Thursday, December 17, 2009

TRAINING TIP:

Most horses in training, especially during a difficult session, will "regress." That means that they'll suddenly start getting worse instead of better. This is perfectly normal and not something you should worry about.

For example, I was trying to teach a young horse to accept a plastic bag dangling from the end of my lunge whip. At first, he was very frightened of it when I was bouncing it up and down on the ground about 6 feet away from it. He ran in several circles around me (with me still following him with the bouncing bag) before he was finally able to stop and face it. I stopped to release the pressure, praised him then started again. Soon, he was able to handle the bag bouncing right beside him without fear.

We had the same problem when I moved the bag in front of him. He was afraid of it again. But I knew he would be, since now he was seeing it out of both eyes, so I just continued desensitizing him with it until he lost his fear of it.

Now that he could tolerate it on either side of him and in front of him, I started swinging it high over his head and smacking the ground with it first on his right side and then on his left. He got a bit wide-eyed but this didn't really bother him too much. I stopped, praised him then moved the bag back to his right side. Suddenly, it might as well have been a cougar coming to eat him! He acted terrified of it!

But, fortunately, I was expecting him to regress at some point. It had been an anxious training session for him and his brain had suddenly kicked out of "thinking" gear and back into "reacting" gear. He ran about 20 circles around me before he finally remembered, "Oh yeah! It's just that plastic bag thing!" As suddenly as he'd started, he stopped, looked down at the bag, and took a deep breath. From then on, I couldn't frighten him with the bag anywhere near him. (I wasn't trying to touch him with it yet.)

So, when your horse "regresses" suddenly, and he will at some point, just keep on working and don't get frustrated or angry. Remember that he'll start thinking again in a few minutes and everything will be fine. Just hang in there and keep training until that happens.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Teaching your horse to set up for halter class without breaking your back.


Lots of Miniature Horses are shown in halter classes, and most people who show them squat or bend down to move their feet into proper position. Having bad knees, I can't do this. And, coming from a Quarter Horse background (where it's not kosher to move their feet by hand), I feel that it's unnecessary.

So, I teach all of my halter horses to stand squarely with mainly halter cues. I'll teach you how to do the same.

First, make sure you horse isn't too fresh or too frisky before you start this lesson. If he's been in a stall or a small pen, work him a little first either on a lunge line or in a round pen. Let him get all of the buck and play out of his system. Then, put him on a regular lead rope, preferably with a rope halter, and start the lesson.

The first thing you want to do is to face your horse and move him forward a step or two until his right (off-side) hind leg is about where you want it. In other words, it's not too far behind him or too far underneath him. Tell him "whoa" and pet him briefly when he stops moving. Stand slightly to the side and look down at his back feet. You're going to move the left (near-side) back foot gently forward and back using pressure on the halter. Your goal is to have him stop with his left hind foot about even with his right one.

At first, his steps will likely be too big. He'll step past where you want him. That's to be expected. Hold onto your patience and keep asking, trying to use smaller and smaller movements of the halter. Eventually, he'll get close to where you want him.

Close is good enough at this point. As soon as his hind foot is somewhere in the vicinity that you want it, tell him "whoa" and reward him with a brief petting. Now, you should take a step backwards and look down at his front feet. This move on your part will eventually tell your horse "we're done with the back. Now let's move the front feet."

One of his front feet will likely be either too far back or two far forward to line up with the other front foot. For the sake of this lesson, we'll assume that the left one is too far forward. Gently push backwards on the halter. At the same time, use your right foot (the one which is closest to his left foot, since you're facing him) and tap the ground near his toe. If he doesn't move that foot, and he likely won't, reach further forward with your toe and step on his coronet band right above the front of his hoof. Do it gently. The object is to make him uncomfortable, not to injure him. Keep pressing backwards gently on the halter. Eventually, he'll move that foot, even if you have to increase the pressure with your toe to make him do it.

As soon as he moves it backwards, even a little, stop, straighten up, and tell him he's a good boy. If it's still too far forward, repeat what you just did, both the halter cue and the toe-tapping or stepping on him cue, until he moves it again.

