Q&A Archive

Biting by a horse is a sign of deeper issues. When your horse nips at you, it is saying "I don't respect you." So I recommend you do some ground work before anything else to establish respect. Once your horse respects you and your space, chance are the biting will stop. I recommend working with your horse in the round pen. The round pen is the ideal "classroom" to establish leadership, respect and communication--the three keys to all horse training. In the round pen, you can control your horse's movement, and give it the opportunity to submit--by its own decision--to you as the leader. If you'd like to learn the proper round pen techniques, I'd recommend getting my 5-Disc training DVD set. The first DVD is devoted to showing you step-by-step how to work with your horse safely and effectively in the round pen. You will be amazed at the change in attitude you'll see in your horse.

Giving treats to horses is somewhat of a controversy. If you want to give treats without your horse becoming aggressive, the key is to not give something "special" but rather give him his regular feed as a "treat." To horses, receiving a pellet or a handful of sweet feed is just as much a treat as receiving a carrot or horse cookie. If you do want to give your horse something special like a carrot, piece of apple or horse cookie, then put it in the feed bucket or trough with the regular feed ration, rather than by hand.

"Cinchy" refers to a horse that is fearful of the girth or cinch of his saddle. A "cinchy" horse will often pin his ears, stomp his feet or grind his teeth when you attempt to saddle him or only tighten the cinch. Some horses will pull back in a panic. Cinchiness is a sensory memory issue developed by a horse that has had an unpleasant saddling experience.

The problem becomes worse with a continually inconsiderate rider. Remember, if you tighten the cinch too hard or too fast, it can cause serious pain, and startle the horse. A solution to a cinchy horse will take diligence and patience. It might take several positive experiences being saddled to correct one bad experience. To avoid a horse becoming "cinchy," don't throw the saddle onto the horse, always place it quietly and never tighten the cinch completely at once, tighten the cinch in stages as the horse relaxes. You can give it your final tightening before mounting.

When a horse intentionally turns its rear to you, it is a clear sign that the horse is not showing you respect. In other words, your horse is saying to you, "You ain't the boss, I am." In order to correct this critical issue of respect, you must establish leadership with your horse. The ideal place to do this is in the round pen, where you can control the horse's movement and direction and allow your horse to make the decision to submit to you. This doesn't mean run the horse around the round pen until it's exhausted- that's the wrong way. My methods involve directing the horse's movement, controlling its direction, watching for signs of submission, and allowing the horse to decide- without pressure- that YOU are the leader. Once a horse decides you are the leader, it will submit to you willingly and will be much easier to work with on all other issues.

Losing your confidence around horses after being away from them for 20 years is not unusual. When we were kids, we were all fearless and never worried about riding. But our adult brains always see the potential danger in a 1200 lb animal!

I would recommend you start with a very well broke, quiet horse. An older gelding who has been ridden a lot would be my first choice. A well-trained older gelding can be a real confidence builder. Spend a lot of time on the ground--petting, rubbing, grooming, interacting with the horse, etc. The more time you spend around the horse on the ground, the more confident you'll feel in the saddle.

Once you feel confident enough to get on the horse, have someone hold the lead rope and just sit on the horse for a half an hour or so. Relax and take deep breaths, which will communicate to your horse you are not tense or scared. Once you start to feel confident, walk around a little. Take it step-by-step, and do it as often as possible, which will improve your comfort level.

The main thing is you want is to have respect from your horse, and have the horse trust you as the leader. The best way to do that is to work with the horse in the round pen. The round pen is the ideal place to establish leadership, respect and communication with your horse. By working with your horse in the round pen, you'll also start to develop a bond, which goes a long way in building confidence. Learning proper training techniques and how to work with your horse on control issues, etc. is another huge confidence builder. The more you are able to train your horse, the more confidence you will have in both yourself and your horse.

Looking at rescue horses is certainly an option, as there are some well-trained ones available. But there are also a lot out there that have major issues, and need an experienced horse person to work with them. So be very careful in your selection. You will want to learn as much about the horse as possible. What is its history? Was it abused? What issues does it have? Is it sound and healthy? What was it used for and how much has it been ridden? You want to make sure the horse has been trained for the type of riding you do (trail riding, hunter/jumper, etc.). Since this is your first horse, I would strongly recommend taking a friend along who knows a lot about horses, as they can help you evaluate the horses, look for issues, and ask the right questions. You'll want to ride the horse several times before you adopt it- go back several times to see what the horse is like on different days. Don't be in a rush, take your time. Keep in mind that the smallest cost of owning a horse is the purchase price. You might also consider volunteering for a local horse rescue operation. That way you can spend lots of time around the horses, and may eventually find one that's a good fit for you.

When it comes to being afraid of trailers, horses have several reasons. When horses have never been in a trailer before, they have many fears including going from the safety of an open space into a dark, dead-end enclosure not much larger than their bodies. Remember, horses are fight or flight animals, and are naturally claustrophobic. Also, horses cannot see directly in front of them, so the act of stepping up into a trailer requires them to have a lot of confidence in you and the trailer.

Other reasons that horses fear the trailer is because of bad past experiences, such as being forced into the trailer without proper training, a rough ride, or the trailer simply being a loud and noisy contraption. Re-training a horse to not fear the trailer is possible, but it takes time and patience. If you ever wish to take your horse anywhere, it is vital that he learn to trust you as their leader as, and that the trailer is presented to him as a safe place.

A common misconception amongst horse owners and riders is that every training problem can be fixed with a bit. In actuality, the bit is only a communications tool that we use with our horses. It's not an instant fix to all of your training problems. First, you must consider that some horses simply are not designed physically to keep their heads down and parallel to the ground. Second, you can teach your horse to relax and lower his head by working in the round pen and creating flexibility in your horse with simple head circle exercises.

