The Ultimate Guide To Horse
Training
Natural Horsemanship to Build a Safe Horse
by Eric Bravo
Horse Training Videos
When we begin to build the solid
foundation using natural horsemanship we need to develop in a true
connection with our horse, one skill we need to develop is recognizing
when a horse is calm, scared, or showing signs he is about to explode.
All too often, to the untrained eye a horse looks like he is just fine
when in fact he's ready to bolt. or engage in some other destructive
horse behavior But with a little work, you can start to recognize when
a horse is feeling uncomfortable. More to the point, you can use
natural horsemanship techniques to help your horse develop into a calm,
relaxed, and confident horse. In this article, we are going to discuss:
The first thing to do is of course knowing when your horse is not feeling that all is well. Make a note to yourself:
So let's identify some signs that a horse is feeling worried. You might say we're looking for signals that the horse is on “yellow alert”, checking out the scene for signs of danger and ready to act, but not yet doing anything. He isn't bucking, he isn't taking off, but the slightest stimuli might make him explode. This stimulus could cause you to get hurt. In fact, you might even cause the stimulus yourself. For instance, the stimulus that might set the horse off could be your knee bumping him when you're mounting him. This could lead to some serious trouble. He might take off, possibly dragging you on the ground, or at best, he could make you fall to the ground and you might break a bone.
You can see that this is pretty serious stuff. OK, when a horse is in yellow alert, when he is worried, scared or about to come unglued, there are some signs that he has his adrenaline kicked in. This means he is revved up in survival mode ready to do what he needs to do in order to avoid being eaten. That might mean he is ready to kick, he is ready to bolt, or he is ready to buck, among other things. Remember-don't be fooled that just because a horse is standing there still, that doesn't always mean he is feeling calm inside.
When a horse is in this worried, yellow-alert state, we say that he is in the negative. A horse that is truly relaxed, and is therefore safe, is in the positive. Here are some signs you can use to determine if a horse is in the negative:
To see if your horse is tense, try poking his hind end with your fingers. If he is relaxed, he will feel nice and loose. If he feels tight, this could be a sign he is worried.
These last two points bring us into our next topic. You need to be able to touch your horse all over without any worry on your part. You should be able to handle his feet. You should be able to touch his hind end, and you should be able to lift up his tail without worrying about being kicked. If you can't do these things, you need to spend some time with your horse. We will be working on some exercises to help you with these issues. The bottom line is we want a calm horse we can touch all over.
You should be able to touch your horse all over without any worry about being kicked.
This exercise should also be done from both sides but as usual start on the left of the horse. Move so that you are positioned on the left side of the horse. Pet the horse once with a swipe along her neck. Grab the end of the lead line an inch or two below the halter with your left hand, and place your right hand on top of the horse's head. Pull down with your left hand while simultaneously applying pressure with your right hand. As soon as you feel the horse being to drop her head, release the pressure at both places.
The purpose of this exercise is to promote relaxation. A horse with his head up is not relaxed. A relaxed horse will have his head low. The ideal position for the head of a horse is so that his neck almost appears straight out from his body. At first, don't ask or expect the horse to put her head like this for you on command. Accept small steps as progress. If she lowers her head just an inch, take the pressure off and praise her. Then repeat. Keep doing this until she lowers her head the way you want, which means all the way down.
When the horse lowers his head the way you want on the left side, move around to the right side of the horse and ask him to lower his head from that position. This time your left hand should be on top of his head while the right hand is holding the lead rope just below the halter. Again, seek small gains. The first time you do this exercise praise the horse if they lower their head just an inch and don't ask him to go from not lowering his head at all to dropping it all the way to the ground.
Dropping the head, as seen from two angles.
You also want to be able to get your horse to raise his head on command. When he has his head lowered, poke his neck with your finger and click. He should raise his head right up. Practice lowering his head, asking him to raise it, and then lowering the head again. If you do this 50 times before thinking of anything else you will be well on your way to becoming a natural horseman.