Eventually, he'll get it close to where you want it. As soon as he does, tell him "whoa," straighten your posture so you're no longer bent forward, and reward him with a little pet on the face or neck.

When you do get him set up well enough, don't ask him to stand there for more than a few seconds. Later, when he learns the cues, you can increase the time he has to stand squared up. Right now, however, it will only bore him and discourage him. And, don't try to set him up a dozen times in a row. Once or twice is enough. Then, go do something else before asking him to set up another time or two for you.

Every time that you work on setting your horse up, he will understand it a little better. He'll get quicker and quicker to respond to your cues and he'll take fewer steps forward and back to get him set up squarely. As he improves, start asking for more perfection in where he plants his feet. In other words, as he learns, "almost there" will cease to be good enough and he'll have to learn to place his feet exactly where you want them.

Once I start teaching a horse to set up, I try to do it twice every time I handle him. If I take him to the round pen to work or to the pasture to turn him loose for the day, I set him up just before taking off his halter. When I take him back to his stall or pen for the night, I set him up again just before taking off his halter. This teaches him that setting up quickly means that he'll get turned loose quickly. It gives him some incentive to do his job.

Friday, December 4, 2009

TRAINING TIP:

Don't tip toe around your horse. I see a lot of people, especially when doing something that they think will frighten their horse, moving entirely too slowly and trying to soothe the horse with their voice.

"Whoa, boy. Easy, boy. It's only a blanket, boy," is NOT the way you want to have to blanket your horse from now on. Instead, desensitize him with it and convince him that it's perfectly safe. Then you can just walk up and toss it across him from either side without him being afraid. Now THAT'S the way to blanket a horse!

In the same vein, resist the urge to pet him too much. No, I'm not advocating that you stop loving on your horse. But leave that for after the training session, when he's not supposed to be learning something. If he's trying to concentrate on his lesson, a brief touch to his face or neck won't distract him, while a five minute "love and hug" session will.

NEXT: Teaching your horse to set up for halter class without breaking your back.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Teach your horse to come to you when you call him.



Ever watch some of those old Westerns where the cowboy whistles for his horse and the animal comes running to him? Or do you enjoy watching or showing in the Liberty class and admire the horses who come when they're called instead of making their owner trek halfway across the arena to fetch them?


Well this training lesson is going to teach you how to train your own horse to come when he's called. Keep in mind that, even after your horse learns this lesson, he might not come to you when he's out in the middle of the pasture enjoying the green grass. But it should make him come to you whenever he's in an arena, round pen, or a stall.
First, arm yourself with the tools you'll need: a pocketful of his favorite treat, broken into small pieces; a long lunge line; and a safely fenced area in which to work, preferably not too big. A round pen is best if you have one.


Start by exercising your horse a little. If he doesn't know how to work on a lunge line, now is a good time to teach him. (Don't know how to teach this? Refer to my horse training hubpage, http://hubpages.com/hub/Natural-Training-Methods-for-Small-Equine for this and other great lessons.) The lesson you're looking for is "Getting your horse over his fear of plastic and teaching him to lunge." It's about one third of the way down the page.


Work him on the lunge line until he's breathing a little heavily or until he starts wanting to stop. Don't, however, let him stop whenever he wants to. If you notice him trying to stop, or if he DOES stop on his own, work him at least a minute longer. He needs to stop when you ask him to, not when he decides he's ready.


Just before you ask him to stop, reach inside your pocket and pull out a piece of his treat. Tell him "Whoa" and give a tug on the lunge line if you have to so that he stops. Pull just enough that he'll face you, then bend forward slightly at the waist and hold out the hand holding the treat toward him. Call him by his name and tell him "Come here," or whatever words you want to use.


Chances are that nothing will happen. So, still maintaining your slightly bent posture, give a gentle tug on the line to try to get him to start walking toward him. If he does, wonderful! Let him come as far as he will on his own. If he stops before he reaches you, gently tug the line again and repeat your verbal command to come to you. Do this as many times as you have to until your horse is finally within arm's reach.


Now, straighten up, smile at him (horses are great readers of body language), and verbally praise him as you feed him his treat. Pet him on the face while he's eating it, all the while telling him what a smart, clever horse he is. Let him stand there for a few minutes, then send him out to lunge some more.


