Posts Tagged ‘Nerves’

Horse training aids provide you with a useful trade to help you have success when training your horse. When it comes to training a horse, you don’t want to pass over your investment in training aids. Horse training is a serious issue and training aids can make sure a trainer stays safe. It is best to make sure you have the following necessary horse training aids before you start training your horse.

Every trainer is going to need a halter and lead rope combination. The rope halter allows you to tie and lead which is often better than a flat halter, which is uncomfortable for the horse and prevents leaning. When you are working with a horse, it is important to have a rope halter as a part of your equipment.

Next, you need a lead rope to attach to your halter. This lead rope is used to steer and direct your horse. This is a very important training aid since it acts like a leash and allows you to tell your horse what you want them to do.

Another valuable horse training aid is the longe line. Longeing is a term for a set of training skills that teach a horse direction, posture and yielding or moving because of pressure. The longe line will allow you to accomplish these goals.

A popular training tool among many trainers is a progress string. This thin, braided rope has an eye splice at one end and a leather popper on the other. You can use it in a variety of ways. They can be a visual aid for horses to know when they are in your space. It can also be a physical tool for you to have contact while in the saddle. The progress strain isn’t heavy to cause pain, but the popper end has a distinct noise and can be used in place of a crop.

For a less traditional horse training method, you should consider getting a large rubber ball. This type of rubber ball can be bought at a toy store and can be used to successfully condition horse’s nerves. Simply roll the ball around them and gently bump it into their legs so they won’t become startled.

The horse can also be directed from the saddle in order to have them gently move the ball with their legs. This way your horse can become desensitized to unexpected movements or objects. Thereby, reducing a horse from becoming spooked.

The last less traditional horse training aid you can use is a simple plastic tarp. The tarp can be used to develop a horse’s courage while providing you with a cheap training aid. All you have to do is place the tarp in the training area and lead your horse over it so they walk across it by themselves.

As the horse walks across the tarp, it will make a noise and provide them with a strange footing environment. This will develop the trust between a trainer and horse while providing them with desensitizing to noisy situations for when you take them out on a trail ride.

This is by no means a complete list of all the horse training aids available on the market, but it can provide you with something to work with. This list provides you with the basic and necessary training aids for your horse so you can get started with your training program. Once you progress in your horse training you can start using advanced horse training aids and tactics so that you have continued progress.

Sheryll Walker is a horse training enthusiast, helping numbers of people to learn secrets of training horses.

To discover more helpful horse training aids and learn about natural horse training, visit HorseTrainingHelp.com.

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Author: Sheryll Walker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Show season brings with it the excitement of getting our horses ready to compete.

Unfortunately for many of us, riding well in public is an elusive undertaking. At home, our equine buddy goes brilliantly, but at a show we become tense. The horse either acts up or loses suppleness and our performance is a far cry from what we could achieve. Instead of fun, the competition becomes a frustrating disappointment.

Show Anxiety

Nerves used to make me impossible to endure even a week before the event: I snapped at everyone! On show day, when I entered the ring I’d panic and tell myself “there’s no point, I’ll make a mess of it, let’s get this over with.” With the predictable result that I knocked down show-jumps, got multiple refusals cross-country or couldn’t get canter strike-offs in my dressage tests. I had no faith in myself — which was ridiculous, because physically my horse and I had prepared properly and should have done well.

Sound familiar?

Addressing the Mental Side

Until I sorted out the mental part of the sports equation, I would never compete to the best of my ability.

Desperate, I visited a hypnotist. He taught me the following simple, but effective, method of over-coming my self-destructive behavior. Once I used his techniques, my show performance improved hugely and as a result, so did my confidence. I started winning.

De-stress for Success

Sit yourself down in a comfortable, quiet place where you will not be disturbed for at least twenty minutes.

Close your eyes, and — very slowly — begin to count backwards from 10. After the word ‘ten’ breathe in deeply then exhale for as long as you can, concentrating on each breath. Then say ‘nine’ and breathe in and out deeply again. Keep your eyes closed throughout and relax your whole body — head, neck, shoulders, back, legs, ankles, toes …

You’ll find yourself sliding into that no-man’s land between wakefulness and sleep and once you complete the countdown, you’ll focus inwardly.