You should be able to do this and take a step back without the horse raising his head unless you ask him to do so. To take your horse out and ground-tie him (which means just lay the lead line on the ground). Ask him to lower his head. When he does so, just step back. If he raises his head up, you need to keep working on lowering it. If he raises it up after 3 seconds have elapsed, have him lower his head, step back and wait 2 seconds, then praise him verbally and pet him. Then increase the time to 3 seconds, 4 seconds etc. This is an application of another natural horsemanship technique we discussed in our catching article, approach and retreat.
Let's suppose that you're at the point where you can ask your horse to lower his head and he keeps it there. Now you're ready to move on to touching him. Start by rubbing on his neck with your open palm. The idea here is that you should be able to rub the horse all over while he remains completely calm-which means that he is going to keep his head lowered while you do this.
Tip
As you rub your horse, you are going to reach a point where he is uncomfortable. You will know this point because he will raise his head up. A common position where this will happen is when you start rubbing a vulnerable area, like under his belly or his hind end. When you reach this point and his head pops up, walk calmly back to the side position and ask him to lower his head again. Then proceed to give him a rub down-starting at the beginning. This means start rubbing at his nec,.
As you rub the horse, begin to walk backwards. Rub him on his back, under his belly, and up and down his front legs. Move toward his hind end, and rub his rear. Rub up and down his hind legs. If you are worried about getting kicked, then you are not safe around your horse and you need to work on it. Build up to it until you can do this safely. Make sure his head does not come up. If his head comes up when you touch his hind legs, this means this worries him and you need to go back, lower his head, and start over.
Notice we are rubbing under the belly of this horse, but his head remains lowered.
Make sure you can rub up and down the front legs of the horse. Then progress to doing this with his hind legs. Remember-his head should be lowered.
Touching your horse everywhere while he remains calm means being able to touch his ears and his nose.
Tip
You might notice your horse flinches a bit when touching him. Horse have incredibly sensitive skin, after all they can get a fly off them by flinching their skin a bit. Is flinching a good sign? In fact it is. A horse that flinches readily is relaxed. If he is tense, he won't flinch as readily because he is puffed out and tense.
Your goal when completing this exercise is to be able to:
The entire time you are performing this exercise, his head must be lowered. At any point he raises his head, return to the starting position, lower his head, and start over.
When you are comfortable doing so, position yourself behind the horse and lift up his tail with one hand. Don't just wing it. How can you tell if you're comfortable being back there? You can tell if:
Once you have step one in place, then work on taking things to a new level. Lift up your horse's tail and twist it around in circles. This isn't as dramatic as it sounds. In fact, doing this will help your horse relax.
You should be able to lift up your horse's tail, while he remains relaxed-which means his head is lowered.
When you can lift your horse's tail and can twist it, you guessed it-time to take things to another level. You should be able to pull on the tail and ask your horse to take a step towards you-all while being relaxed with his head lowered. Don't do this if you feel there is a risk of him kicking you. But if you can twist the tail and he keeps his head lowered, give it a try. Lift up his tail and pull on it, asking him to yield. He should take a step towards you to come off the pressure.
This is more than just some kind of exercise in flexibility. Flexing will turn out to be a vital component of your riding skills. If your horse flexes good, he will be able to stop on command in any situation. This type of movement forms the basis of what some people call and “emergency stop”.
As usual, start on the left side of the horse. Position yourself by the withers, and put the lead rope over his back. Leave enough line hanging over his back to the halter so that it forms a kind of rein. Stand facing forward in the same direction that your horse is facing. Now lift up the lead rope, and slide your hand down it toward the halter.
At this point, ask him to give you his head. That is, we want to ask him to bring his head around toward you. You want his nose to come completely around. If you imagine that you are in the saddle, you would want his nose to be touching the stirrup.
Tip
Do not pull on the horse. Ask him to give you his head This means you should lightly bump the rope or hold it. When you feel the horse give in and yield to the pressure, reward him by releasing the pressure. So at the slightest try, stop bumping the rope or back off on holding it.
Start small and build on it. Praise and reward the horse for the slightest try. If he gives you an inch the first time, don't ask him for five inches more. Just praise him, pet him, and let him rest. Then ask again to get him to give you two inches. Perform the flexing exercise 5 times on both sides every time you get your horse out.
Flex your horse from both sides. This picture shows the proper position when flexing on the right side of the horse.