You don't have to work him as hard this time. Let him go a few circles around you then tell him to whoa. Immediately, bend forward, hold out your hand (with a treat in it) and call him to you. Use the same words every time. As before, let him come by himself if he will, but draw him in with the lunge line if he won't. Once he's there, praise him, give him his treat, and pet him. You want to show him that coming when you call is the BEST thing in the world. Not only does he get a treat and praise, but he also gets to rest for a few minutes and get his air back.


Repeat, repeat, repeat. If you're having to physically pull him to you each time, then try to get him a little better this session before you stop for the day. In other words, try to keep working until it only takes a few tugs on the lead to draw him to you.


If he's already at that point and you and your horse aren't too tired to continue, then take him off the lunge line and see if he'll come to you on his own. As before, send him off to the fence and make him go a few circles around you, preferably at a trot. When you're ready, say "Whoa" and call him to you, holding out the treat and bending slightly toward him. If he takes even one step toward you then stops, praise him anyway. He's trying, and we always want to reward our horses for even the slightest attempt to do as we ask.


Call him again. If he takes another step or two, praise him again. Wave that treat at him and keep calling. If he eventually comes to you, give him that treat and perhaps a second one, all the while telling him how smart he is.


What if he absolutely won't come to you? Don't worry – this is normal. If he won't at least take a step toward you, then you need to put him back on the lunge line and work that way a few more minutes. You might even need to work him on the lunge line, drawing him to you when you call him, for several more training sessions. So what if it takes you a few days to make him understand? There's no time table in horse training. Let him take as long to learn this lesson as he needs.


If he takes a single step toward you, or even several, then stops and refuses to come any closer, don't despair. This, too, is normal. Keep your hand extended to he can see the treat and take a few steps toward him. Keep calling him. Stand still for a moment and see if he'll take a step or two toward you. Do this as many times as necessary until one of two things happens – he either steps up to you finally or you finally step up to him.


If he actually steps up to you, give him his treat and praise him. If you have to make that final step to reach him, don't give him the treat. Instead, wave it under his nose until he's interested and then take a step backwards, trying to draw him with you. Keep calling him. You need him to make the effort to come to you, even if it's only one step, before he gets that treat.


Praise him and pet him briefly, then send him back to the fence and make him work a little longer. Repeat the "Whoa" and call him to you again. As before, do whatever you have to do to get him to take that final step toward you, even if you have to meet him somewhere in the middle.


When you've accomplished that at least twice, you're going to change your tactic. Now, when you have to move forward and wave that treat under his nose, you're not going to take just one step backwards; you're going to keep backing up, a step at a time, and try to draw your horse clear to the center of the pen. Tempt him with that treat until you get him to follow you. Only when you're back where you were when you called him can he finally get his reward.
Work on this lesson through as many training sessions as necessary. Don't get discouraged. Some horses just aren't as motivated by food as others. If you find that he really isn't that crazy about your treat, find something else. Green grass, alfalfa, sweet feed, apples or carrots, are all things you can find. You can also move your training session to right before your horse's meal time, when he's really hungry. Do whatever works, and soon you'll have your horse coming to you whenever you call him.


NEXT TIME: Teaching a horse to lead the Natural way!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

TRAINING TIP:

Remember that every single time you handle your horse, you're training him. If you go into his stall or pen to catch him and he turns his butt to you, don't just walk past it to his head and halter him. If you do that, you're teaching him that turning his butt to you (a sure sign of either disrespect or fear) is the right thing to do. Instead, take a few moments and fix the problem. Swing the end of your rope against his butt and tell him to face you. As soon as he does, tell him he's a good boy and go ahead and halter him.

Even a trained or partially trained horse can "revert" to previous behavior. I have a horse in training (we'll call him Scoot) who certainly knows by now that he's supposed to face me respectfully when I approach him. But yesterday, when I walked into the stall, he turned his butt to me. I swung the end of the lead at him so that it smacked him in the butt. Then I told him to face me and held out my hand. He obediently turned toward me then continued his turn until he was facing away from me again.