Record Your Perfect Movie

In this state of total relaxation imagine your show day. Go through every action in minute detail. Begin with waking up, getting dressed, preparing your horse for the trip, loading and transporting him. Visualize everything going smoothly — your horse is relaxed, he loads first time, there’s no traffic and your radio is playing calming music (I find classical tunes ideal). Upon arrival you find a great parking spot.

In your mind’s eye, you’re now saddling your horse, then mounting him and on your way to the warm-up arena. Are you getting nervous? Take another deep breath. Imagine you both looking fabulous out there: your horse performs brilliantly. Allow yourself to see the impressed looks on other riders’ faces as you glide past them. Yes, that’s you they’re staring at!

An Oscar-Worthy Production

Now you’re ‘on deck,’ calmly patting your horse as you look forward to wowing the judges and spectators.

Picture a grand entrance, after which you and your horse excel in each movement as you perform your dressage test, jumping round, or whatever applies to your particular discipline. It’s important to see and feel every part of your performance happening exactly as you want it to.

And here you are now, leaving the ring after a stunning show. You pat your horse enthusiastically, a big smile on your face.

You will ‘wake up’ more confident now.

Rewind and Play Again

Repeat this process many times before the show.

If you’re really anxious, enter a class below the level you ride at home until you get comfortable at shows. Combining that with this exercise will give you the best chance of succeeding.

Soon just visualizing your terrific performance, rather than the whole day, will be sufficient to reinforce the positive images in your brain and ensure a great competition experience.

Hilary Walker is English, living in Maryland with her three horses, four dogs, schizophrenic cat, perfectly normal American husband and teenage son. She loves teaching people to ride, taking them to shows and watching them win ribbons. She also enjoys training her young horse and is winning ribbons with him at First Level dressage. Her other love is writing, and she is about to release a humorous non-fiction book describing the times when things haven’t gone quite so smoothly in her horse life. Like every self-respecting horse-woman, she loathes and abhors housework.

Author: Hilary Walker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Spring has officially sprung, and that means two things to horse show addicts: horse and travel. Unless you live at the center of a major show circuit, chances are that if you want to compete with your horse this year, you are going to have to travel.

Depending on your equine friend, the combination of horse and travel is either a piece of cake or a complete horror story. Luckily, there are some simple steps you can take to get your horse ready for show season and travel. In this newsletter, we cover numerous products for the various situations you might encounter during the season. You probably won’t need all of these remedies and supplements, but this newsletter might serve as a “just in case” reference guide to keep on hand as you go down the road!

Prepare Your Horse and Travel Safely: Seven Tips Aside from the training aspects of getting your horse ready for the upcoming show season, there are many horse health care aspects to consider before you and your horse hit the road. Here are seven horse health care tips to help you prepare your horse and travel safely down the road.

1. Protect Your Horse’s Immune System

Immunity is always an issue when traveling to show grounds that have a constant stream of horses traveling through. To protect your horse’s immune system from respiratory tract infections, allergies, and other possible irritants, consider adding Simplexity Health Essentials or Equilite’s Equinacea to your horse’s daily regimen. Both of these support your horse’s immune system and lungs, both of which can be stressed while traveling.

2. Keep Your Horse Calm

Show nerves, a new environment, constant noise and lights, and travel can all make show horses flighty and nervous. Fire and Water horse personality types are especially prone to nerves, while Wood horses may became bored and destructive when confined to a small stall (learn more about horse personality types on the Horse Harmony website).

To keep your horse calm at a show, consider feeding Valerian Free Relax Blend. For horses who may tip into their “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system, two to four capsules of the herbal supplement Eleviv can be useful to help them deal cope with stress, and stay in an open and willing frame of mind.

