basic groundwork lessons "heeding." It's a play on words. To an observer, it looks like the handler is moving the horse around like a dog at heel. Or you can think of it as the horse heeding--meaning, paying attention to--to his handler. Either way, it's a pretty picture.

When we heed a horse, we let the lead rope loop down below the handler's hand. It's just there. It's not directing the horse. Sometimes I have students hook a thumb into their belt so they aren't tempted to use the lead rope to direct the horse. When most people lead a horse, they choke up on the rope and drag or push the horse's head in whatever direction they want the rest of him to go. Or if that doesn't work, they pull on him or jerk the lead shank or something else that creates some activity. They are working under the mythunderstanding that causing an action is the same thing as training the horse.

Heeding isn't about causing actions. It's about directing actions. To do that, you have to be directing the horse's mind. And to do that you have to pay attention to every step the horse takes. You not only pay attention to every step but also to the direction of that step, the speed, and the length of it.

At the start, the handler just mirrors the speed, direction, and length of the strides the horse takes. It's a primitive level of communication but because it's horse logical, it's the first step in creating a vocabulary of aids or pressures we can use to play more sophisticated games with the horse down the road. As the horse figures out that matching steps is the game, then the handler changes the game a little and begins to direct the horse's steps. We're shifting just one degree of understanding and asking the horse to mirror the handler's steps instead of vice versa.

As the handler starts directing the horse, they do it using a corridor of aids that mentally and physically creates a feeling in the horse that makes it horse logical for his body to take a particular shape. Those aids or pressures make him feel like moving forward or turning or stopping or backing or carrying his head a little to the inside or whatever.

The corridor of aids gets more sophisticated along with the games we want to play. When we move from heeding on the ground to working the horse under saddle, the aids or pressures have to change. The horse can't see the handler anymore so the handler can't influence the horse visually by changing their body position. When the trainer changes position in the saddle, their body creates physical pressures on the horse's body. The trainer gradually starts substituting the feel of specific physical pressures from the bit, the legs, and the seatbones for the feel that the visual pressure that moving their body when they were on the ground put on the horse. But the training is still about using a corridor of pressures to create a feeling that helps the horse take the shape we want. And it's still about directing every step the horse takes.

You have to ride every stride. The more sophisticated the game or action the handler wants, the more critical it becomes that the handler pays attention to every step the horse takes. A good rider directs every stride with a corridor of aids that tells the horse the direction of the stride, the length of the stride, and the cadence or how many strides to take in a particular segment of time. The rider-trainer may not actively do something to influence every stride. There will be times when everything is going right that they'll just sit there and let the good strides roll. But they will always be aware of each stride, allowing each correct stride, and be ready to influence the next stride in order to achieve the shape they want and play the game they want.

All this directed attention is hard work. A lot of people don't understand how mentally intense even what looks like simple groundwork can be for both the handler and the horse. That's why you never make a baby horse's early work sessions very long. Some horses can only take a few minutes in the very beginning. They have to work up to a longer attention span. When you start them under saddle, you may have to shorten their work sessions again and work them back up to more time. Every horse will be different.

When things start to go wrong in a training session, it's usually because the trainer had a lapse of attention. They took their attention off the horse so the horse's attention wandered, too. Or the handler had a mental lapse that made the corridor of aids too fuzzy for the horse to get the feeling of the shape the handler really wanted. It's not a disobedience on the horse's part. It's a lapse of obedience because the trainer let the horse's attention wander.

Whether you are working with him on the ground or up on his back, if a horse takes even a single step you did not direct him to take, mentally it's the equivalent of him running away. When you're with a horse, you have to give him your complete attention in order to get his.

© 1997-2002 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. All rights reserved.
Instructor and trainer Ron Meredith has refined his "horse logical" methods for communicating with equines for over 30 years as president of Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre, an ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution.

horseback riding

Using Physical Pressures In Training

horseback riding

Using Physical Pressures in Training
by Ron Meredith

WAVERLY, WV--When we're training a horse, we use both physical and psychological pressures to shape his behavior. You can't neatly separate the influence of these pressures because the horse has physical reactions to psychological pressures and he has psychological reactions to physical pressures. Even so, we're going to try to look at the two separately and how we apply each of them to shape the horse's behavior.

As the horse moves from being a baby green trainee to a horse that can play the upper level games, his understanding of the shape particular physical pressures suggest to him will become more sophisticated. Eventually he learns to understand a whole corridor of physical pressures together into a complex movement much as we put a bunch of individual together to make a sentence that has a much more complex meaning than any of the individual words alone.

In the beginning, however, the baby horse's vocabulary of physical pressures is very limited. If you throw too many physical pressures at him all at once, he will feel attacked. So when we first begin heeding, we spend a lot of time getting the horse to trust us, convincing him that we are a friend and not a predator. We begin to shape the horse's behavior using our own physical actions while he is loose in an arena. We move our primary and secondary lines of influence to put psychological pressure on the horse to get him to move in a particular direction at a particular speed. As we shape his activity, we are careful never to push the horse so far out of his psychological comfort zone that we scare him. We are careful never to raise his excitement level to the point where he loses rhythm or relaxation or his awareness of us.

As the horse's understanding of the game grows, we move alongside him and begin to make the game we want to play a little more complex. We walk, trot, turn, back, stop, change directions. Our main goal is still trust and awareness with rhythm and relaxation. Very gradually we will introduce tack, put someone on his back, get him used to carrying that someone and how their weight affects his balance. The we'll begin to use reins, seat and leg to ask him for the shapes we want. All of these steps mean introducing physical pressures.

There are some physical pressures like the pressure of the girth or the feel of stirrups hanging against his sides we want him to accept and ignore. So you've got to be sure to introduce these pressures slowly and in a way that the horse accepts them and gets used to them without ever feeling that he has to do something to get comfortable.

There's another group of pressures--the ones we apply with reins, leg and seat--which I call methodically applied directional pressures. We want the horse to learn that when he moves away from these pressures in the direction we want, the pressure goes away.

