Training Tips for Horses

Training Your Horse – Horse training refers to a wide variety of practices that teach horses to perform certain behaviors when asked to do so by humans. Training your horse takes time and lots of patience. At the start, it will be a matter of trial and error, to determine what distance and type of surface your horse performs better on. Training your horse is important if you want to work together to achieve anything whether it’s basic riding or more complicated activities such as eventing, reining and cutting or dressage. Training your horse will go much more smoothly if the animal trusts you.

When training your horse you need to take on the roll of herd leader. Train your horse with positive encouragement rather than forceful scare tactics, also training to overcome fears will build your confidence as a rider.

Training your horse to lead flawlessly is not just for your personal convenience or to look good to others; disciplined horse leading is also a matter of safety. If you only spend time dressage training your horse, it will soon feel you are going to spend every minute ordering him around. Getting Started at a Walk When you’re training your horse to do something that has several parts (walk up the ramp, stop at the end, stand still, don’t back out, etc.

Before you start training your horse each day, check all your equipment. Training can begin when the horse is a yearling, or even younger. Training yearlings is the best way I have found to get a horse ready to be broke out.

Training a horse requires patience and understanding of how the horse responds to his surroundings. All horses are individuals, so it’s difficult to say how long a training session should last, but anywhere between 5 and 20 minutes twice a day. As time goes on, training will become more formalized, with specific goals in mind. Teaching good ground manners right from the beginning will result in a horse that is a joy to own, while keeping yourself as safe as possible. Teach them slowly as young horses can only learn a few steps at a time and it is easier in the long run to work on one thing at a time. Teaching your horse to lead starts with grooming as this lays the foundation for future training. There are ways to teach a horse to load properly, and like all training endeavors, their relative ease depends on your patience and your horse’s history.

Consider Clicker Training Your Horse : Clicker training has become a popular method for training dogs, and was originally used for training aquatic mammals. You can also begin to incorporate the clicker into your horse’s regular training. Clicker Training is a good way to improve your timing. Clicker training can help you refine your communication and your timing, so that you can make it very clear to your horse exactly which of his actions you like. This type of training makes people more observant, they have to watch the animal all the time, looking for something good to reward, rather than looking for something bad to punish. Clicker training is genuinely rewarding for horses, especially since they no longer have to worry about avoiding punishment.

Training and caring for your horse properly also depends a great deal on adhering to routine. Training your horse can be an exciting and rewarding adventure. Training your horse creates a bond between the horse and you, also it can be one of the most rewarding things you do with your horse, and by taking a few precautions you can insure that both you and your horse remain healthy.

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If anyone should know about cold weather horse care, it would be vets in the northern Midwest states.

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Natural Horse Care education and training. Listen to DC the Natural Horse Lady and her guests discuss everything you need to know about horse care and training.

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Article Written By J. Foley By: John Foley

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Article Written By J. Foley These Are the “Tried and True” Amazingly Effective Horse Training Techniques Professional Horse Trainers Want to Keep a Secret!

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Horse Training Mistakes!

Mistake #7 – Assuming You Can Get On Any Horse And Simply Ride

Not all horses are the same. Some you can get on and easily ride. Some are so green that you could be easily injured if you have little or no riding experience. The ones easy to ride are typically older horses. They have been ridden the most and will be the most forgiving of a beginning rider’s mistakes. The younger horses will be the hardest to ride unless they have been thoroughly broke.

Mistake #6 – Assuming A Horse Trainer’s Technique Is The Only Way To Train A Horse

When novice horse owners begin to experience problems with their horse, they go looking for answers. The first place they look is in books. When the author of the book explains a training technique, the reader assumes that’s how it’s done by everyone. But when they can’t train their horse with that technique, they assume a dumb or untrainable horse. What novice horse owners need to know is that there are typically lots of ways to train a horse to do one thing. If you try something and it doesn’t work, try something else.

Mistake #5 – Not Riding A Horse Enough

New horse owners experience problems with horses not because the horse suddenly went sour, but because they don’t ride their horses enough. About the best thing you can do to have a good horse is to ride it and ride it and ride it. Don’t ride him just once every couple weeks. Horses need to ridden a lot to make them a good riding horse.

Mistake #4 – Thinking A Problem With The Horse Is The Horse’s Fault

Although a horse may have some problems, they are typically a result of the horse’s owner. There are rarely horse problems – it’s more likely there are problem riders. For instance, if you can’t get your horse to ride away from home (this is called ‘Barn Sour’) it’s likely because you don’t have control over him. You can establish control with various techniques such as Doubling.

Mistake #3 – Not Understanding How Horses Think

Horses do not think like dogs or cats. Horses are a prey animal which means they run from scary things. They have thousands of years of the ‘flight instinct’ built in their brains. To successfully train them takes patience and understanding that they are naturally fearful and cynical.