I had to repeat the "smack and call" three times before he finally stood still, facing me like he was supposed to, and let me put his halter on. Could I have just walked past his butt to his head and haltered him? Sure. But I would have been teaching him that turning his butt to me was okay. And it CERTAINLY isn't.

Remember not to accept any disobedience or shows of disrespect from a horse that you're training. If you see a problem develop, even though you think it's minor, fix it then and there. If not, that "minor" problem will likely be a "major" problem the next time you handle him.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Dealing with the head-shy horse

Lots of horses are head-shy, whether from lack of handling or abusive handling. I'm not one of those people who believe that you should NEVER hit a horse around the head. If a horse tries to bite me, you darn well better believe that I'm going to smack his mouth or cheek if I can reach him. I don't worry that I'll make him head-shy by doing it. He isn't allowed to try to hurt me, and if an occasional pop on the face makes him head-shy, then I'll deal with that issue later.

It's actually really simple to get a horse over the fear or dislike of having his face or ears touched. Start off first on a lunge line and use the end of your lunge whip to rub his face and ears. Careful around his eyes. You don't want to poke him and give him a real reason to not want you touching him there. As with all his lessons, if he flinches away or moves away, just keep doing it. Don't stop rubbing his face until he can stand still and be comfortable with it.

Next, use your hand. Rub his face, his cheeks, under his jaw, his forehead and over his eyes. If you find a spot that he doesn't like you touching, touch it more. Work on all his bad spots until he's okay with them then move on to his ears. Be aware that he might sling his head sideways or up, so keep your own face out of the way. If you absolutely can't touch his ears, go back to using the lunge whip.

Get him tolerant of that then use the end of your lunge line. Drape it between his ears and pull it until it slides off his head, wrap it around an ear and slide it back and forth. Do whatever you can think of until he accepts it. Then go back to touching his ears with your hands. Don't, however, grab one and try to hold onto it. Also, don't try to physically stop him from moving away from you. If he's just fidgety, a firm "Whoa" might stop him or a little tug on the lead. But if he really HAS to move, let him, just go with him and start handling his ears again as soon as you can reach them.

Don't quit with this part of the lesson until you've made significant progress. There's one final step that you need to complete. You need to get your horse used to your hand waving near his head.

Stand near his head but at an angle in case he should bolt forward or strike at you with his front feet, and start waving your arm somewhere off to the side of his head. Not too close if he's really afraid. Wave your arm up and down as if there was a swarm of flies that you were trying to shoo away. Not too fast, but not too slow, either.

If it frightens your horse, just keep doing it. If he runs, follow him, but keep waving your arm. What if your arm gets tired before he gets used to it? Tough! Cowboy up and keep waving. Eventually, he'll tolerate it and you can stop.

Don't get any closer to your horse's head until he's ready. Then, wave your arm a little closer to him. When he's okay with that, move closer still. Eventually, you want to be able to shoo a persistent fly off his eye without him spooking.

When he's good on one side, move him over and work on the other side. Every time he shows any sign of relaxing – taking a deep breath, licking his lips, lowering his head slightly, cocking a hind foot, half closing his eyes – give him a few moments of break before you start again. In other words, take away the pressure for awhile when he proves that he can handle it. A soft word of praise or a gentle touch to his face or neck will reinforce that he's doing it right.

Look at the photos. Yes, that's still the Shetland weanling colt. Notice in the first photo how he's flinching away. In the second photo, taken just a few minutes later, notice that his head's still high, but he's no longer flinching, even though Leesa's hand is now a lot closer to him. This is what you're going to accomplish with this lesson.

Repeat this every time you work your horse until he's no longer head-shy.

NEXT: Teaching your horse to come when you call.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

TRAINING TIP:

Remember that whenever you handle your horse, you're training him. If you go into his stall or pen to catch him and he turns his butt to you, don't just walk past it to his head and halter him. If you do that, you're teaching him that turning his butt to you (a sure sign of either disrespect or fear) is the right thing to do. Instead, take a few moments and fix the problem. Swing the end of your rope lightly against his butt and tell him to face you. If he gets startled and moves further away from you or into a corner, just keep swinging that lead rope against his butt. Stand back far enough that you can't get kicked, but don't stop tapping him with that rope until he at least turns his head toward you. As soon as he does, tell him he's a good boy stand still for a minute to let him think.