Some people believe that the horse's natural reaction to any pressure is to lean into it. Then to prove their point, they'll poke their fingers into the horse's side. Or they'll point to the fact that a horse's "natural reaction" is to pull back against a tie rope when they feel like their head is trapped. So to train a horse, they say, we have to teach him to unlearn what comes naturally.

These folks have missed a very important difference between either of these situations and a training situation where the horse feels a methodically applied directional pressure. Poking the horse in the ribs or trapping his head is a sudden, startling pressure that raises the horse's excitement level, makes him hold his breath and interrupts the rhythm of his breathing. It scares him out of his psychological comfort zone. His natural fight or flight instincts take over and he either pushes into the pressure or jerks back and tries to make a fast escape.

You need to introduce a directional pressure very slowly and methodically. You show the horse your hand, put it against his side, then put a little pressure there. You slowly increase the pressure and you do not take your hand away until the horse realizes that he is the one that has to remove the pressure. When the horse moves in the direction the pressure is pointing, you have to stop your hand and let him move away from it. You have now taught him the most important lesson he needs to know as his training continues--if he moves in the direction a pressure indicates, the pressure goes away.

When you apply a sudden pressure that the horse does not anticipate, you elevate his excitement level and spoil his understanding. A good trainer methodically applies any new pressure in a way that never surprises the horse. The pressure has to be applied in a way that the horse can remove it by moving in the direction the trainer wants. A methodically applied directional pressure is a solvable problem, not a startling event that causes fight or flight. As a trainer what you're trying to do is develop the habit in the horse of responding to or resolving these directional pressures in the same way every time.

The release of a physical pressure is very important to the horse's understanding. They need to trust, for example, that if they turn their head left when the pressure increases on the left side of their mouth, the pressure will go away.

The same thing holds if you ask a horse to back. I see people start fighting with a horse to back and when he backs up they keep fighting with him to keep more back going on. What they should do is ride back a stride then soften everything for one stride to show the horse he did everything right. Then very quietly apply the same set of pressures for another back stride and reward for that one and so on.

Pressures have to be shaped to match what we're trying to accomplish. You'll see some people flapping and slapping their horse's sides with their legs to keep the horse at a canter or gallop or other people who just clamp their legs on and never let go. Then another time they squeeze the horse's sides and nothing happens. Well that's because nothing happened when the horse tried to respond to the their slapping or clamping and the pressure stayed there anyway. These people are not shaping their pressures in a horse logical way.

horseback riding

Routine Healthcare For Horses

horseback riding

Routine Healthcare For Horses By J. Foley

As a matter of routine, every horse should be closely observed and checked daily for signs of
injury and ill health. Physical signs and changes in behaviour should be viewed in combination,
and considered against what is normal for the individual horse concerned.
Vital signs
Heart or pulse rate, body temperature and respiration frequency (breathing) should be
observed at rest, to determine normal levels for each individual horse. Heart and breathing
rates vary depending on the age and fitness of the individual, being higher in foals and old
horses, and in those that are unfit. In addition, rates naturally increase significantly during
exercise and gradually return to normal as the horse recovers – the fitter the horse, the quicker
rates will return to normal.
Changes to the normal vital signs, observed at rest, are often key indicators of pain or illness.
Normal ranges at rest are as follows.
• Heart or pulse rate of 36 to 42 beats per minute (beats should be clear and regular in
strength and frequency)
• Temperature of approximately 38°C (slight variations are normal in response to
environmental conditions and ambient temperature)
• Respiration rate of eight to 12 breaths per minute (breaths should be quiet and regular in
both depth and frequency)

General health
Ears, eyes and nose
A healthy horse is naturally inquisitive,
alert and responsive to its environment.
Ears should be either pricked up, flicking
backwards and forwards, or when the
horse is resting, held softly forward or to
each side. Eyes should be bright and
clear with a pale pink colour to the skin.
The nose should be clean and the
breathing steady and regular at rest.
Abnormal aggression, evasion, disinterest
or lethargy may indicate that something
is wrong. A head held low or pressed into
a dark corner of the shelter or stable, with
ears clenched back, may indicate more
serious ill health or pain.
Thick nasal discharge from one or both
nostrils and congested or weeping eyes
are also indicators of ill health.
Routine care of your horse should
include regular cleansing of the eyes and
nostrils with fresh water, using separate
(clean) sponges.
Skin and coat
A horse’s skin should be supple and soft,
with a natural elasticity. The coat should be
smooth and shiny. Dry, flaky skin, a dull
coat with hairs raised or excessive grease,
can indicate an underlying health problem.
Regular grooming assists in maintaining
good coat and skin condition, and can
promote good circulation.

