Allowing your horse to nuzzle into your pockets in the search for crunchy treats could land you with a nibble in a rather inconvenient place. A horse’s love nibbles are painful when applied to mere human skin. Horses in a herd treat each other differently than they must treat us. They crowd, nip, and bite each other, but they are far more durable than we humans, of course.

Unfortunately, the space bubble lesson has been learned by many the hard way. My first, and subsequently the last, experience with the concept of crowding occurred when I bought my first horse years ago. My wonderful new four-legged friend liked to “help” me with the paddock cleaning. As I shovelled and filled the manure cart, he would come and put his nose into it. Then one day he actually lifted his front hoof and put it into the cart when I put a rake full of manure in. He knocked the cart over, which spooked him, which in turn spooked the other three horses in the paddock. Suddenly I found myself within the midst of hooves and tails every which way. Thankfully I was not hurt, but this could have been a mild or even a serious disaster – and may have even necessitated a claim on my horse insurance.

This happened when our training relationship was in its learning curve phase. I was so amused at his trying to help me with my chores that I didn’t think about the potential consequences. On that day I learned the importance of manners. from that day on I began to teach him the importance of respecting my space if I happened to be in the paddock doing jobs or attending to the other horses. If he wanted to play cute he could still do this during the time we spent together learning cues and training.

You can use the three Ps of horse training to instil basic safety manners into your horse. The relationship which you have with any horse – be it your own or one you are training for someone else – is largely dependant on the use of patience, persistence and positive reinforcement.

Patience. Remember that your horse doesn’t yet know what is expected of him. You will go a long way in building trust by showing patience with your horse when showing him what to do, and letting him try and try again until he gets it. Enter the training session with a clear and stress free mind. Take a deep breath and relax. It is part of the natural learning process for your horse to test the waters. He needs to check and see if what he thinks you want is correct. This can occur several times before the horse has confirmed his correct assessment of the task.

Persistence. Don’t give up after just a few tries. It is difficult to communicate at first. After all, you don’t speak the same language yet! Stay with it and be consistent in your cues. Horses are very perceptive to even the slightest cue. It will not usually take long for a horse to learn what a cue means – then you will have cooperation.

Positive reinforcement. Give your horse the signal when he’s done something correctly. The best rewards don’t always come in the form of a tasty treat. They love to be released when they’ve done their job. Imagine the “whoa!” or “stop” cue. It’s a pull on the bit within the horse’s mouth. When the horse exhibits the signs that he understands that you want him to stop, release the bit immediately. This lets him know that he is doing the right thing.

Horses need to know their limits. How close can he stand to you before you feel crowded? Can he pull on the lead rope if he doesn’t want to go the way you are leading him? Is he allowed to get away with things that he may not wish to do on a whim? For a horse this is not natural, even though to us it may seem like common sense. A correctly and carefully trained horse will forever be both a most pleasing companion and could also represent a lower liability when it comes to renewing your horse insurance policy.