Posts Tagged ‘ears’

My horse bucks almost everytime I ride him now. I have tried changing bits and saddles. I have tried using snaffle and curb bits. He has bucked with a bridle and without and with a saddle and bareback. He has bucked in walk, trot, canter and gallop. If he is going faster than a trot when he bucks I cant get him to stop running. I haven’t been riding very long so I am not that good of a rider. Is there anything else I can try? And why would he be doing it? He has never done it before and I have had him at least a year.
Well I only weigh about 117 pounds so I dont think I’m too big for him. He’s been gelded. I dont have money to take him to a trainer. He is normally really sweet but when he bucks he lays back his ears.
My horse Trigger is a 12 year old quarter horse gelding.

My horse spaky is dominant in her feild. Every timei go out to get her, for whatever reason she pins her ears and charges at me! It’s been this way for the past couple of days, does anyone have any suggestions?

Buying a horse is buyer beware. Not to make you frightened, but it is your responsibility to make sure the horse you choose is what you expected you were getting. Check all claims made about an animal out for yourself.

To start with, take someone you know who knows horses. If you don’t know anyone who will volunteer their time, consider paying a trainer or riding instructor for their time as it will be money well spent. There is so much to take in when viewing a prospective horse that many eyes alone will give a more accurate picture. Different people will ‘see’ different things. A beginner may see an affectionate good looking animal. An experienced horse person may observe an arthritic joint and a tendency towards pushiness.

Also on a general note, take lots of pictures. Consider making notes. If you have particular questions in mind, write them down beforehand and note the answers when you ask. This way you’ll cover everything and remember a lot.

Health. Although the domain of health is for the experts, look for a general impression of wellness. In a well lit place, is the coat shiny and smooth to the touch? Are ribs showing? Does he have a pot belly? Are the hooves broken, cracked or poorly cared for? Is the horse alert or half asleep? Are the eyes bright and clear? The ears scanning for sounds?

Temperament. How is this horse around other horses? Watching him being walked past other horses as he is brought in from the pasture or out from the stable will give you and idea of how he relates to other horses. Does he kick or bite? This might be forgivable when directed at other horses, but not at humans. Do not buy a horse with bad manners.

Training. Ask for and watch the horse being caught, led, tied and groomed, including having all hooves picked out. Have a demonstration of the horse being put on a trailer. Watch the horse being saddled and mounted. In short, ask to see everything demonstrated that you’d do with this horse yourself. How does he behave?

Riding. Let the owner ride first and put the horse through all it’s paces and special skills. How smooth are the horse’s responses? Are there any signs of resistance or fighting? Head tossing, leaning on the bit, laziness, tugging?

Your Turn. Ask your knowledgeable friend to try the horse out and then you have a go too. Watch for how the horse reacts to you. Go back to the basics and try all the everyday stuff as well. Leading, grooming, hoof handling, saddling up.

Paperwork. If this horse is a registered breed, ask to see the papers.

If the horse does not behave, that’s kicking, biting, rearing, bucking, bolting etc then don’t buy it. Did you hear that? No matter how stunning you think this horse may be! Don’t buy it. Yes you want to feel a strong commitment to your animal AND you also want a well-behaved animal, especially if this is your first horse. Don’t settle on a gorgeous looking bucker. It’s not worth it, and the well behaved ones come in ‘stunning’ too.

It can be worth making a second visit. Ask the questions you forgot the first time. Repeat the same questions from the first time. Do the answers match? Is the horse behaving in the same manner?

Phil Tragear
http://www.HorseTrainingSuccess.com
All the questions you’ve asked, answered.

About the Author
Phil is author of the comprehensive book ‘Horse Training Success’, full of answers to the most asked horse training questions. Stop by http://www.horsetrainingsuccess.com for a huge selection of information regarding common problems, training of horses, equine psychology, how to get the best behavior and so much more!

Please feel free to use this article on condition that you maintain a live link to the http://www.horsetrainingsuccess.com website, acknowledge that the content is Phil Tragear 2006, and keep this paragraph included!

Author: Phil Tragear
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Hybrid and Electric Cars

A horse is another one of those plant eating animals with his stomach able to hold up to eighteen quarts of food. The unusually long intestines of a horse enables’ him to store much food in its body. The horse chews its food very slowly and very thoroughly. Unlike the cow, it does not chew a cud.