Bodily functions
A horse spends much time eating and, each day, drinks from 25 to 50 litres of water. It is
normal for the horse to urinate a couple of times daily and pass dung every couple of hours.
Dung should be of firm consistency (though its colour and consistency will alter according to
the diet), and be covered with a mucus coating.
Loss of appetite, reluctance to eat or drink, excessive thirst, discoloured urine, difficulty
passing either urine or droppings and extreme dung consistency (extremely loose or
extremely hard), all indicate possible digestive or health problems.
Physical condition
A horse should be well covered with flesh, but not fat. Muscle development, tone and definition
will vary according to the type of horse, level of fitness, and the intensity and nature of work.
The neck should be toned and slender, being slightly convex along the top line (but not with a
thick and solid crest). The ribs should be able to be felt easily, but should not be overtly visible.
The back and quarters should be smoothly covered and lightly rounded, however, the spine
should not be prominent (neither should it be evident as a groove over the quarters).
Regular monitoring and maintenance of correct body weight, together with condition-scoring
and assessment of fitness will help to identify subtle changes in physical condition. Too little
or too much condition (thin or fat) can cause health problems. Sudden changes in body
condition may indicate an underlying medical disorder, but could also be a result of incorrect
feeding and exercise for the animal’s needs.
Feet and limbs
Most cases of lameness originate in a
horse’s foot. If not detected and treated at
the outset, minor foot ailments can worsen
rapidly, resulting in serious infection or
lameness. Daily cleaning and inspection of
feet assists in the early detection and
prevention of foot problems.
Ideally, a horse should be inspected on
a firm, level surface. The horse should
walk comfortably and, when standing,
the weight should be borne evenly on all
four feet. Hooves should be cleaned
out, using a hoof pick and hoof brush,
with care being taken to remove mud
and debris from around the frog and
the heels.
Inspect feet daily for:
• impacted stones, thorns or other
foreign objects
• abnormal marks or patches of colour
(red, purple or dirty black)
• unpleasant smell or discharge
• splits, cracks or other damage to the
hoof wall
• twisted or loose shoes
Routine professional hoof care
Hooves should be trimmed and balanced by a registered farrier every four to six weeks for
shod horses, and every six to ten weeks for unshod horses.
Teeth
Regular dental care is essential for healthy teeth and gums, to promote normal chewing and
good digestion, and acceptance of the bit and rein contact when ridden.
A horse’s mouth contains two main types of teeth – the incisors (cutting teeth) at the front and
the molars (grinding teeth) at the back. Both types of teeth are important for normal food
intake and proper digestion. Teeth gradually erupt from the jaw, in response to wear,
throughout the animal’s life. Wear is often uneven, leading to sharp edges and hooks
developing on the molars (typically on the outside edge in the upper jaw and the inside edge
in the lower jaw). Additionally, hooks at the back of the mouth can prevent the normal chewing
movement of the jaw, which makes eating difficult.
Sharp edges and hooks can cut into the tongue and cheeks, causing considerable discomfort.
Rasping or filing of these protrusions forms an essential part of healthcare. This can be
carried out by a veterinary surgeon or a British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA)
approved dental technician. Broken, spilt or decaying teeth may require removal, which must
be done by, or under the direction of, a veterinary surgeon.

Identifying possible dental problems
Signs of possible dental problems that may also be signs of other illness are as follows.
• Lack of appetite or reluctance to eat
• Drooling saliva – or a discharge from the mouth or nose
• Sores and swellings around the mouth
• Pain or swellings in the throat and along the jaw-line
• Foul smelling breath
• Loss of body condition
Signs of a possible dental problem when eating are as follows.
• Chewing more slowly than normal or favouring one side of the mouth
• Spilling food from the mouth or deliberately dropping (quidding) balls of partially chewed food
• Sores and swellings around the mouth
• Swellings along the jaw-line or cheeks
Signs of a possible dental problem when ridden are as follows.
• Aggression or reluctance to be bridled
• Resisting the bit
• Head shaking
• Reluctance to move forward
• Rearing or bolting
Routine professional dental care
The teeth of adult horses should receive routine professional attention at least once per year,
even where no specific signs of a problem are observed.
Young horses require more frequent dental inspections, to ensure that the adult teeth come
into wear correctly, and to confirm that the milk teeth have been shed successfully.
Older horses also require more frequent dental inspections as they are more prone to dental
problems and may suffer from loose or damaged teeth, decay or infections from impacted food.

Back
The term “bad back” is used to describe a range of health problems, such as muscle tension,
soreness and bruising, which may be injuries in their own right or indicators of more serious
underlying problems.
A horse should be checked regularly from head to tail for signs of tension, soreness or pain.
Signs to look out for that may indicate a back problem are as follows.
• General stiffness when moving or dragging the hind toes
• Resistance or aggravation when being saddled or the girth is tightened
• Dipping when being mounted
• Hollowing the back or resisting when ridden
• Bucking or bolting
• Stiffness to one side
• Refusal to perform usual tasks, such as cantering or jumping
• Uneven muscle development or tension
• Adverse or exaggerated reaction to touch or pressure
It is advisable to get your horse’s back checked if the animal is exhibiting any of the above
signs and also to identify or rule out any of the more probable causes.

A poorly fitting saddle and incorrect riding techniques can lead to a range of back problems in
your horse that, if untreated (and the cause not rectified), can create significant discomfort,
lasting damage and may result in subsequent poor performance. The most common ridingrelated
problems are seen in the following areas – at the top of the neck, behind the withers,
over the back, behind the saddle area and across the pelvis.
Most back problems are the results of a primary issue, for example, a badly fitting saddle.
However, the muscles and structures of the neck, back and pelvis can also be injured as a
result of an accident (such as a fall while jumping, slipping or stopping suddenly or becoming
cast in the stable). It is important for a veterinary surgeon to diagnose the problem and
recommend a course of therapy or treatment. The vet should also identify the probable cause,
in order to ensure that the condition is not aggravated and to avoid its re-occurrence.
Several therapeutic treatment options may be recommended for a horse that has been
diagnosed as having a bad back. In addition to rest, controlled exercise and removing the
original cause, the horse may benefit from a course of physical therapy from an
approved therapist. Therapies for horses are similar to those for humans, and include
physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractics and osteopathy.
Horses known to have suffered a back problem may also benefit from an annual check by an
approved therapist. Also, every riding horse should have the fit and balance of their saddle
checked regularly by a master saddler at least once per year.


horseback riding
Article Written By J. Foley

Do You Make These Mistakes Loading Your Horse Into A Trailer

horseback riding

Do You Make These Mistakes Loading Your Horse Into A Trailer
By: Andy Curry

Mistake #1:


"Here, Kitty Kitty..."


Unless they have been educated, new horse owners often think a horse is like a cat or dog. They figure if they tap their thighs and say, "C'mon,...C'mon,...C'mon..." the horse'll will simply jump right in the trailer like a happy dog or cat.


Mistake #2:


"Using Food As Bait"


Putting hay, grain, apples, or whatever at the front of the trailer to tempt a horse to step in and eat almost never works. If it did, it would be a fluke. I've seen horses lean forward to try and eat the food but wouldn't step into the trailer if their life depended on it.


Mistake #3:


"Forgetting To Hook The Trailer To The Truck"


Don't forget to hitch the trailer to the truck before getting a horse to go in the trailer. If a horse steps into a trailer that moves around unforgivably, you will have a harder time getting that horse in later. He'll remember it - especially if this is the horse's first time.


