“Gentle in what you do….Firm in how you do it!!!”

How is your horse at feeding time?  Does your horse respect you when there is food around?  If your horse has his head in his hay when you open his stall door, does he forget about the hay and come to you in a pleasant manner?  The combination of horse and food can cause a great deal of undesirable behavior towards his owner.  This is an area that I see people avoid.  They just don’t go there.  I know horses can give looks that are pretty scary so it is easy for me to see why people avoid the situation.

When I start with a new horse…I don’t mind starting my introduction when the horse is in his stall while he is eating…if his head remains in his hay and he doesn’t even think about acknowledging my presence and/or the horse displays undesirable behavior…he and I start at that point.  This gives me a good place to start.  I can see how little or how much it might take on my behalf to ask the horse to take his nose out of his hay and acknowledge my presence without the undesirable behavior.  This can tell me a great deal about the horse before even leaving his stall.

I would like to share an email from one of my newer students that she sent me around 7:30 this evening.  I worked with her horse earlier around 5:00 for about an hour.  Just to make it clear…her horse is having blood drawn in the morning and was not to have any grain or hay after 10:00 this evening.  She asked me if her horse had been fed at the normal dinner time and I said I didn’t know and that she would have to ask Sally.  This is her email…

Hi Vicki,
I just thought I would share some information.  I just talked with Sally and no Sassie did not receive her grain or hay tonight.  In the past, Sassie would be difficult to handle without her feeding. She would be very belligerent about the other horses eating and extremely reactive to handle.  With this information I can state her performance tonight was incredible.  Wow is all I can say :)

This email is want prompted me to write about horses and their, sometimes, undesirable behavior with the situation.  My point to this blog is that it is possible to change your horse’s thoughts away from his food and towards you with a positive frame of mind.  Some horses might be a little harder than others to change their thought and depending on how long the unwanted behavior has been allowed to go on.  This is another area that I see horses that have trained their owner to accept this unwanted behavior…but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Horses, without a doubt, live in the moment – you should learn to do the same!  Horses can make a decision before you can blink an eye.  Horses are wonderful animals but they can also be dangerous animals.

On the best of days with your horse – in your everyday routine and surroundings with your horse feeling very positive and/or relaxed…something could still go wrong quickly.  The odds of something going wrong is very minimal but there is still a slight risk.  Every time anyone is with a horse there is always a risk.

So imagine how much greater the risk becomes in your normal routine (as described above) when your horse’s normally relaxed feelings have changed to anxiety – for whatever reason – and you choose to not pay attention to the change and go about your normal routine.  Now the odds, of something going wrong, has just risen to a great degree.

At any time your horse’s relaxed feelings change to feelings of anxiety…at that moment you would need to help your horse get back to a positive and/or relaxed feeling before you choose to move on with anything.  When your horse is feeling this way…nothing might appear normal to him in your daily routine in your normal environment.  This is what usually catches people with their guard down because everything is normal to the person.

Remember when your horse’s anxiety level is elevated…nothing is normal to him at that moment and moments following until you help change is mental way of thinking back to a positive and/or relaxed way of feeling.

Does your horse have issues with bridling, saddling, mounting, grooming, cleaning their feet and on and on and on?  I have just listed a few of many possibilities.  Does your horse have you trained to not deal with an issue?  I see horses training people quite well.

If you keep side stepping past an issue…the issue will not get resolved.  An example would be if you are unable to ask your horse to lower his head to put the halter or bridle on…are you one of those people who just go and grab a step stool to simply get it done so you can just get on with your ride?  If you don’t address the issue…you will always have to get a step stool.   I would rather take the time to resolve the issue as opposed to always having to get a step stool.

Another issue that I see, although it is not necessarily common, is a horse having a hard time with one ear being touched.  This, also, would make haltering or bridling difficult.   This issue might take a little more time to get resolved especially if the horse has had an injury to that ear.  The horse’s memory of pain and/or discomfort, when the ear is touched, is certainly going to be present.  Horses can be fairly bossy with their heads so if you are going to try and help your horse with this issue, please be careful to not get yourself hurt by the horse throwing his head into you.  If your horse’s issue is not caused by pain, your horse could just have developed a bad habit.  The longer the horse has had the bad habit, the longer it might take to get it resolved.  Your horse might not think it can be any different because no one took the time to show the horse a better way.  You need to replace a bad habit with a good habit.

The horses that I have worked with that have had this bad habit is in part due to disrespect to their owner.  The horse has been allowed to throw their head around when their ear has been touched so, therefore, the owner quits doing it.  I would clear up the disrespect issue first showing the horse his disrespect is not an option.  His trying to push me out of the way is unacceptable behavior.  Half of the time clearing up the disrespectful behavior clears up the ear issue.  If he is allowed to push you out of the way and gets you to change your thought…then he thinks this is acceptable behavior.

Don’t keep side stepping past issues…help your horse turn unacceptable behavior into acceptable behavior on any issue.

Whether you are a new horse owner or not…I, often, see frustration as I wrote about last night.  One of my students wrote a comment regarding the blog and I would have to agree with her as far as finding someone to help lessen your frustration that understands and works with the horse from the horse’s perspective!

Learning to ride as far as a good balanced seat, quiet legs and hands and so on is only a part of what you need to learn.  I have always said…anybody can sit on a horse when everything is going well BUT it is when things go wrong that matters the most to your horse.   Are you going to be able to help your horse when he spooks and/or gets distracted?  What would you do if your horse wants to go one way and you want to go the other way?  These are just a couple of examples, out of many, that can cause frustration.  It is like people going through life…most people do pretty good when everything is going their way… but the first time something doesn’t go their way they don’t handle it very well.  I guess this is where the men are separated from the boys as they say.  Your horse needs you to be there for him not just when things are going well but if he gets troubled.

Always make sure there is nothing physically wrong with your horse.  Besides your veterinarian there are equine chiropractors and equine massage therapists that could help you.

I just wanted to add a little more information to what I wrote last night on frustrated horse owners.  There is not any relationship that I know of that goes perfectly all the time…your relationship with your horse is not any different.  If  you are having problems please seek out help…your problems will not just disappear…your problems will most likely only get worse!