If he still has his butt to you, start swinging that rope against him again. Continue this until he takes at least one step away from you with his hind end. Again, stop, praise him, and let him think. Then continue. Your goal is to get him to stand (at the very least) sideways to you. Best of all, of course, is that he'll turn completely around and face you. Either way, when one of those two things happens, praise him then move up and halter him.

Even a trained or partially trained horse can "revert" to previous behavior. I have a horse in training who certainly knows by now that he's supposed to face me respectfully when I approach him. But yesterday, when I walked into the stall, he turned his butt to me. I swung the end of the lead at him so that it smacked him gently in the butt. Then I told him to face me and held out my hand. He obediently turned toward me then continued his turn until he was facing away from me again.

I had to repeat the "smack and call" three times before he finally stood still, facing me like he was supposed to, and let me put his halter on. Could I have just walked past his butt to his head and haltered him? Sure. It would have saved time but I would have been teaching him that turning his butt to me was okay. And it CERTAINLY isn't.

Remember not to accept any disobedience or shows of disrespect from a horse that you're training. If you see a problem develop, even though you think it's minor, fix it then and there. If not, that "minor" problem will likely be a "major" problem the next time you handle him.

Monday, November 23, 2009

The hard-to-catch and hard-to-halter horse


(If the entire photo doesn't show, you can click on it and it will open for you)
I'm using the same Shetland colt as in the previous lesson. He's doing much better about not kicking at me, but it's something we still work on each time I go in with him. In this lesson, though, I'm going to teach you how to catch and halter him even though that's the last thing that he wants to happen.

You're going to do this lesson in a fairly small pen again, but not something as small as a box stall. You and your horse both need room to feel safe and not trapped. Start off touching him with the lunge whip, this time up around his back and shoulders. Rub him with it, toss the lash gently across him, until he's not panicked by the action. Do it gently so it won't sting him, but resist the urge to comfort him. Don't say, "Easy, boy. It's okay, boy." Instead, let him think about what's happening and think his way through it without you distracting him.

Then, starting with the whip lash on the far side of him, reach forward so that it slides up the side of his neck, as close to his ears as you can get it. Pull back slightly until about half of the lash is on your side of his neck and the other half on the far side. Keeping slack in it, push the lunge whip forward past this nose then up the other side of his neck. See step one in the photo.

The goal is to get a loop of it around his neck, right behind the ears. Once you get one loop in place, do it again, getting a second loop. By now, you've probably run out of whip lash. Pull gently, tightening the two loops around his throat, to give yourself a bit of slack.

At this point, it's entirely possible that the loops can be tightened enough around his throat to partially restrict his breathing. Be alert for this. If he runs away, follow him, holding onto the whip handle. Don't try to stop him from running by pulling back, because one of two things will happen: the lash will come loose and he'll learn that running away from you works or the lash will tighten and you'll cut off his air. You're not trying to hurt or frighten him, and being unable to breathe well will do both. Remember that you're in a small pen and just try to stay with him if he runs away. Get him back into a corner and continue where you left off.

The next step is to get a loop around his nose. It's okay if you don't have a lot of slack in your lunge whip lash. The whip shaft itself is flexible and if you've got the lash snugged up around his throat, you can push the whip shaft forward to get past his nose and it will bend enough to get there. See step two in the photo.
Use the whip to gently pull your horse's head toward you (step 3 in the photo). If you pull really hard, or if he bolts and runs off, the lash will probably slide loose and he'll get away. If that happens, don't panic. Just follow him into another corner and do it again. It might take you 10 or 15 times of doing this before you actually get him to turn his head toward you long enough for you to catch him. Don't give up. If you quit now, you've just taught your horse that he really doesn't have to get caught if he doesn't want to.

Once you're able to draw his head toward you, gently ease up beside him and catch the dangling end of the lash along with the whip shaft beside his head. He is sorta caught now, although he might still try to run away from you. Touch him briefly on the forehead or neck, tell him he's a good boy, and reach for the halter which is (hopefully) on the fence right behind you.