The eyes of the horse are located on the sides of his head. This permit’s the horse to see forward, sideways and even a little bit backward. The pupil of the horse’s eye is not round but oval shaped. The longest part runs crosswise or horizontally.

The shape of the pupil cuts down the amount a horse can see when it’s looking straight ahead…The horse cannot see above the level of its eyes. The pupil of the eye can be opened up very wide and therefore the horse can see better at night…and in a dim light. Far better than us human beings can see!

The horse’s ears are very flexible and can be wiggled about in order to caught sounds. The horse has a keen sense of sound and a keen sense of smell. It can hear sounds or detect strange objects by its sense of smell before it can see them. A horse may often be frightened by the appearance of a strange object if he doesn’t know what it is. If the horse is allowed to sniff at the object and examine it, then its fear may quickly disappear.

A wild horse is naturally very timid and afraid of man. If it’s grazing or resting and hears an unusual sound, it immediately throws its head up in alarm. It looks in the direction from which the sound came and may quickly turn and run. The urge to run may come from something the horse sees, hears or smells.

A horse has long legs which makes it a swift runner and the horses feet are called hoofs which are hard and don’t wear down too easily. The hoofs also lesson some of the shock when the horse moves around. The hoofs allow the horse better footing.

The legs of a newborn horse are very long in proportion to its height. They grow little as the horse develops, but not nearly as fast as the rest of his body. Though a young horse has long legs it can still run very fast if need be. He may need this speed if he’s one that’s allowed to run in the wild! Much like the…wild mustang horses and burros, that’s left to run free in the Western States of The United States.

Though horses are used less in the United States as far as work horses, if you research into third world countries you’ll see many horses are still being used as work horses. There’s another entire breed of horses on the racing seen while others are more for riding and many are simply pets! As a result many horses are thought of as just another family member. When that happens, it makes me feel the life of a horse is not much different than you or me!

Gary was raised in a family that loved and worked horses. He was a race horse jockey and his father was a horse shoer and a horse trader. The whole family each had their own horse and at times more than one. Nowadays’ there are issues with the mustangs and burrows in our Western States. They’re part of our American Heritage just as well as the bald eagle, buffalo, black bear and grizzly bear, just to name a few. Let your voice be heard since the mustangs can’t speak for themselves! See for yourself here: http://madeleinepickens.com
http://savingamericasmustangs.org/

Author: G Wayne Cooper
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Canada duty

Bouncing Bob was riding a particularly frisky horse when suddenly its bridle came off. As they raced down the road, a screaming Bob clung to the horse’s ears for dear life. Out of the corner of his eye, Bob saw a car coming, and realizing the horse was completely out of control, he panicked. Flailing his arms about, he accidentally caused the horse to come to an abrupt halt. What could Bouncing Bob have done to make the horse stop?

Many of the following mistakes made with horses were ones I made over the last 40 years, but luckily for me, some of them were tales I’ve heard from other people. Hopefully, readers can learn and avoid some of these problems themselves if they haven’t already made the same mistakes!

Not paying attention to a horse’s body language can be painful. Standing behind an alpha mare brushing her tail was no problem until another horse walked into her space. She gave warning to the other horse by laying her ears back and shaking her head, but the warning was ignored by the groomer as well as the other horse, and the next action was a kick. Unfortunately, it didn’t land on the transgressor but on the groomer’s leg and taught her to pay attention to what was going on in the immediate area and to pay attention to her horse.

Not giving a new horse time to settle in and get used to new people and new facilities can start a new relationship off poorly. A young horse was hauled about 600 miles to a new owner who took it off the trailer, saddled it, and proceeded to try to go for a ride. The next several months were spent trying to sell the horse that bucked the rider off. It pays to be considerate of a new horse and let it get adjusted.

Horses need to learn to move away from pressure instead of leaning into it which they tend to do naturally. If you slip up and let the horse into your space uninvited, a foot underneath a hoof may occur and it sure helps to have a horse that will move away from a touch on its side instead of leaning even harder on your foot!

A scared horse is not going to go willingly up to or by something it’s afraid of. Forcing the issue can lead to a spin and bolt, squirting by the object as fast as possible, or even lead to rearing and other evasion tactics. Spending time letting the horse face the object and doing advance and retreat, moving its feet and letting it gradually drift near the object but not forcing it to get closer will get better results.

A horse that is touchy about its feet and legs can really get upset if it gets tangled up in vines, ropes, or a fence. Many serious injuries to legs could be avoided if the horse had been gently and slowly desensitized to a rope touching and retreating around its legs. Leg injuries take a long time to heal and require a lot of intensive doctoring which means time and money.