3. Protect Against Wear and Tear

Competition and travel can both be hard on a horse’s bones, tendons, and ligaments. To protect against wear and tear, consider adding antioxidants and natural anti-inflammatory supplements to your horse’s diet during show season. Good antioxidants include Coenzyme Q10 from Comal or Simplexity Health, concentrated wheat sprouts from Simplexity Health, blue-green algae, and Citrus C/Q from Equilite. These antioxidant sources help protect against cellular damage and work to enhance healing and connective tissue construction. These supplements also provide horses with the nutrients they need to support their respiratory system and immune system.

4. Support Lung Health

Depending on your horse’s career, it may be very important to support your horse’s lung health during show season. Some horse’s have weak lungs, and may develop lung irritation, cough, allergies, or skin conditions, all of which are related to the lungs, while traveling.

These horses can be well-supported with Garlic plus C from Equilite. This combination contains garlic, vitamin C, Astragalus, Schisandra, and Zinc. In combination, these help keep insects away, and provide immune and respiratory support. This combination is also helpful when shipping horses long distances, when treating skin fungus, or for upper respiratory conditions.

For horses who have more severe lung conditions, such as Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage (EIPH), or bleeding in the lungs, Bleeder’s Blend from Equilite is extremely supportive. This blend of tonifying herbs helps provide healthy and strong lungs in high performance equines. Use this formula to help protect lungs from stress or hemorrhaging so they may better endure the rigors of training. This formula also contains bioflavonoids and vitamin K.

5. Provide Digestive Support

Many horses stop eating when stressed, or eat but don’t digest their food well. This poor digestion can lead to ulcers, colic, and other digestive discomforts that can interfere with performance. To support your horse’s digestion during travel or at shows, consider adding products that soothe and coat the stomach, such as Stomach Soother, SUCCEED, or slippery elm plus aloe vera.

To replenish the beneficial gut bacteria, which can be destroyed by stress or when your horse drinks chlorinated water, feed Simplexity Health’s Acidophlius and Bifidus, or PreProbiotics from Equilite. As a side benefit, these probiotics also produce vitamin B, which can keep your horse calm and relaxed.

6. Keep Older Show Horses Going

If you have a “school master” or older show horse who is perfectly capable of showing, but needs a little support for his joints, now is the time consider injecting affected joints with Adequan or Legend.

Adequan is recommended for the intramuscular treatment of non-infectious degenerative and/or traumatic joint dysfunction and associated lameness of the carpal and hock joints in horses. Legend is indicated in the treatment of joint dysfunction of the knee or fetlock in horses due to non-infectious arthritis. Both will support older horses who are still competing but need extra joint support.

7. Prepare Your First Aid Kit

You never know what might happen when you combine horse and travel, and head into the competition season. For a horse show first aid kit, I like to include at least the following:

Homeopathic Remedies
- Nux Vomica and Chamomile (for digestive issues)
- Arnica, Rhus. Tox. and Hypericum (for overworked bodies and nerve issues)
- Apis and Pulsatilla (for allergies, insect bites, and swelling)

Topical Salves and Ointments
- Sore No More (for overworked muscles and joints)
- Draw Solution (for topical wounds or injuries, or wrapping joints)
- HyperCal (for topical wounds)

Stress-Reducing Products
- Eleviv (for coping healthily with stress)
- Fastrack Paste (for digestive upsets and nervousness)
- SUCCEED (for ulcer flare-ups)

Hopefully these tips help you prepare for show season so you and your horse are ready to hit the circuit and compete well. Keeping your horse healthy is one of the primary ingredients for a successful show season, and doing just a bit of preparation beforehand can save you a lot of headaches down the road.

We are proud to say that just about all of the products mentioned above are stocked in the Holistic Horsekeeping online store, so be sure to check it out as a source for one stop shopping.

Madalyn Ward, DVM, is a recognized author and veterinarian in the field of holistic horsekeeping. For free tips on horse health, horse personality types, and horse nutrition, plus one-stop shopping on holistic horse products, visit http://www.BuyHolisticHorse.com.

Author: Dr. Madalyn Ward, DVM
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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