While still holding his makeshift whip-lash halter, slide the real halter on and buckle it. See step 4 in the photos. Then, you can lead him out of the corner and unwind the whip lash, pulling it out from under the halter.

He's caught! If both of you aren't completely worn out by now, you might pet him briefly and then turn him loose and go through the lesson again. Catching him this way 3 or 4 times in one session will definitely help him to learn it more quickly.

I repeated this lesson with this particular colt about 6 days in a row. The first 3 days, it took me several tries before I was able to catch him. The fourth and fifth days, it only took me 3 or 4 tries. On the sixth day, he stood still enough that I was able to wrap the whip lash around him and draw his head to me in only one try. I haltered him, petted him briefly then turned him loose to try again. This time, he let me walk up to him and halter him without using the whip at all. He still wasn't happy or entirely comfortable, but he'd started to figure out that he was going to get caught one way or the other, and standing still for it seemed like less work than running away.

Remember that your horse might regress before he gets better, or he might regress if you don't handle him for a few days. If I gave this Shetland colt a few days off, then I'd have to catch him with the whip lash again, and it might take me several tries to do it. But, I'd eventually get him to remember his lessons and let me catch him.

Be persistent. Using this gentle method is much easier on your horse than trying to lasso him or manhandle him into a corner and it greatly reduces the chances of you getting kicked or run down by a frightened horse.

NEXT: The head-shy horse

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Dealing with typical horse problems


Most Miniature Horse owners will tell you that their horse is perfectly behaved. But, if you question them a bit further, they'll tell you, "Well, he does sometimes bite me, or kick at me, and he's sometimes really hard to catch. He doesn't always want to load on the trailer and sometimes he bumps into me and steps on my toes when I'm leading him. But other than that, he's perfect!"

If you've read my hubpage, Natural Training Methods for the Small Equine (hubpages.com/hub/Natural-Training-Methods-for-Small-Equine) and have put those methods into practice, you've probably already solved all of the above problems. You've probably already gotten your horse respectful and you have his fear under control, all without hurting him or using force. If you haven't started those lessons yet and you're having some serious issues with your little horse (and face the truth – getting bitten or kicked is a serious issue), then this blog will help you.

Let's suppose that you have one or more of the misbehaviors mentioned above to deal with. Or, it's possible that you have another horse that you haven't been training simply because of one of these issues. I'm going to discuss each one in detail and tell you how to teach your horse that such behavior isn't allowed.

In this lesson, we'll deal with the kicking horse. Now, all horses kick. They kick at each other, they kick at dogs that are nipping at their heels, or at things that blow past them in the wind. But no horse should EVER be allowed to kick at people. To do so is disrespect, pure and simple, and it's dangerous to us humans.

If the kicking is totally a matter of disrespect, he needs to go through some thorough round pen training (see my training hubpage at the addy above). But, if he kicks because he's super sensitive or because he's not used to people or to being handled, then here is a quicker way to fix the problem.

The colt in the photo is a weanling Shetland who was raised in a huge pasture and never touched until he was weaned. On that day, he was pulled from his mother, caught and haltered, dragged into a trailer, and then into a stall in a strange barn. From there, he went to a sale ring – another traumatic experience – and from there into yet another trailer and another strange barn. He's frightened, he's hard to catch, he's unused to being handled, and he kicks.

If you have a horse like this, you can help him. To get him used to having his hind legs touched without losing any teeth, you'll use your old standby, the lunge whip. Gently shoo your horse into a corner of the pen. Notice that I didn't tell you to do this in a stall, because the tight quarters might prevent you from staying out of range when he kicks at the whip. And he will, I promise you, kick at the whip.

So, shoo him into a corner and, while his hind end is toward you, simply tickle the outside of his back leg with the lunge whip. He's going to kick, so make sure you're as far away as you can be and still reach him. Also, watch out for any sign that he's going to back up to kick you. Some of them will. Luckily, you can move backwards just as fast as he can, so you can stay out of range. Very few frightened, unhandled horses will back more than a step or two when they're kicking.

When he kicks at the whip, just keep tickling him. If he flinches from it, keep tickling. If he tries to runs to another corner, try to block him and keep him where he is. If you can't, follow him and start tickling him again. Don't stop tickling him with that whip until he stands still for at least a few seconds and doesn't kick.