Mistake #4:


"The Classic Tug Of War"


Here's the scene. Man (or woman) pulls lead rope to desperately drag their horse into the trailer. Horse weighs 10 times more than man or woman and has far more strength than the man or woman. Final score of this battle is: Human - Zero...Horse - Won


Mistake #5:


"Going Trail Riding Before Horse Is Good At Loading In A Trailer"


I've seen it time and time again. People go trail riding and when the ride is over the horse won't get back in the trailer. Amusingly, the horse owner comments, "Dang horse, he got in their last month". Remember to get your horse to practice this so it gets fixed on his brain.


It seems there will always be at least once a horse owner cannot load his horse into a trailer. But the secret is to teach a horse sending signals so he knows what you want him to do. It's partly how man and horse communicate.


If you ever find yourself frustrated with your horse because he won't get in, here's a quick solution.


Get a long rope and loop it over his rear and let it slide down to about the top of his back legs. Let the rope hit around his back legs and note his reaction. (Be holding this rope in your right hand and hold his halter with your left hand) He may kick at the rope on his back legs or he may not. If he doesn't, it means he's likely okay with the rope being back there.


If he kicks at the rope then he needs to get used to it. Just let the rope kind of hang there and touch his back legs. The horse may get jumpy and try to move from it. He may move forward or in a circle. While holding his halter stiffen your left arm a bit and make him go around you while holding the rope and halter. You, the handler, are acting as an axis.


Fairly quickly the horse will realize the rope isn't hurting him and you can move to the next step.


Pull on the rope to get the horse to move with you. When he moves forward from your pull, release the pressure. The idea is for him to move when you exert the pressure. He should catch on pretty quickly to what you want.


Now lead him to the trailer and guide his head into the trailer if necessary. With the lead rope attached to his halter, pull on the lead rope while pulling harder on the "butt rope".


Your horse may or may not jump in the trailer but chances are he will. Also, be careful doing this because he may pop in the trailer very quickly and you could get hurt.








About The Author




Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author of several best selling horse training and horse care books. For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com. He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beery's horse training methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm.

horseback riding

Why Difficulties In Horse Training Is A Good Thing

horse back riding

Why Difficulties In Horse Training Is A Good Thing
By: Andy Curry

I'll never forget one of the first horses I trained by myself. I could not have picked a better horse to give me problems.

This horse was slow to motivate. He was very much his own "person" so to speak and was going to do what he pleased...at least...that's how it seemed.

There are plenty of horses in this world that will move when you want them to move. In fact, some horses can be so nervous it takes little effort to get them moving in the round pen. In a way, they almost train themselves.

When I was first training this horse he moved slowly and not very deliberately. Teaching him to drive was very difficult because he just wasn't going to move for me.

The first time I put a surcingle on him and attached the lines he had no more intention on moving forward than an elephant with no legs.

The lesson I was teaching was to move forward. When you want your horse to move then, obviously, you want him to move...not stand there.

A typical way to teach moving forward and associating the action with a command is to get behind your horse and to the left a little. Then give a slight pull on the left rein, then say "step" or "get up" and tap him on his rear end with the whip.

Most every horse I worked with, this technique worked well. But the technique failed with this horse.

Whenever I tapped him on the butt he would either stand there and blink his eyes or he would turn around and just look at me.

To the trained trainer it may seem he was balking. In fact, that's what I feared was happening.

The next thing I tried to get him moving was a hog slapper. A hog slapper is a small pole like aid with a handle on one end and two pieces of leather on the other end. When you slap the leather end against your boots it makes a loud slapping sound.

It was the loud slapping sound I was hoping would motivate the horse to move. Here's what happened.

Nothing.

The horse didn't take any steps forward to get away from it. It scared him a little the first two or three times I slapped it on my boot, but that's all it did.

Frustrated and bewildered I wasn't sure what to do next.

I began to analyze the situation. I knew the tap with the whip wasn't working so I didn't need to repeat trying it. I knew the hog slapper didn't work so I didn't need to repeat that either.

So I asked myself, "What can I use to motivate this horse to move?"

I got the answer from Jesse Beery.

Jesse Beery, a famous horse trainer from the 1800's, taught training a horse to drive in much the same way I do it. Even the tap on the rear end with the whip is the same.

In teaching a horse to overcome fears and desensitizing him to sounds, Beery prescribes using metal bowls strung together like a wind chime on rope. These bowls make quite a racket when you shake them. Used as Beery describes, they are extremely effective in horse training.

So I thought these noise makers would motivate my horse to move. After all, they are loud and obnoxious when they clank together and make noise.

So I tacked up the horse, grabbed my noise maker, and tried again.

As I was fumbling with the lines and the noise maker trying to get situated, I nearly dropped the noise maker and it made a pretty good racket. Almost the second it rattled, the horse moved away from it.

Immediately I had a glimmer of hope that this was my answer.

So I tried it all again. I gave a slight pull on the left line, I then said "get up", and then I rattled the bowls.

The result?

Nothing except the horse raising his head and looking behind him a little. But I knew that meant I was getting his attention.

So I tried it again.

This time, he took about 3 steps forward and stopped. I was thrilled. I walked up to him and rewarded him with a caress.

Then I stepped back and did it again.

It wasn't long before I didn't have to use my noise maker anymore. All I had to do was say "get up" and he'd move. Not only did he move, he moved with energy.

Although this horse was very frustrating I must admit I am grateful to him. Why? Because he taught me valuable lessons.

The first lesson I relearned was patience.

The second lesson was that not everything will work on the same way on every horse. This was a lesson I already knew but it was reinforced.

The third lesson learned was to reexamine what I knew about horses and use that knowledge to get him doing what I needed him to do. That's why I tried the noise maker.

I knew certain noises frighten horses so I decided to manipulate his fear with the noise maker. I also knew to be careful not to terrorize him. After all, you want to use as little of that kind of motivation as possible. Only use what is just enough.

Fourth, he taught me to keep looking for an answer because one exists even though I didn't know it at the time.

Fifth, if I ever run across another horse that's hard to motivate to move, then I will pull out my noise makers because it worked before.