It sounds like your horse has some respect issues. I would recommend not just working him on the ground, but working with him in a round pen. The round pen is a safe, controlled environment where you can control his movements and establish yourself as the leader. The round pen allows you to gain your horse's respect, and build a bond of communication with him. When I talk about working your horse in the round pen, I don't mean just run him around in circles endlessly...that just results in a tired horse who has learned very little. It's very important to use the proper techniques in the round pen. In my 5-disc training DVD set, the entire first DVD is devoted to teaching proper round-penning techniques. I take you step-by-step through the process of directing and controlling your horse's movement, how to watch for signs of submission, and how to get your horse to see you as the leader.

I have seen many horses that will walk into a trailer just fine, but then want to "unload" immediately. Once inside the trailer, they tend to get claustrophobic and panic, which causes the pulling back and yanking. This can be very dangerous for both you and your horse--the horse could run over you, and if it rears up when it pulls back, it could hit its head and badly injure itself. Chance are, your horse had a bad experience in a trailer before you got her, and may have even injured herself. So, you'll need to overcome that bad experience and replace it in your horse's mind with good, positive experiences with the trailer. My basic trailer training method is to get eliminate the panic, and get your horse to associate being in the trailer with a pleasant experience--one where they feel safe, relaxed and stress-free. My treating method plays an important role in this, and is very successful.

When learning to ride a horse, people are taught that the horse should always be handled and mounted from the left side. However, this can cause a horse to become "one-sided." The horse expects to only be handled from the left side and can become apprehensive when handled from the right side. By training a horse from both the left and right side, your horse will be more versatile and mounting will be safer. If you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to mount from the right, and your horse wasn't used to it, both your safety and the horse's could be in jeopardy. Having a horse trained on both sides allows you to do whatever is nessescary to ensure your horse doesn't become frightened.

Ground tying is a valuable skill for any horse. A horse that has the training to stand still while you go about your business is worth his weight in gold. Ground tying occurs when you drop your lead lines or reins to the ground and your horse stands quietly in place. To train a horse to ground tie takes patience (a horse isn't going to know to stand still right away on his own.)

When beginning the ground tie training process, pick a location with few distractions for your horse - i.e., not a pasture with ample amounts of grass to eat and keep him occupied. A round pen or arena is an ideal location. You want your horse to focus on the task at hand: staying put. The primary goal is to teach your horse not to follow you or come to you.

A horse turning its rear to you is generally a sign of disrespect. The horse does not have confidence in you as his leader and has placed himself above you on the totem pole of hierarchy. Horses are herd animals. There is always an alpha horse in the herd. As an owner or trainer, you should always be the alpha of the herd.

Barn sour behavior, also known as herd or buddy sour, stems from the anxiety a horse feels when leaving the barn or his buddies. However, barn sour can also be the anxiety and excitement the horse shows as you're arriving back to your barn after riding, whether you were in a nearby arena, pasture or on the trail for the day.

As you ride back to the barn, your horse begins to feel more and more anxious, possibly doing everything he can to literally run back to the barn. Not only can this behavior be annoying, but dangerous as well. The key to overcoming a barn sour problem is to develop a strong leadership role with your horse so that they have the confidence to come and go from the barn or his friends without anxiety.

There are two types of halters for you to choose from the rope halter and the nylon (or leather) halter. A nylon halter consists of thick bands of nylon, while the rope halter consists of one piece of rope tied in a specific manner to create a halter. For training, the rope halter offers a number of benefits over your traditional nylon halter. For one, the rope halter places specific pressure on the horse's head and encourages them to move to release that pressure. This is the key to horse training - teaching a horse to respond to pressure and then receiving the reward of the "release" when he reacts appropriately. The nylon halter is not as ideal in training because the pressure is spread across the wide bands and not in specific locations, but they can work just as well if you do not own a rope halter.

What is happening is very natural in the horse world. Horses try to establish the pecking order in the herd. By chasing the newcomer around, your geldings are establishing their leadership over the young horse. Horses establish leadership by controlling movement. So what's going on is perfectly natural- but it can be frustrating. I recommend just separating the horses for a while with a safe fence or stall, and let them get used to each other. Slowly introduce them to on another before you put them together. Horses are herd animals, and there isn't much you can do to keep them from establishing the pecking order. Just keep the environment as safe as possible, and separate them if they begin to injure each other.

Through the process of evolution, horses have developed ramped retinas and widely set eyes, to assist in grazing and protection, as they are prey animals. There are two main blind spots that you need to be aware of with horses. The first is directly in front of his face. If you stand directly in front of your horse, there is a good chance that he cannot see you at all. In fact, a horse cannot even see his food in the feed trough; he just knows it is there from the smell. The second blind spot is directly behind him. This is why you should always speak to a horse while walking up behind one and always keep a hand on him as you walk around his rear end. This allows him to know where you are even though he cannot see you.

Horses have many reasons for not wanting to walk through mud or water, but you must take into consideration their vision. They see mud and water as a giant dark hole and evolution tells them that this is not a safe area to walk through. If your horse trusts you as his leader and has confidence in you, then you should be able to gradually teach your horse to walk through mud or water even if it is just a small section of the puddle. Begin with the edge and "getting his feet wet" and then gradually work deeper into the puddle. Always start small and build his confidence, rather than asking your horse to jump in entirely.

Head tossing is generally a sign of discomfort. There are several things that may cause a horse to toss his head including pain in his mouth, a bridle that is too tight or encroaching on his eyes. It could even be something unrelated to the head such as pain in the front legs/feet or a simple burr under the saddle pad. If your horse suddenly begins tossing his head, then you know something is causing pain or discomfort and you must begin diagnosing that discomfort before trying to continue with your training. Begin with the head, checking teeth for sharpness, and moving down the body.