All about horses

Every horse should be safe and pleasant to work around .

Horses that do not respect your space and step on your feet and shove their bodies into you have the potential to seriously injure their handlers .

Better to train a young horse to work with you on the ground before they get too big and become too strong and wild .

Start early in life with leading and grooming ,including picking the feet up and holding them to practice for when they need to have the hoofs trimmed .

This should happen every 4-6 weeks after the foal is born to keep the feet balanced .

Your horse should lead quietly and the handler should stay in line with the horse’s front feet .

A horse that is not trained will try to lean toward you , stop , run away forward, or even run backwards .

The training involves using a blunt crop and asking the horse to move away from the pressure or short tap on the back half of the shoulder to move away from you .

The horse should stop when asked.

It’s best to start this training with a mild snaffle bit and bridle if the horse is not too young .

Use a well fitting halter and lead rope for a foal .

Keep your reins or lead rope as loose as possible and make sure you have your reins in hand not over the neck for riding .

Use a low audible voice command and give the horse time to respond .

This should take approximately 1.5 to 4 seconds not more .

Then quick shank on the snaffle bit to get his attention .

Stop him with the bit and start over asking with the voice first .

Repeat until the horse responds from the voice only . Give him a pat on the low neck right away once he is obedient to the voice aid.

If your horse tries to go backwards hold the reins in the right hand and keeping an eye on the horse swing your left hand back with the crop to tap him behind the saddle on the flank .

Make sure you have used a clear voice aid such as “walk on”before you tap him forward .

Keep your arm out straight and elbow locked to keep the horse one arms length away from you at all times when leading so that the horse does not come on top of you !!

Also very important not get in front of The Horse by taking a step forward first The Horse should take the first step .

If you are caught in front of the horse and you try to tap with the crop behind the saddle you will end up tapping him on the neck in front of the saddle which will not work . It will send your horse backwards.

Important to remember that your feet must line up with his front feet at all times !

You must be determined to not allow to horse to come into your space and then you will eventually get him to lead obediently by your side.

Be patient with him and pet him with your hands to reward him ,

Do not use treats .