Horses are dangerous, if you can, try to get a trainer to help you if you are having problems,
if you cannot get a trainer, here is some guidance and as usually I recommend joining clinton anderson's no worries club
or another natural horsemanship club for further guidance. It's better to spend some money upfront and get help
then spend the money at the hospital, and although we think 600 dollars or more is alot for training, a hospital bill and
being out of work is more like 30,000 dollars, now 600 looks cheap doesn't it.
Horse doesn't stand still to mount
First make sure your horse is calm before you try to get on, if he hasn't been out of his
stall recently, turned out and/or your horse seems high with energy, you shouldn't be trying to get on, you'll
just have a horrible ride so take a couple minutes of preparation to make your ride better.
Go lunge, roundpen or turnout your horse until his head is low,
he is licking his lips and no longer reactive. This could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes, depending on your horse.
Then when you try to get on begin to put your
foot up to the stirrup, if your horse even takes one step forward, take your foot down and back him up about 10 steps, with
energy, then try again, everytime he moves back him up. If you actually got on and he walks off, stop, back him up, get off
and start over. Now this may be quite annoying in the beginning, but if you spend the time now doing this, in a couple days
your horse will stand. Once you are on and he is standing wait at least 10 seconds before walking off. The reason your horse
walks off in the first place, is because they know when you get on, your just going to walk off, so they figure why wait,
lets go!! The only reason they learned this, is because someone got on them and either walked off or let them walk off.
If you think this is still too difficult, then here's an easy
fix, before you get on, give your horse a cookie, keep his head turned to the left side, get on, once on reach down and give
another cookie, stand for 10 seconds at least then walk off. If your horse likes cookies, then usually after 2 times, they
got the idea, then once good, stop giving the cookie before you get on, and after a couple weeks stop giving the cookie once
your on, but remember always stand 10 seconds once on.
Horse runs/bolts/spooks when scared
The horse is
too reactive and needs to use the thinking side of his brain. Horse's instinct tells them to run and look later, so you
are working against their instinct to get them to stand when they are scared. Each horse has a different level of instinct,
thats why some horses tend to spook in place and others spin, bolt or jump sideways. You can make the horse better but you
can never get rid of his natural instinct.
First
you need to teach your horse the one rein stop. (your horse needs to be able to give laterally in a halter, then in a bridle
before you start, so he has the concept) Then you need to practice it over and over again everytime you ride, first at a stand
still, then a walk, trot or gait and then canter. Also practice speeding your horse up into a faster canter and then slowly
spiraling down to a slower speed then a one rein stop. Once you have the one rein stop consistent, your horse will understand,
he needs to stop when you pull on one rein. So when the horse spooks, you will immediately be able to stop him.
Next you will go back to the scary object as close as you can safely get your horse and move his feet, to get him
back to thinking again. This means passing the object and then doing a roll back toward the object and then pass it again
and roll back etc. Keep doing this until your horse is back to thinking and will calmly pass the object. It may take 2 minutes
or a half hour depending on your horse, but if you take the time now to fix this, he will get better and better over time.
Once he is back to thinking and tired from the rollbacks, let him stand by the object and rest. If you do this everytime he
spooks at something, he will get better.
Moving objects- cows, bikes, dogs, hikers etc.
If your horse is afraid of cows, try to find some cows and when you get close your horse will begin to get nervous,
yell at the cows and steer your horse toward them, the cows will react to your voice and begin to move away, your horse will
see the cows moving away and begin to get more confident. Follow the cows for awhile to build your horse's confidence.
If you horse seems calm enough to stand, let him eat grass with the cows, get off and let him relax and he will begin to associate
the cows, with rest and food. In time he will love to see the cows and will get braver at pushing them out of the way.
Bikers are a whole different story as they usually ride up on you fast and
how can you prepare for that?
Try to find a road with bikes or a trail, get
off your horse, since who wants to be on if he's really scared anyway. Let him eat grass and get use to the traffic of
the bikes going by, try to do this as many days in a row that you can, so he gets use to the sound of them passing and coming
in front and behind him. Make sure you have long reins or a long lead like 14 feet to use so you are well out of the way if
he spooks, if he gets real jumpy and not improving, try lunging him out there to get him thinking again.
Once good enough that you can come into contact with the bikers, everytime
you see one, try to follow him, like you did with the cows and let the horse think he is pushing the biker away, only go as
close as your horse is comfortable with, do not try to make him go up and touch the biker, as they always move and may even
drop their bike when they are talking to you. You can also try to get a friend to ride a bike in the arena or roundpen and
get your horse use to it.