Cinches loosen after being tightened initially. Getting on a horse without checking the cinch can land one in a pile on the ground, or if they loosen after getting on, can cause a wreck while riding. Saddles under a horse’s belly are not something most horses have been desensitized to, and that can lead to a real rodeo kind of action.

Horses that don’t readily give to pressure can step on leadlines and jerk their heads up so hard that snaps and hardware might break. Or they might get a leg over the leadline and take off. Holding on to a horse’s lead at that point is fruitless. They can drag you and you have no leverage to turn them. You might as well let go at that point. Teach the horse to give to pressure laterally, and down.

Another problem with horses that don’t know how to give to pressure is that they may learn to set back when tied and fight the lead until they break loose or hurt themselves. Teaching them to give to pressure is crucial and also it helps to “tie” them so that if they do have another pulling back moment, they line will feed out gradually instead of breaking or injuring the horse. This works well on a panel fence with a long line looped around a couple of the panel rails. Loop it enough times that it doesn’t come loose too fast but few enough times that it won’t be completely stationery. A twelve foot or longer line will probably be enough to give the horse the space it feels it needs without it coming completely untied.

Girths can break. They often do so at the most inopportune time, such as when your horse is running away with you after being scared by something. Perhaps it is the extra energy they put into the effort to escape that causes the failure of the tack, but it pays to check your equipment and repair or replace any that is worn. It also pays to have taught your horse that the word WHOA means “Stop, Now!”

Once you’ve had some of these things happen to you, it becomes obvious that you should have done something different and you will take steps to see that they don’t happen again. If you haven’t experienced any of these problems yet, you’ve either had great mentors to teach you or you haven’t had a horse for more than a few days and can learn from others’ mistakes.

Bonnie and her husband own Gemara Farm Foxtrotters located in Barnesville, Georgia. They currently have nine fox trotters of their own and practice natural horsemanship with them, and Bonnie coaches others. There are usually some fox trotters available for sale. http://www.gemara.homestead.com

Author: Bonnie Martin
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Canada duty

If you are considering buying a new horse, there are several issues of concern to you. Smart buyers and riders know what they want before speaking to horse sellers.

It is important to know everything you can about the new horse. Learn its history, blood lines, habits, preferences, skills and overall attitude. It is also important to find out about its inherent traits. All horses have their own unique traits. Know which ones are most desirable to you.

Traits to Consider

Some horses are better at certain tasks than others. When buying a new horse, pre-determine what skills you want the horse to possess. Some to consider are:

* English riding

* Showing and jumping

* Racing

* Western riding

* Trail riding

* Roping

* Team roping

* Barrel racing

* Endurance

Questions to Ask Before Buying a Horse

How much do you expect to pay? Look only at horses within your price range. What gender, color, age and size are you looking for? Weed out horses that don’t fit within your requirements. Does the horse load and unload from trailers well? Will it tolerate shoeing and hoof trimming? Score your prospective horses on a scale of one to five for these items. The higher scorers will help you determine which horses are of the most interest to you.

When buying a new horse it is important to be sure it has been thoroughly evaluated. An initial inspection of the horse must be performed by someone capable and experienced. If you don’t know what to look for, bring someone you trust who does. Here are the areas you need to check:

* Eyes. Make sure the horse can see out of both eyes. Do a flinch test by waving your hand quickly in front of each eye. Check for any differences.

* Ears. Check for excess ear wax or over-sensitivity when the ears are touched.

* Mouth. Check for any lesions or sores. Be sure the teeth are normal and aligned. Watch the horse chew to check for normal biting ability.

* Head, neck and chest. Check for symmetry and balance of muscles. Be sure the horse moves its head, neck and chest freely and without difficulty.

* Feet. Inspect all four feet for swelling and sensitivity to touch. Flex and extend all joints to look for pain, resistance or head lifting that indicates pain or discomfort.

* Rear end. Check for good tone, signs of discharge and signs of diarrhea.

* Lameness. It is imperative that you are able to observe the horse trotting in circles in both directions and in a straight line. Watch closely for irregular bobbing of the head, sloppy movements or skipping that may indicate pain in any of the legs.

If the horse has passed your initial evaluation, it is time to take it for a ride. Observe its stamina, nerves and whether or not it is alert and well behaved.