As I patted myself on the back for coming up with the noise maker idea I was actually feeling grateful for having such a difficult horse. I realized having a difficult horse was a great teacher to me - and I have absolutely loved having difficult horses since.

horse back riding






About the Author

Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author
of several best selling horse training and horse care books.
For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com.
He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beery's horse training
methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Cure To Stop A Horse From Kicking

horseback riding


The Cure To Stop A Horse From Kicking
By: Andy Curry

I get a lot of horse training questions about stopping a horse from kicking. The kicking habits of these horses range from the horse kicking at virtually anyone to kicking at only the husbands.

It's a daunting problem that lots of people have no idea how to cure. That being so, I want to share some insight to horses kicking.

First I want to relate some causes of horses starting in the habit of kicking. Because a horse kicks is no reason to think he is naturally bad or unmanageable. I don't think there is a horse alive that is "naturally" vicious. In fact, they're made that way due to bad management or ignorant handlers.

Admittedly, there are some horses that inherit the characteristics of their ancestors. But one should never start to break a horse without first taking into consideration the nature, disposition, and understanding of a horse.

For instance, there are some horses that are naturally predisposed to have a "not so good" disposition. There are certain physical characteristics you can spot on a horse that indicate what his disposition is like.

Jesse Beery, a famous horse trainer from the 1800's, was brilliant at deciphering a horse's disposition. He even wrote extensively about how to do it. You can read about it at http://www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beery_etips.htm.

Anyway, now we can handle the horse according to its disposition. We can get it very nearly equal with a good dispositioned horse. All the difference in the world is due to the management and training of the colt. A horse with a "not so good' disposition will require more patience and thorough work.

All animals in nature have a self defense of some sort. A horse's self defense is kicking. After all, if you work with a horse that gets badly excited by some cause (such as ropes or chains coming in contact with his legs and those parts of his body aren't broken) his first inclination is to kick it out of the way.

The trick is to break a horse in a way that the habit never occurs in the first place. Too many people think a lesson will be enough to educate the horse to be ready to go. But if you're driving your horse and he gets caught under the tail or the cross pieces of the shaft touch his quarters...and those parts are unbroken, it would likely frighten and excite him enough to cause him to kick.

And the worse part is this: Once started, there is an increased inclination to go on kicking until confirmed in the habit.

So the cure is prevention. You must make all parts of his body submissive to sensitivity of his extremities. One way to do this is using a technique called poling. Essentially, you take a light pole and start at a horse's nose, rub it over the mane, back, belly, quarters, and sensitive parts of the body, until all muscles become relaxed.

But what if you have a horse confirmed in the habit of kicking?

If that's the case, I can give you three possible answers.

One is to sell the horse. If you feel it's not fixable then it's not a good idea to keep the horse around. You're going to get severely injured if you're not extra careful.

Two, get a professional trainer to help you. A trainer will charge anywhere from $400.00 per month to $900 per month. Is that worth it to get your horse to stop kicking? Only you can decide.

Third, you can learn to do it yourself. There are solutions out there that are pretty good. Jesse Beery, which I mentioned earlier, has a permanent solution to stop it - and it's a guaranteed solution.



About the Author

Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author
of several best selling horse training and horse care books.
For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com.
He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beery's horse training
methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm

horseback riding

New Zealand's Horseback Safari Trail

horseback riding

New Zealand's Horseback Safari Trail By J. Foley

The horseback riding safari trail is located at Taupo on the shores of Lake Taupo in the North Island. It is a 2500-acre farm offering activities that riders can get involved in; besides enjoying the riding pleasures include an operative dairy, beef, sheep and horse farm. Thus, they will gain excellent ranch experiences such as sheep shearing, sheep mustering and wool production.

On their horseback riding trails, the riders will be able to view many native birds, wild turkey, deer, ducks and pheasants and spectacular scenery of the farms. They can also view the youngest volcano of Taupo. You can enjoy the excellent landscape and the fantastic hills when you are galloping on your sturdy mount. Riders can also enjoy a rejuvenating swim in Lake Taupo. Both English and Western riding styles with trained horses are available. For the young riders, ponies are also at hand.

New Zealand 's South Pacific Beach Trail Riding Vacation
You will be stationed at Homestead at Puketiti station, which is in the midst of 90 acres of forest area, where you will stay for 6 days. Horseback riders will be able to enjoy the beauty of the trail along South Pacific, which is on the east coast of New Zealnd. The station is privately owned and bears testimony to the historic buildings and machinery of the olden days.

Built in 1908, the Homestead is surrounded by trees that have come from the whole world. There are plenty of native birds that add a touch of evening birdsong atmosphere that is unforgettable. The best part of your rides will be the local beaches where you can go past the early settlements, which were famous for their lamb trade. You will also witness meetinghouses reminiscent of Maori culture. The natural beauty and the difficult and rugged terrain of New Zealand will captivate the riders and allure them to return to this place year after year.

New! Jumper Training in New Zealand with Greg Best
If you are interested in a new horseback riding jumper-training program, you should go to the equestrian center in Hastings, New Zealand, which is being run by Greg Best, who can train you for all levels of jumper riding.

Greg is the current coach for the New Zealand show jumping team. He runs a weeklong training program and coaches all levels of show jumping. The learners can accomplish their training in a relaxed atmosphere and climate that New Zealand offers along with the best horses in the world. Greg teaches with examples of real-life experiences and trains the learners to think independently so that they can master any horse.

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Article Written By J. Foley

Horseback Riding At Scotland’s Argyll Castle Trail

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Horseback Riding At Scotland’s Argyll Castle Trail By J. Foley

The Highlands of Scotland have a rich history of determined people who resisted the onslaught of their enemies. This area is one of the most beautiful places in the world but a large part is accessible only through horseback riding. The natural beauty of the hills, streams, and the lochs makes the highland an ideal place for taking a horseback riding tour.