Lastly when you see bikes
coming or anything scary, don't just sit there and pray he won't spook. Become an active rider and be aware of your
surroundings. You know the bikes will be coming sooner or later, so every 10 minutes or so make your horse do something-leg
yield, trot, canter, stop, back, circle, go over obstacles, this way you keep your horse paying attention to you. So when
you see a bike coming, start making him leg yield, serpentine etc, to keep your horses attention on you and not the bike,
but let him keep moving, horses like to move when they are nervous and if you try to make him stand still he could begin to
go backwards, spin or rear.
When at home roundpen your horse over tarps,
poles, put a bike in there, anything you see on the trail, try to put it or something like it in the roundpen and get you
horse use to these things, so when you see it on the trail, its not a big surprise. Same thing with sounds, if your
horse is afraid of whistling, whistle when you feed him, afraid of echos or loud noises, start yelling more often and get
him use to the noise, use your imagination. You might look alittle crazy to others but who cares, if it makes your horse a
better horse.
If you avoid what he spooks at, or you just barely get
past something scary and keep going, he will not get better. Don't expect others to be quiet, not ride bikes, or hikers
to not wear packs, you need to get your horse use to them, and don't underestimate your horse, he can get better if you
put in the effort, if you are unwilling to make the effort, sell the horse and get a bike, bikes don't spook and you can't
blame the bike, you can only blame yourself when something stupid happens or you fall off your bike.
Dogs
You see everyone riding with dogs, so why is your horse afraid
of them. Dogs are predators, horses are prey. You need to use the same concept as with the bikes and cows, when you see someone
with a dog, try to follow it, every time you see a dog, try to go that direction and follow it for awhile. If the dogs are
loose do not panic. Unless its a pitbull of course and then we all panic. If a dog comes barking aggressively at you, remember
you are bigger, go toward the dog, yell and make you and your horse appear aggressive, chase the dog away, when you turn to
leave if it follows you , turn and drive the dog away again, keep doing this till the owner finally gets pissed and
comes and gets their dog. The dogs usually (again except for pitbulls) will retreat if you become the more aggressive
one, your horse is bigger and usually the dog will run when you go toward it. If the dog runs by its legs etc. keep
turning your horse to keep the dog where you can see it and drive it away.
If
you ride somewhere that there are aggressive dogs, carry something like pepper spray or at least a dressage whip, so you can
protect yourself and your horse if you really need to.
We have had
several pitbull attacks in our area, and the owners are never around when it happens, so if i see an owner that cannot
control their pitbull coming toward us, or a loose dog that looks like a pitbull, I just choose a different trail or make
your own or if you have to pass the owner and dog, make them get off the trail and keep your horse's rear end pointed
toward the dog in case all else fails, your horse may be able to kick them. I would not say this otherwise except those attacks
were brutal and the dog attacked both the horse and the rider.
Water
All animals go
in water and will stand in it to drink. so why is your horse afraid of water, well because your on his back kicking him to
get in it. Take your time and your horse will begin to really enjoy water when he sees it. First if your horse is deathly
afraid, you must be able to do the lunging for respect exercise- see clinton's video and you must be able to control your
horse on a line and be able to turn him on the line, in the roundpen work on getting your horse over a small tarp and then
as he is better move up to a wider tarp. when good, take him to a creek or pond, lunge him back and forth by the water and
keep turning, once you get close enough, sooner or later a foot will go in the water. When he does, stop and let him relax,
then back to lunging, keep trying to slowly get closer to the water, if he stops to smell or paw at it, let him do it, they
are checking it out. It may take days if your good, or weeks if your not, once he will go thru the water well by himself,
then you are ready to try undersaddle.
You can do the same thing you did with
the spooky objects go past the water, rollback turn toward it, go past the water and rollback and continue till he gets a
foot in it or tries to smell it, anytime he makes an effort stop and let him try then back to your exercise. Once he actually
goes in the water let him rest there, if he wants to smell it, let him put his head down, let him paw as well, the more days
in a row you can do this the faster he will get better.
Never let your
friends rush you, or try to just kick and make your horse get in, you need to take your time or you will have one of those
horses that you think will never go in water, when actually it is you, who never helped him get in the water. Also if
he goes thru the water but is scared, don't just continue on your trail ride, go back and forth thru the creek until he
goes thru slow and calm, if the people you are with won't wait, then ride without them or find someone who understands
and also wants to make their horse better.
