If you’re new to owing a youngster, or have a horse that has little experience of being handled, then these are the top 5 things to teach your youngster so that life is more pleasant for everyone involved.
Groundwork; instilling manners and basic commands, is the best start that you can give your young horse. A polite horse is a trainable horse, and one that will more easily find a new long term home should you ever need to part with him for whatever reason.
There are many things that you can teach your horse over his lifetime, but every one of these starts with having a horse with basic ground manners who is willing to listen. This article looks at the top 5 things that all horses should be taught at an early age.
1/. Headcollar & Lead rope
If your horse is definitely against having a headcollar on try using a rope first before reintroducing a headcollar. Place the rope over his neck whilst giving praise, and remove rope. Do this until he is comfortable. Then place the rope over his neck and the end over his nose. Again praising and repeating until he is comfortable. Each time you do this have the headcollar with you so that he associates it with good praise and doesn’t worry.
Remember….there is no rush
Keep repeating putting the headcollar on and off with lots of praise until it’s nothing out of the ordinary.
Clip on the lead rope and you’re most of the way there. You need to work on getting your horse to walk sensibly beside you with no dramas.
Wear Gloves….rope burn hurts!
Always wear gloves and a hat when working with horses. They are flight animals and can do us a great deal of harm even inadvertently.
This is the best time to introduce voice commands that you will use later. Wait, Back, Side, Walk On, are all the basic building blocks of a horses training.
Once you have got the headcollar on and clipped on the lead rope ask your horse to Walk On (say this out loud, firmly) with a small tug whilst moving away. Your horse should follow. Give lots of praise. If your horse does not move it may be that he doesn’t understand what you are asking him to do. Try again, and if you still do not have any success try tapping his leg with the end of the lead rope. Do not get into a tug of war because you will not win!
When first starting to lead your horse remember that being able to stop is just as important as starting to walk. Your horse should stop when you stop and not move until you give the command.
Your horse should walk to the side of you, about an arms length away. Your horse should not walk behind you and you should not have to pull. (Source 1) Walking behind you can be dangerous if they spook at something and leap forward. The only place you’re going if that happens is under their hooves. Not an experience that anyone wants to have.
If your horse rushes ahead or pulls you, try moving the horse around in a circle and backing them up a few strides. This may mean that it takes an awfully long time to go a very short distance, but it will be better for both you and the horse in the long term. The idea is that standing still by you and walking nicely takes less effort than pulling away or rushing as it is only rewarded by ‘work’ (circles and backing up).
When you feel that you need more control, a ‘control’ headcollar like a Dually could be a useful addition. Clipping the lead rope to the nose ring will put pressure on the nose and help guide your horse into making better choices. The system works on pressure and release and there are many videos showing how this should be used correctly. Remember that you should never tie up your horse with the lead rope clipped to the nose ring, only to the ring underneath the jaw.
2/. Grooming all over
This is useful, not only for general grooming, but also for veterinary visits, other professionals such as physios, and for checking their general health and well-being when living out.
It may take longer to groom certain parts of your horse than others. Some horses are fine when having their backs and necks touched, but will kick out or bite if you try to touch sensitive parts like their stomach.
If you’re not sure how your horse will react, try using a cloth attached to a pole to rub all over your horse’s body so that you can gauge their reaction. Always wear a hat, and a body protector if your horse is likely to react defensively at first.
Keep the sessions short and always praise as you go along. The aim is to make this an enjoyable experience. If there’s an area your horse enjoys being scratched spend longer there. If there’s an area they are less sure about move your hand there for a short period and back to a ‘safe’ area until the horse is relaxed when being touched everywhere.
Whilst it may be amusing and sweet when your horse tries to mutually groom you, remind them kindly but firmly that they are in your space and that the behaviour is unwanted. What may start as a sweet little nibble can eventually lead to biting and can be painful as they don’t realise their own power.
Once they’re happy you can groom and desensitize in one!
3/. Picking up feet
Once you can safely tie up and groom your horse you can start to work on picking up their feet so that you can clean them safely. As a flight animal, not being able to run away because you are holding up their foot. This is a huge sign of trust from your horse.
Firstly run your hand down your horse’s leg and gently lift the hoof off the ground. Praise your horse for any movement and don’t be tempted to hold the foot up too long. Do this regularly with all 4 legs before trying to clean out the feet.
As with all training, many horses respond well to voice command, so saying ‘lift’ will often mean that your horse starts to anticipate the request and lifts his foot in readiness by himself.
When you have finished holding the foot, whether cleaning it out or not, always place it down gently so as not to jar the leg.
4/. Personal space & movement
Once your horse is happily leading sensibly and stops and starts on command (voice or your movement) then other movement commands can be worked on which will help greatly in the future.
‘Back‘ is probably one of the most useful commands and is not difficult to teach.
- Stand your horse in front of you and turn to face him
- Place your hand on his chest and gently apply pressure and say ‘back’
- Increase the pressure if your horse fails to respond
- Release the pressure as soon as your horse moves backwards
- Ideally, you should ask for 3 to 4 steps backwards at the beginning. It can be quite tricky for a youngster, so any backwards movement is a good start
- Eventually many horses will move back just at the touch, or to the voice command, but even if you have to always use both, it’s a skill that comes in useful in many different situations – moving your horse back by voice whilst approaching with food can save being run over by an eager horse!
Keeping your horse respectful of your personal space is important for your safety. Being able to move your horse around an object by voice and touch will make life a great deal more relaxed for both you and your horse.
‘Side‘ is to my mind the second most important movement cue. It is also a precursor to ridden aids, so being able to teach your horse to move to the side early will help with the ridden transition later.
- Just like you would do with the ‘back’ command, place your hand on the horse’s side and apply a small amount of pressure
- Say ‘Side’ (or ‘move’ or any word you choose) whilst applying the pressure
- Release the pressure when sufficient movement has been made
- Make sure you can do this from both sides
5/. Desensitise your horse
Introduce as many different things to your horse as early as possible so that very little will upset them later in life. Whilst a ‘bombproof’ horse does not exist, if you do the right groundwork and desensitisation you can get something quite close.
It’s a good idea to desensitise your horse to wearing a rug, even if you never intend to use one. There may be a time that you need to, and trying to rug a horse that’s not used to them in a rush is bound to have a poor outcome.
Try using the following to teach your horse not only to trust you, but also to desensitise them to everyday things that they may see when out and about:
- Wheelie bins
- Bicycles
- Motorbikes
- Tarpaulin
- Umbrellas
- Flags
If you can make introducing these things a game, then not only will you enjoy teaching your horse, but they will enjoy learning.
Conclusion
A well-mannered and respectful horse is a joy to have around, and will make it much easier to get help in should you be away on holiday or incapacitated. Horses are large animals that can cause injury without meaning to if the ground rules haven’t been set at an early age. The time spent training, and thereby bonding, with your horse at a young age will pay dividends for years to come.