The trail for horseback riding is very exciting and allows the rider to do what he/she likes. They can increase the pace and slow it down depending on the terrain. The rider can ride along stonewalls or ditches or jump. If the rider desires, he/she can even swim with his horse.
The horses of this region, whether they are Scottish hunters, native Highlands, or even cobs are very fit with considerable amount of stamina. The riders should be adept at controlling the horses.

Scotland's Lochs and Forests Trail Riding Vacation
Scotland has beautiful glens, lochs and forests where most of its historical events took place. These places have been the subject of the inspiration of many a painter and poets. This is where you will be able to travel and indulge in horseback riding to your hearts content.

This horseback riding tour will cover a period of six nights and five days and you will be located near the eastern end of Crinan canal, at Brenfield, Ardishaig. You will be able to go over a hundred mile circular route and enjoy the beauty of the lochs and forests that you will cross during route.

The Rob Roy Trail
You get a glimpse of history when you go through the West Highlands on the routes along Loch Leven which were known only to Rob Roy. The horses for horseback riding available in this trail are very strong and have sufficient stamina to tackle this difficult terrain. When you go on this terrain with fellow horsemen or horsewomen, you will find yourself going back in history when mankind was entirely dependent on horses for transportation.

Your place of residence will be at historic places such as Drover’s Inn which dates back to 1708 and other places of historical importance. When you go through Glen Kinglass, you will be able to see plenty of wildlife such as Red deer, Roe deer, Golden Eagle and grouse. The spectacular view of the glen will include excellent streams, moss covered rocks, dense forests and heather covered hills.

You will only be able to enjoy if you can walk, trot and canter and be in control of yourself in this superbly beautiful trail.

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Article Written By J. Foley

Who's Fault Is It When The Horse Has A Bad Habit?

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Who's Fault Is It When The Horse Has A Bad Habit?
By: Andy Curry

Picture this. You go to pet your horse and he bites at you - and he does this constantly. Why?

Here's another one.

You timidly ride your horse hoping he won't get so spooked over the littlest thing this time. But sure enough, you ride past that same bush and you can feel your horse tense up fifty feet before you get to it. Not only that, he slows down before he gets to it. He swerves his body away from it and he's ready to jump out of his skin.

Suddenly, he bolts past it and you're hanging on for dear life wondering why you even bought this crazy animal.

These scenarios are fairly common for horse owners. I get lots of questions from people asking how to get a horse to stop doing some kind of bad habit.

Interestingly, the horse doesn't know it's a bad habit. He doesn't know if something is good or bad. He just follows his instincts and does what nature tells him to do.

If that's the case, why does he do it then? After all, if you have a horse that bites, balks, bolts, bucks, kicks, shies, spooks, etc., why does he do it in spite of your vigorous attempts to stop it?

The answer may surprise you. And if you're thin skinned, it may make you mad. But the truth is the truth. And once you know it, only then can you do something about it.

The answer, then, is mismanagement.

What does that mean?

In a nutshell it means that you or the previous owner have made or let that horse get into the habit of whatever he's doing.

Let me give an example.

Say you're teaching a horse to drive. Let's say further you've done the necessary prep work by teaching him to stop, move forward, getting used to the harness, and so forth.

Now you've got him hitched up and for the first time he's going to pull the wagon you have him hitched to. You get in the wagon, grab the lines, and tell him to "get up."

Eager to please you, the horse jumps forward and then stops. The weight of the wagon surprised him. It kept him from moving freely because he now has to pull weight instead of just moving his own body without constraints.

Right about here is where most horse owners mess up their horse. It's here where the horse learns to balk.

As the horse pulls forward, the wagon moves an inch or two then stops. Then the handler raises his voice volume and says "Get up!" The horse may or may not try again. If he does try again, and the wagon weight stops him again, and the handler gets upset and starts tapping him with a whip and yelling "Get up" then this horse is on its way to balking.

When he balks, he'll just stand there. Often he'll turn around and just look at you. His senses even seem to be blunted...like he's in another world. No amount of harsh talk and hard tapping on his butt with a whip is going to get him to move.

Congratulations, you just taught your horse to balk.

Many horse owners would say "But I don't get it. Why did he do that?"

The answer lies in understanding horse behavior.

You see, the first time the horse has to pull a wagon he's never done it before. When he jerks forward and the wagon weight stops him from moving as freely as he's been used to, it's a shock. It surprises him. He doesn't quite know what to think of it. And knowing a horse's nature, it's probably frightening and thus confusing.

So what you must do is keep this in mind and help your horse deal with it. How you help him deal with it is treating him kindly when the wagon doesn't move.

Thus, when you're in the wagon and he steps to move but the wagon holds him back, you should get out of the wagon and go caress him. It may sound funny, but tell him you know this is a little difficult but that he can do it. Do it in a soothing tone.

Why tell him he can do it? Does he really understand words? No. I'm simply saying you must be sympathetic with your horse. Talking to him like this will help you be sympathetic and talk soothingly to him.

Being kind to your horse like this helps his confidence. It keeps him from getting confused and thus frightened - or at least it minimizes it. It's a big key to getting him to pull that wagon.

You see, when he pulls on that wagon the first time and he can't move as freely as he's used to, then it's confusing and frightening to him. If the handler is behind him yelling and striking him on the rump with a stick or whip then it's going to frighten and confuse him worse. Soon, he'll be so overwhelmed with confusion and fright that his senses will get blunted and won't do anything. He'll simply freeze.

That's why you want treat your horse kindly when he doesn't instantly pull the wagon. He needs reassured because he's a bit confused and frightened.

That, in a nut shell, is how a horse learns to balk.

But what about bucking, bolts, biting, spooking, kicking, and others?

Again, it's mismanagement. The horse doesn't arrive in this world with those habits. They are learned - particularly through bad handling.

The key to knowing how to stop a bad habit is to prevent it in the first place. You learn to prevent it from educating yourself about the do's and the don'ts of horse training.

But if you have a horse confirmed in the habit from either your handling or from the previous owner, then it takes stronger measures to stop it.

There is a horse training manual written in the 1800's that includes cures to stop bad habits and vices like the ones I mentioned earlier. The book was written by Jesse Beery. He was a famous horse trainer.