Then, lower the whip to the ground, tell him that he's a good boy, give him a few moments to think about what's happened then start tickling him again.
Eventually, you'll be able to run that whip up and down that leg without him kicking at you. He may not be happy about it, but he'll tolerate it. Now, move to the outside of the other back leg. Tickle until he can stand there without kicking. Then, move the whip so that it's between his back legs. Run the whip up one leg and down the other. Tickle his belly if you can reach it. Tickle up between his thighs. If he kicks, keep tickling. When he stops kicking, even if he's all hunched up or squashed into the corner, stop, give him a few moments to think, then start again.

This WILL work if you're patient. It might take 10 minutes, it might take 45 minutes, but keep it up until you can't MAKE him kick no matter where you touch him with the lunge whip. You need to make some serious progress with this problem on the first lesson. In other words, if he still kicks at it occasionally, the lesson isn't over.

Some horses are more dominant-minded than others. If you have one of those born fighters who decides that no matter how far away you are, he's going to back up until you're in range, remember that you're holding a lunge whip. Pop him on the butt and change his mind about coming after you. Do not, however, hit him any harder than absolutely necessary to protect yourself, and NEVER hit one for simply being afraid or ticklish and kicking at the whip. Popping him is only to be used if you yourself are being seriously threatened.

When you work with him next time, start off tickling him again, first on the outside of his back legs and then on the inside. When he can tolerate that without kicking, start GENTLY swinging the lash of the whip around his legs. Remember, you don't want to sting him with it, but to prove to him that it won't hurt him. Keep doing it until you can't get him to kick at the whip.
Is he fixed? No, not permanently. He'll probably need this lesson repeated several times to get him comfortable with having his hind legs touched.

Remember that you can do a variation of this lesson while your horse is on a halter. Reach past him (make sure you're standing in a safe spot so he won't run over you or kick you) with the lunge whip and tickle his hind legs. You can also desensitize his front legs the same way. The exception is this: make sure that whatever is in front of him won't catch his feet if he strikes. The fence panels in my photograph could easily trap his front leg if he struck out at the whip. So, don't try to desensitize front legs with the horse facing into a corner. It's better to put his halter on, turn him toward you but a few feet away, and tickle his front legs while you're holding him. That way, if he strikes out with his front foot, he'll hit nothing but air.

Don't try to pick up your horse's feet until you can no longer get him to kick at the whip EVER. Even then, be cautious. Stand beside him and get him used to your hand briefly touching his shoulder or hip, then the upper part of his leg, time after time until he's okay with it. Then you can start briefly sliding your hand down to his knee or hock, time after time, then down to his cannon bone, until he just stands there comfortably. Only then should you attempt to pick up his foot, and then only for a second. Before long, you'll be able to hold his foot up for a few seconds, then for a few minutes, and finally for as long as you need.

Be patient, especially with the fearful horse, and be careful. They might be small, but a Miniature Horse can still pack one whale of a kick when they want to.

NEXT: The hard-to-catch and hard-to-halter horse.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! Here, I'll discuss Natural Training methods for the Miniature Horse and why they work. I'll teach you how to train your horse not to kick or bite, to let you catch him easily, and to be respectful and obedient. I'll show you how to train your horse for in-hand obstacle (trail) classes, how to teach him to jump, and even how to train him to pull a cart.

And I'll do it all with Natural Horse training methods that are proven to work. They're easy for you to understand and, even more importantly, easy for your horse to understand! If you employ these methods, you won't have to force your horse to obey you, he'll do it naturally, just as if you were the alpha leader of his herd.

So bookmark this blog and come back often. There's a lot to learn. Meanwhile, please visit my other sites on the web:
Rosa Roca Training Stables, Oklahoma City, OK - http://rosaroca.net
Rosa Roca Creations (my craft site) - http://rosarocacreations.com
Natural Training for the Small Equine - my hubpage - http://hubpages.com/hub/Natural-Training-Methods-for-Small-Equine
My recipe blog - http://superrecipiesthatyouvenevertried.blogspot.com/