If you have any doubts, either walk away or arrange an agreement based on the findings during the veterinary examinations. This is common practice and a legitimate horse seller will agree to some reasonable terms.

Be sure the three required exams are performed by a veterinarian of your choosing or one that has a neutral opinion. The required exams are:

* Health certificate, which is usually for crossing state lines.

* Insurance exam, to satisfy mortality and other questions related to insuring the horse.

* Pre-purchase veterinary exam, detailing the medical status of the horse at the time of purchase.

When buying a horse, you want to find one that is healthy and has a good attitude. The horse’s experience and dependability levels must closely match, or be above, that of the primary rider. A willing and intelligent horse can be trained to bring you years of pleasure and skilled work habits. Choose your horse wisely.

Rachel Harding has been riding horses since she was five. Sign up for our free newsletter and get all the information you need at Horse And Rider Info

Author: Rachel Harding
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Unix inter-process communication (IPC)

If you have a horse that kicks, either occasionally, periodically, or habitually, it is wise to find out the reasons behind this behavior. Sometimes there are practical reasons a horse will lash out. He may be protecting himself or trying to relieve pain. In other situations kicking is a bad habit that must be addressed before some one gets hurt.

To figure out what your horse is trying to tell you with this potentially dangerous behavior you need to observe his body language and what are the circumstances leading up to a kick. Horses are usually trying to communicate one of six messages when they deliver a kick.

A horse may kick because they feel threatened. Kicking is a weapon horses will use to defend themselves. Being an instinctive response this may be seen in the most pleasant and easygoing horses. This type of kick can be recognized by what precedes it. A horse that is scared will try to move away from the perceived danger. If that does not work he will try pinning his ears or raising his hind leg as a warning. If these fail then he will deliver the kick.

Sometimes a horse will kick in response to pain. A horse with a sore back might “cow kick” when a saddle is placed on his back. If a horse kicks at his belly he may be telling you he has gut pain. Usually a horse that kicks in pain does not threaten or posture before kicking. He just kicks when it hurts. When the pain is relieved the kicking typically stops instantly.

Horses will sometimes kick out because they feel good. They are being playful. This kicking is not intended to be harmful but accidents can happen. If you happen to be turning out a rambunctious horse do so cautiously for your safety and the safety of other horses. This is not something that necessarily needs or can be corrected. Just use common sense.

When a horse kicks when you are riding he is probably reacting to another horse or even another animal that is too close to his hind quarters. Horses can be strict when it comes to their personal space. They can find it offensive if another horse comes too close to their hind end. Mild warning kicks normally precede the “tailgating kick”. This type of kick under saddle should not go uncorrected even if it seems justified. Kicks can be powerful enough to break the bones of who ever might receive the impact of the kick. Instantly correct your horse to let him know this is not acceptable behavior.

Kicks delivered due to frustration of the horse can be pretty easy to discern. If you are found to be slow, in his opinion, at delivering your horse’s grain ration you may recognize this type of kick. These kicks are usually accompanied by body language that you cannot miss. The horse will not seem frightened just impatient. Pinned ears, flipping the head, rearing slightly, and lunging forward are the preceding body language normally associated with this type of kick.

Feeding this horse first may be a workable solution. You may choose to simply ignore this type of kicking providing the horse is not hurting himself or others. Some people have tried hobbles to help eliminate this behavior. Hobbles only work if they are on. A horse may stop when the hobbles are on and start up again when they are removed.

The kick to take most seriously is the horse that kicks to say “I’m in charge”. This horse, somewhere in his life, has learned bullying is an acceptable way to deal with people. There are bigger training issues with the horse that tries to achieve dominance over his human handler. Before they kick they will threaten and posture with pinned ears and show a “mean face”. Usually they turn their rump toward you and raise their hoof before the kick.

These bossy kickers do not try to escape the situation. Often other aggressive behaviors will be displayed by these horses such as showing no respect for the space of others. These horses have gotten away with this behavior in the past. A bossy kicker will act this way because it works for them. Reforming this type of a kicker can be very difficult. It very well could require a professional trainer to reestablish ground rules and the chain of command when it comes to personal space.

When a horse kicks it is a call for an investigation to find out why. A kick can be an effective form of communication. It can be a powerful weapon against predators. Kicking does serve the horse very well. However, kicks can inflict injury. It can be one of the most dangerous behaviors a horse can display.

For additional information about practical horse management please go to http://wcf-ltd.com/horse/ to learn more about how to care for your horse.

Author: Fran Mullens
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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