If your horse has a bad habit and you don't know how to change it then this book is your magical answer. It has directions to stop AND prevent bad habits. The instructions are so detailed and thorough it's like reading a recipe.

The other alternative is to take your horse to a horse trainer. You'll spend from $400.00 to $900.00 per month to fix the habit (if the trainer thinks he can fix it). Or, you could (and should) learn how to do fix the problem yourself. If you're going to be a responsible horse owner, you should learn all you can and Jesse Beery's information is one of the bible's of the industry.

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About the Author

Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author
of several best selling horse training and horse care books.
For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com.
He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beery's horse training
methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm


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Horseback Riding Vacations In USA

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Horseback Riding Vacations In USA

By J. Foley

California's Northern Coast Trail Riding Vacation
Horseback riding along the serene California coast is a wonderful experience and the five-day California Northern Coast Trail can put you in close touch with nature. Your base camp for the first part of the horseback trail ride vacation will be a spectacular seaside inn and on the last day you will run across the backcountry to the century inn in a coastal town that will be reminiscent of its 19th century environments. Deer, foxes and bobcats still roam in the trails that you will explore while on your trail ride. You will be able to enjoy riding on a Tennessee walking horse because of its gentle nature and its swift gait.

Horseback riding on this trail will take you through coastal grassland and creeks. Against the backdrop of the Pacific Ocean you will meet interesting wildlife such as hawks, herons, deer and even coyote and bobcats. The weariness of the whole day can be eliminated under the open skies with the “California outdoor hot tub”.

Colorado Horseback Riding Vacations

Mountain Trail Ride
The High Meadows Ranch is situated near Steamboat Springs, Colorado and it reminds you of the past when the beautiful states of America were being established. Horseback riding will take you to unimaginable areas where porcupines, elks, eagles, mule deer and hawks can be observed. You will have to trot, walk or canter depending on the trail conditions. You will see meadows full of wildflowers and Aspen tree groves.

Horseback riding in this undulating terrain needs sturdy horses and comfortable saddle seats. The western horses and saddles provided here are ideally suited for these requirements and the Strawberry Park Hot Springs provide much-needed relief when the rider wants to relax muscles.
Fishing at Silver Creek and campfire cooking are the added attractions that will allure you to this Colorado Horseback riding vacation.

Texas' Roundup Trail Ride
This trail is situated near Graham in West Texas. Its rugged terrain, the Brazos River and the Blue Herons that fly over it make it perfect for horseback riding. Natural Horsemanship that creates a boding between the rider and the horse can easily be learnt here.
Moreover, you will learn how to gather cattle especially the Corriente and Texas Longhorns. The fun will increase when you learn how to hold the herd and the technique of moving the herd from one place to another. You will get the feeling of a traditional cowboy. The other important learning opportunity is the setting up of a Chuck Wagon and packing of a packhorse.
These are great horseback riding vacations which you must experience if you are inclined towards horsemanship.

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Article Written By J. Foley

Spain's Andalusian Costa Brava Trail Horseback Riding

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Spain's Andalusian Costa Brava Trail Horseback Riding By J. Foley

The Costa Brava Trail in Catalonia is simply a feast of colors. People have admired the spectacular beauty of this place for many years and even today, a ride through this trail can put you in touch with nature. You see different versions of Flora and Fauna and in the humid areas; you can see cork oak, stone oak, pine forests, arcacias, alders and chestnuts. You can also find olive and almond trees in the valleys along with martens, wild pigs and foxes roaming around in the forests.

Catalonia has a great past and a vibrant culture and its northeast region is very wealthy. The food available here is of the highest order and the mountainous climate is ideal for horseback riding throughout the year.

Spain's Salvador Dali Trail
The Salvador Dali Trail is located at the Dali Triangle of three towns, Cadaques, Figueres and Pubol. Dali, the painter was associated with all three towns starting from Cadaques in 1930. He stayed at a fisherman’s hut and made innumerable paintings. Thereafter he shifted to Figueres and his works in the Dali Theatre-Museum reflect his entire life. The third place was the castle of Pubol where he matured as an artist and he provides reverence to his muse, Gala.

All the three areas mentioned above reflect the brilliance of the artist who was internationally known but he had strong local roots. Riding along this trail will put you in close touch with the works of Dali.


Spain's Andalusian Coast & Villages Trail Riding Vacation
The Coast to Village Trail ride stretches along the gulf of Roses and the sandy beaches of alluvial plain of Emporda. The ride will pass through many small towns such as Peralada. Many castles, casinos, convents, churches, libraries and museums will appear on the way. Excellent quality of wine is produced here and there are fantastic mansions and archways adorning the town of Peralada.

When the trail goes further inland, you will find that the lakes are no longer there and only marshes are left. Cattle sheds, farmhouses, meadows and hedgerows will be visible throughout. The Emproda Marshes Natural Park houses many animals and plants and is the haven for migratory birds.
You will be able to see the Albera and Rodes mountain ranges when you ride along the gulf of Leon and the Empordan. These will appear to come down towards the plain of Emporda and the sea. The most rugged scenery can be seen along with small inlets and natural harbors.

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Article Written By J. Foley

How To Groom Your Horse

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How to groom your horse
By: Björn T.

Grooming means taking care of the physical maintenance of the horse. The sight of a well-groomed horse gives immense pleasure to true horse lovers. The process of grooming also brings the owner close to the horse, who in turn gets the feeling of being taken care of. The horse is an incredible creature, and if it looks good, there’s nothing like it!

Naturally, horses have a tendency to groom themselves. They do it by their tongue, by scratching, rubbing against trees etc. However, no matter how well a horse self-grooms itself, we as owners have to take care of them, and additional grooming is required from our part as well.

Not only from the beauty point of view, grooming also helps in detecting any physical injuries, or diseases related to the skin. Moreover, a dirty horse would be more prone to diseases and infections than a clean one.

Grooming is not an easy task. It is also time consuming. Grooming involves a series of things to be done including cleaning, taking care of the feet, brushing and so on and so forth.

