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Horse
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Friday, 11 July 2008 09:00 |
In the dating world many men and women put their potential partners to a "dog test," whereby they introduce their date to their dog and see how the dog reacts to the stranger. If the dog reacts badly towards their date then a red flag is waved, whereas if the dog accepts the stranger instantly the opposite holds true. While many people look upon this test in a tongue-in-cheek manner, many dog owners actually do take it seriously. As they probably should!
Many animals, including horses, possess an uncanny ability to detect emotion as well as the inner nature of an individual. Whereas you may be able to slap a forced smile on your face and hide powerful negative emotions such as stress or anger from fellow humans, you won"t find it as easy to fool a horse! In fact I consider horses to be natural truth detectors due to their ability to read a person"s emotional state as well as their sincerity when it comes to a love for equines.
If one of my naturally friendly horses takes an instant dislike to someone out of the blue, 9 times out of 10 I"m going to respect my equine partner"s instincts. Horses generally do not possess vendettas or have reason to target anyone for no real reason – they tend to call them as they see them. If a horse usually takes a liking to visitors but holds a sudden aversion to one in particular, clearly the horse sees or detects something that I may not have initially caught.
When a horse enjoys your company, you"ll know it. When a horse trusts you, you"ll know it. And when a horse actually dislikes you, he will make sure you know it. I often state that the world would be a much better place if people were as brutally honest as horses. But I digress…
A proficient horseman at work should be cool, calm and collected, three essential qualities to maximize the productivity of a training session as well as create an all-around positive aura over human-horse interactions. Keep in mind that you are the horse"s leader, and as such the horse will take his cues from you. If you are agitated the horse will recognize something is wrong and either feel you are angry with him or you are annoyed with something else he cannot detect but probably should be also be concerned about. The horse will not be able to focus on the lesson or your requests well at all, nor will he be able to draw strength from you when he becomes concerned about a foreign object or behavioral request.
It is essential that you try not to visit or work with your horse when you are in a negative frame of mind since these undesirable emotions will disturb your equine partner. Try to take a few minutes, or even hours if necessary, to collect your emotions and clear your mind of life"s daily irritants.
When we see a loved one is feeling down, it often puts a damper on our day too since negativity tends to breed negativity. The same will happen with your horse, so do not underestimate your horse"s ability to detect your feelings.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeffrey Rolo, owner of AlphaHorse and an experienced horse trainer and breeder, is the author of the above article. You will find many other informational articles dealing with horse training and care as well as games and other horse fun on his website: http://www.alphahorse.com.
Copyright © 2005 AlphaHorse. All Rights Reserved.
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Thursday, 10 July 2008 07:00 |
They say the eyes are are the gateway to the soul. When it was said, they were referring to us humans. But the truth is, it also refers to horses.
Many horse owners don"t understand the importance and usefulness of the horse"s eyes while training. That being so, let me share with you some things you may find useful - some you may know...some you may not.
First, there"s the eye which reveals a little about the character of the horse you"re working with. It may have a kind eye. A kind eye indicates the horse will be agreeable to train and will readily respond to your aids while training.
One way to tell if the horse is nervous is by noting his eyes. Horses can be very expressive in their looks. And you can tell if a horse is a nervous horse by the eyes appearing sort of "worried like."
Obviously, this nervous horse would require more thoughtful handling than would a non-nervous horse.
I have a horse that would get mad after a while of riding. She used to get what I call mad eyes. Her expression was actually a sort of angry expression. Mostly, the expression came from her eyes. Here eyes would get red after a while.
Jesse Beery, a famous horse trainer from the 1800"s, talked a lot about the eyes of the horse. Even those many years ago he knew about the horse"s eyes. Beery discovered there were four different disposition types of a horse. Certain characteristics of the eyes would tell you much about the horse"s personality and how much work it would be to train the horse.
Berry"s classic disposition type 3 was most interesting. Beery said "Where type #2 will allow you to do all the work, type 3 will do all the work for you. You only need to control its movements."
In all my training experience and many things I"ve read, I concur with Beery"s discovery. The eyes play an enormous role in horse training.
To read more about Beery and his methods, you can go to this web address:
http://www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beery_etips.htm
There is still more to know about the horse"s eyes.
For one, when you work with a horse, it"s advisable to look him in the eye a lot. Why? Because horse"s an extremely observant animal and they study their surroundings. If you"re in their surroundings they are studying you too. If they see you looking at them in the eye it sends a message to them about who is in control.
If you"re working with a horse that"s cunning and known to run over people then you rarely want to lose eye contact with this horse. Sometimes when you look away for just a second he knows it"s his chance to charge at you. But keeping eye contact helps minimize that possibility.
Although a horse"s ears are part of the plan. the eyes are how the horse interprets his world. The horse gladly desires to approach an object or person that has caused him pleasure. Likewise, he runs from objects or persons that cause him pain. (Pain could be a number of things like work, misuse of aids such as spurs, being talked to in an abrasive manner, etc.)
Lots of horse owners get discouraged with their horse because they develop bad habits. One particular habit is kicking. I once read a great book on horses and it said this about kicking:
If a horse kicks at a man and sees he inspired the man with fear and makes him draw back, he will remember this and kick any man who goes near him whom he fears or has the memory of displeasure with.
Note the author said "...and see he inspired the man with fear". The point is the horse "saw" the man was inspired with fear. The horse used one of his greatest tools...his eyes. If a man shows no fear and knows how to handle a kicker, the horse will "see" he cannot inspire fear in the man and be less apt to kick (although, if confirmed in the habit of kicking, it may require several training sessions to eradicate this from the horse"s memory).
In short, the eyes are the mirror of the horse"s mind. Quiet eyes indicate quietness and sincerity. Quick and lively eye indicate vivacity. Restless eyes turning in all directions indicate suspicion and show the horse is studying all around him and may perhaps be preparing some freak of self will. Turbid eyes indicate fear or anger.
There"s a proverb that tells us not to trust the horse that shows the white of his eyes. Perhaps it"s because the white shows when he"s looking sideways and he"s intent on seizing the moment when no attention is being paid for escape or attack.
I could go on about the eyes but this hopefully gives you a great idea as to how important the horse"s eyes are. Make it a habit to continually watch the horse"s eyes. Learn what he is thinking by learning his eyes.
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.
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Tuesday, 08 July 2008 04:00 |
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.
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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