Posts Tagged ‘natural prey’

It can be difficult to train a horse to perform the way you want and can even be scary at times since bad behaviors can sometimes make horses unsafe and annoying to be around. Biting, kicking, rearing, being pushy, bucking are some of the bad behaviors your might expect from the animal.

To limit the occurrence of bad behaviors you have to have a solid foundation provided by horse training tips in order to establish yourself as a leader over the horse. You should consider some advice that can will you with training your horse.

When a horse respects the trainer, they will lead well. This means a horse will follow at your shoulder from a short distance.Lead your horse from the left in a manner so their nose is at your shoulder on your right side. You should avoid letting the horse pull the rope, let it drag and they certainly shouldn’t rush out past you.

When lose rope drags then stop and order the horse to backup. This is the way to make the horse realize there is a result for their bad behavior. If the horse is going faster and walks past you then simply reverse direction you are once again in front and placing yourself in the leadership role.

You should keep in mind that horses are natural prey animals. Horses are always looking for new threats. If a horse’s head is high then this is a sign they are tense and likely trying to find a nearby threat. When a horse is relaxed, their head is low and their primary interest in to find food. You want to help your horse relax on cue by lowering their head.

This is a valuable tip for horse training and is the best way to prove you are the leader over the horse. Ideally, you should do this without a lead line or halter so you can have control over his movements without tools, but rather be able to control them simply through your body language and presence. There are some other methods you can use in order to teach a horse to respect and trust you.

Another valuable horse training tip is to make sure your horse keeps paying attention to you. If a horse isn’t focused on you then bump them with the rope and bring their nose toward you so both eyes are focused on you.

Keep a look at their eyes as well since this is their form of radar that helps them probe for threats. If both ears are forward and focused on you, you have their complete attention. Make sure you correct your horse whenever their full attention isn’t devoted to you.

As you ride the horse, make sure you go through some exercises to keep your horse paying attention to you. Some good options are flexing and making them move the hindquarter and front. If your horse listens to you, they will be less likely to run when there is a threat near them.

Using these above tips in your horse training will allow you to develop a solid foundation that focuses on gentle leadership that teaches your horse to respect you. When your horse respects you and views you as a leader then they aren’t as likely to exhibit bad behavior.

Sheryll Walker is a horse enthusiast, helping numbers of people to learn secrets of Natural Horse Training. To discover more helpful tips on training horse to do what you need and learn more about Natural Horse Training, visit http://www.HorseTrainingHelp.com.

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Author: Sheryll Walker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Beading Necklace

Horse, like people have many different personalities. Many like to think that a horse is reminiscent of its owner. I must say I find this to be very true from my own personal experience. I think that it is very important for a horse owner or future horse owner to know how to handle your horse or potential horse, and understand how a horse’s senses work.

Healthy horses have a very keen sense of smell. Your horse more than likely will have a craving for grain or apples for example. An apple doesn’t have much smell, but if you have one in your pocket your horse will definitely smell it and know exactly what pocket its in. He will probably be sniffing at your pocket and nudging you for it. If you’re out on a trail with your horse your horse can smell many things before you even notice them, such as hikers, deer, mountain bikers etc… sometimes I find that horse will snort at certain smells, to me this is kind of an alert.

Along with smell horses also have a keen sense of hearing which they use in conjunction with the sense of smell. You will notice that your horse flicks its ears often sometimes pricking them forward and turning them to the side. This is an indication that your horse is paying attention to the sounds in the environment around him. This is a natural prey instinct. I also find that when horses prick their ears back towards you, they are paying attention to you and your cues as well. Horses use their ears to not only listen but to also talk to you. When a horse pricks his ears forward look at the direction they are pointing and you’ll find out what your horse is investigating. It could be another horse, coyote, hay truck etc… When you horse pens his ears, it’s usually an indication he’s angry, disgruntled, or upset.

A horse’s tail is another form of communication. A horse’s tailbone is actually and extension of its spine, but a horse can express himself through his tail. You can actually tell what a horse is thinking by the positioning of his tail. A relaxed horse usually lays his tail against his body in a natural manner. Sometimes a horse will hold its slightly out away from his body as a balancing mechanism while trotting or cantering. A scared horse tucks or clamps his tail to his body. A happy or excited horse lifts its tail high like a flag. And unhappy or irritated horse swishes his tail at you or another horse. Horses also use the tail to swat flies.

A horse has keen sight. The horse sees differently than people do. The horse’s eye has a different physical structure than the human eye. A horse will raise his head to focus on close objects and lower its head to see distant objects. In addition horses are also color blind. Due to the placement of the horse’s eye being on the sides of the head, he has lateral vision. Meaning he can see two separate images at the same time. It is a good idea when working with your horse, to work on both sides of your horse.

Horses also communicate by voice with other horses and by body language. If you watch horses in a pasture you will see this often. Horse will swish their tails at eat other when the want space. They will also kick at each other if another horse or human is too close. You will see horses push each other with their bodies when they want another horse to move or want to show dominance. Horses will also do this with humans and to my amazement many horse owners allow this. This is a definite no no, and needs correction.

By carefully observing your horses you will learn a lot about how to think like a horse.

Author: Gary Houston
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera News