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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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/