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Horse Behavior and Training

Horse behaviour on a hack

By:

suze

Date:

2011-Jan-23 at 06:34PM

Hello :-)
Would be pleased to have your opinions.
Whilst out on a hack if my horse hears someone shouting in the distance (like calling for their dog) he sometimes gets a bit tense.
What would you do to help calm him down?
Manay thanks, Suze.

LairaGold Certified Instructor 2011-Jan-24 at 12:54PM

Hi Suze

I think the most important thing is to manage your own internal state. By this, I mean really make sure you are breathing steadily and into your stomach, and your attention is on all the good things about your hack. You can also catch him by surprise and ask him to do something different, eg. change speed or direction... Through this you can distract him, bring his attention back to you, and you are reminding him of your leadership role.

Hope that helps.

Laira

Laira Gold is a Certified Instructor
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suze 2011-Jan-25 at 06:14PM

That's brilliant Laira, thanks for posting. Funnily enough I was going along those lines the other day. We were walking down this lane and he spotted something (invisible to me) in someones garden over their hedge. He stopped still and stared. I let him (I was having a bit of a nose too!). I suppose I ought to have looked the other way and ask him to move on, but I didn't and he then decided that whatever it was was scary and started to walk off rather fast. So I then started to ask him to do some shoulder-in, after a wee while he calmed down. It's nice to have someone like you actually say it - I shall remember my internal state, and remind him that I'm the leader by asking him to do something like you say.
Thanks, Suze.