Before starting to groom your horse, some things need to be collected. These include brushes, hoovepick, sponge, water

Start grooming the horse by the feet. Whether it is a working horse, or a racehorse, healthy legs and feet are very important. Before cleaning the feet, you should be familiar with what a horse’s feet should look like. Cleaning the hooves is important. A hoof pick is the answer to this. A hoof pick is used to remove dirt from the hooves. Clean each and every hoof very carefully starting from the heel, and gently bringing it to the front, at the toe. Clean around the triangular frog. After the cleaning process is over, apply hoof oil to the hooves. Taking care of the feet also involves checking the condition of the shoe. Do that on a regular basis.

The coat of the horse is the main ‘to-be-groomed’ part in the process. To some people, their horse’s shining coat means a symbol of status and pride. A number of brushes are available which serve different purposes.

Polishing is very important if you want to make the horse look good. After cleaning and brushing the horse, polishing is the job to be done. Use a stable rubber to remove additional dust. Use horse grooming mitts to remove the leftover unwanted, loose hair from the body, and then to polish it. Use a wisp to tone muscles of the horse. Use it on thighs, neck, and any other muscular area of the horse.

After this is done, use a damp sponge or cotton to clean the eyes and nose of the horse. Use a separate sponge to clean the rest of the face. Use water to remove any stains that were not possible to remove by normal brushing. Water brushes are available, which do this job very easily. Any stained parts on the body can be cleaned very easily using these brushes.

Special combs are available for the mane and tail. Use these for finishing touches to your horse.

The whole process should take around thirty to forty minutes.

Warning: Proper care should be taken prior to starting to groom a horse. Make sure that the horse is tied up properly. If you do not know the horse’s behavior, be very careful while cleaning the facial parts; the horse might react in an unwanted manner, causing injury to you.

To learn more about "horse care" visit:
http://www.horsecareinformation.com

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About the Author

Björn T., the owner and operator of the internet site http://www.horsecareinformation.com

The Importance Of Directing Every Stride

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The Importance of Directing Every Stride
by Ron Meredith

When you first start training a horse, everything is about getting his attention. Once you've got his attention, you start directing his attention where you want it to go. To get the horse to pay attention to you, however, you first have to pay attention to the horse.

We call our basic groundwork lessons "heeding." It's a play on words. To an observer, it looks like the handler is moving the horse around like a dog at heel. Or you can think of it as the horse heeding--meaning, paying attention to--to his handler. Either way, it's a pretty picture.

When we heed a horse, we let the lead rope loop down below the handler's hand. It's just there. It's not directing the horse. Sometimes I have students hook a thumb into their belt so they aren't tempted to use the lead rope to direct the horse. When most people lead a horse, they choke up on the rope and drag or push the horse's head in whatever direction they want the rest of him to go. Or if that doesn't work, they pull on him or jerk the lead shank or something else that creates some activity. They are working under the mythunderstanding that causing an action is the same thing as training the horse.

Heeding isn't about causing actions. It's about directing actions. To do that, you have to be directing the horse's mind. And to do that you have to pay attention to every step the horse takes. You not only pay attention to every step but also to the direction of that step, the speed, and the length of it.

At the start, the handler just mirrors the speed, direction, and length of the strides the horse takes. It's a primitive level of communication but because it's horse logical, it's the first step in creating a vocabulary of aids or pressures we can use to play more sophisticated games with the horse down the road. As the horse figures out that matching steps is the game, then the handler changes the game a little and begins to direct the horse's steps. We're shifting just one degree of understanding and asking the horse to mirror the handler's steps instead of vice versa.

As the handler starts directing the horse, they do it using a corridor of aids that mentally and physically creates a feeling in the horse that makes it horse logical for his body to take a particular shape. Those aids or pressures make him feel like moving forward or turning or stopping or backing or carrying his head a little to the inside or whatever.

The corridor of aids gets more sophisticated along with the games we want to play. When we move from heeding on the ground to working the horse under saddle, the aids or pressures have to change. The horse can't see the handler anymore so the handler can't influence the horse visually by changing their body position. When the trainer changes position in the saddle, their body creates physical pressures on the horse's body. The trainer gradually starts substituting the feel of specific physical pressures from the bit, the legs, and the seatbones for the feel that the visual pressure that moving their body when they were on the ground put on the horse. But the training is still about using a corridor of pressures to create a feeling that helps the horse take the shape we want. And it's still about directing every step the horse takes.

You have to ride every stride. The more sophisticated the game or action the handler wants, the more critical it becomes that the handler pays attention to every step the horse takes. A good rider directs every stride with a corridor of aids that tells the horse the direction of the stride, the length of the stride, and the cadence or how many strides to take in a particular segment of time. The rider-trainer may not actively do something to influence every stride. There will be times when everything is going right that they'll just sit there and let the good strides roll. But they will always be aware of each stride, allowing each correct stride, and be ready to influence the next stride in order to achieve the shape they want and play the game they want.

All this directed attention is hard work. A lot of people don't understand how mentally intense even what looks like simple groundwork can be for both the handler and the horse. That's why you never make a baby horse's early work sessions very long. Some horses can only take a few minutes in the very beginning. They have to work up to a longer attention span. When you start them under saddle, you may have to shorten their work sessions again and work them back up to more time. Every horse will be different.

When things start to go wrong in a training session, it's usually because the trainer had a lapse of attention. They took their attention off the horse so the horse's attention wandered, too. Or the handler had a mental lapse that made the corridor of aids too fuzzy for the horse to get the feeling of the shape the handler really wanted. It's not a disobedience on the horse's part. It's a lapse of obedience because the trainer let the horse's attention wander.

Whether you are working with him on the ground or up on his back, if a horse takes even a single step you did not direct him to take, mentally it's the equivalent of him running away. When you're with a horse, you have to give him your complete attention in order to get his.

© 1997-2002 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. All rights reserved.
Instructor and trainer Ron Meredith has refined his "horse logical" methods for communicating with equines for over 30 years as president of Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre, an ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution.

Rt. 1 Box 66
Waverly, WV 26184
(800)679-2603

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