Mistake #2 – Not Knowing That Every Interaction With A Horse Is A Training Exercise

Every time you interact with your horse you are training him. Even if your horse is well trained with the lead rope, you are training him every time you use the lead rope. Even when you pet your horse, you are training him. Novice horse owners must think through what they do when working with their horse because they can easily and unknowingly affect a horse’s behavior.

Mistake #1 – Riding A Horse With Little Or No Understanding Of Horsemanship

A typical novice horse owner will ride their new horse not knowing horse-riding skills. It is important to have an understanding of riding techniques because horses react to leg pressure, how you sit in the saddle, whether or not the rider is tense, and a whole host of other things.

Let’s face it. Horses need to be understood for a horse owner to be successful with his horse. The best thing novice horse owners can do is learn how to ride, learn how horses think, learn what works good to shape horses’ behavior, and understand that constantly riding a horse is just about the best thing you can do to have a good horse.

 The top 7 Mistakes a Horse Owner Make  by: Andy Curry 

About The AuthorAndy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author of several best selling horse training and horse care books. For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com. He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beery’s horse training methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm.This article was posted on December 09, 2004

Owning a mare vs. a gelding | Horse Training Questions
Today’s horse training question comes from Susan. She writes: why own a mare instead of a gelding? Susan, this is a great question!

Horse has a strange lope | Horse Training Questions
Today’s horse training question comes from Christy. She writes: My daughter got a 7 year old paint several months ago and has been riding her western [...]

A Horse and a Half
I already knew from my lesson with my trainer that my timing with the corrections for Texas is not even close.

Horse Training Questions
I apologize that I got behind here during the holidays. I have lots of questions from you waiting to be answered! Please be assured that your questions will.

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 Advice and Information to Assist Your Horse Riding Experience

Every year horse owners experience serious injuries or even tragic deaths while riding their cherished equine companions. One of the more significant causes of rider injury is a rider being tossed from a rearing horse… or worse, caught underneath a horse that reared so fiercely that it flipped over on top of the rider. While sometimes injury is extremely difficult to avoid due to the spontaneous and powerful nature of many rears, all too often the problem is actually made worse by inexperienced riders panicking and inadvertently increasing the chance of injury.

When an inexperienced rider is rudely jolted by a rearing horse he often panics and tightens his body. This is a natural reaction… when we perceive an impending and unavoidable blow, our body unconsciously stiffens and braces for the impact. When atop a rearing horse, a surprised rider will often recoil a bit and stiffen towards the hindquarters of the horse, which is a critical error because the rider drastically throws off what little balance he has, almost assuring that he will be tossed.

The second critical error inexperienced riders make is using the reins as a form of security. They feel their body being thrown backwards so they grip the reins for dear life and try to use them to "pull" themselves forward and back into the saddle. Again… this is a natural knee-jerk reaction, but it’s also a critical error.

When you yank the reins of a rearing horse you drastically increase the likelihood of the horse losing control entirely and flipping over or falling down… with a good chance of you being caught underneath. Keep in mind that when a horse rears, he is already off balance. When you yank the reins backwards sharply, you’ll only make it that much more difficult for the horse to resume his balance. In addition you’ll very likely harm his mouth and cause him immense pain, and the shock of the pain could very well make the horse "freak out" even more!

So we now know that the two natural reactions people often make while on a rearing horse will only serve to increase the chances of injury for both the horse and rider. If we are supposed to ignore natural bodily reflexes what should we do instead?

First, when you sense your horse’s front hooves leaving the ground make sure that you lean forwards, not backwards. This will increase both your balance as well as your horse’s, thereby lessening the chance of the horse actually falling over. You don’t want a horse that weighs around 1000 pounds landing on you.

Second, thrust your hands forward so that there is absolutely no direct rein pressure against the horse’s mouth. Do not pull back on the reins no matter how much your instincts shout to do so – I guarantee you’ll gain no security or balance from doing so. Let him have his mouth and only apply direct rein pressure after he has all four hooves back on the ground.

Finally, if you feel like you are losing control then it’s generally better to take the cautious way out and dismount rather than try and ride the rearing out. Consider wrapping your arms around the horse’s neck as you lean forward, then slide off his side as he rears. The moment you hit the ground you want to back up so that the horse doesn’t step on your feet when his front hooves land again. It’s best if you can keep hold of the reins as you perform this maneuver, but if you have to let them go entirely and get out of "Dodge" then do so. Your bodily safety is the most important consideration.

Hopefully you will never be surprised by a rearing horse, but it doesn’t hurt to practice quick dismounts in your spare time such that if you are ever faced with the situation you’ll better know how to handle it. In addition depending on your breed of horse you might consider jumping him a bit. While a jump has nowhere near the potency of a strong rear, it can teach your body how to respond when a horse’s front hooves leave the ground.

Copyright Jeffrey Rolo, 2007. All Rights Reserved.

By: Jeffrey Rolo

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com The above article covers two critical riding errors atop a rearing horse, but if you would like to learn more tips about controlling rearing horses be sure to check out our series How To Stop A Horse From Rearing over at the AlphaHorse community.

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