If you aren't able to pick up your horse's feet, this simple exercise will help you. Let's suppose you can't pick up your horse's feet at all. You could just throw your hands in the air and say “that's life” and “I ain't risking getting kicked”. But you're a natural horseman in training and so you're going to take a deep breath, close your eyes, and proceed in a smart way to get your horse to give you her feet.
To think about how we can get a horse to give us his feet, once again we turn to natural horsemanship. This is another opportunity to apply approach and retreat.
The place to start is having your horse let you rub her legs up and down just above the hoof. For one week, do nothing but this. Start with the left front leg. Don't ask her to lift it up, just stand beside her and rub it up and down. Then do the right front leg, and repeat the process for the hind legs. Rub the legs up and down like you're petting her, and don't ask her for anything. This will teach the horse to associate your picking up her feet with pleasure.
In week 2, take things up a notch. We aren't going to go straight to cleaning or having the farrier trim the feet.
Starting once again with the left front foot, stand next to your horse and give her leg a nice rub down. Then ask her to give you her foot. If she gives it to you, lift it up and rub her leg again. Then set it down without doing anything else. Repeat the process in the same order, doing her right front foot, her left hind foot, and her right hind foot. Do this everytime you see your horse for one week.
Now we are in week 3. At this point, we want to be able to hold the foot for any length of time we want. Again, starting with the left front foot, stand next to her and rub up and down her leg for a minute. Then ask her to give you her foot. Hold it for a length of time. If she is anxious to put it down or tries to pull away from you, notice how much time elapses before she does so. If she lets you hold it in place for 5 seconds, then put it down. Wait a minute and ask her for her foot again. Then hold it for 4 seconds, and put it down. This is an extension of a concept we've met in earlier lessons. Make it your idea to put the foot down (steal a thought). You do this by putting it down just before she thinks about doing so. When you can hold her foot comfortably for 4 seconds, then add two seconds to it until you push her limits again. Extend the amount of time you hold the foot each day. Pretty soon you will be able to hold the foot for as long as you want. Repeat the procedure for all 4 feet.
In Week 4, you are ready to clean and/or trim her feet.
Back to Main- How to spot signs your horse is uncomfortable
- Techniques to relax the horse
- How to lower his head
- Using flexing
The first thing to do is of course knowing when your horse is not feeling that all is well. Make a note to yourself:
- Just because a horse is sitting still, it does not mean that he isn't about to explode.
So let's identify some signs that a horse is feeling worried. You might say we're looking for signals that the horse is on “yellow alert”, checking out the scene for signs of danger and ready to act, but not yet doing anything. He isn't bucking, he isn't taking off, but the slightest stimuli might make him explode. This stimulus could cause you to get hurt. In fact, you might even cause the stimulus yourself. For instance, the stimulus that might set the horse off could be your knee bumping him when you're mounting him. This could lead to some serious trouble. He might take off, possibly dragging you on the ground, or at best, he could make you fall to the ground and you might break a bone.
You can see that this is pretty serious stuff. OK, when a horse is in yellow alert, when he is worried, scared or about to come unglued, there are some signs that he has his adrenaline kicked in. This means he is revved up in survival mode ready to do what he needs to do in order to avoid being eaten. That might mean he is ready to kick, he is ready to bolt, or he is ready to buck, among other things. Remember-don't be fooled that just because a horse is standing there still, that doesn't always mean he is feeling calm inside.
When a horse is in this worried, yellow-alert state, we say that he is in the negative. A horse that is truly relaxed, and is therefore safe, is in the positive. Here are some signs you can use to determine if a horse is in the negative:
- He has his head raised up. He isn't sitting there looking pretty-he is actually on alert for possible threats. You know, like an approaching coyote. Or maybe he is just feeling scared because you're tightening the cinch.
- His neck is bubbled out. Feel the front of the neck of the horse. Is it soft to the touch and loose or is it firm? If its firm, this might be a sign the horse is worried.
- The horse has starry eyes. Use your common sense and think about what someone's eyes look like if they are scared, and how they look if they are sitting there relaxed. The eyes are the window to the soul even for a horse. If he has starry eyes, that is a good sign that he is scared. If his eye looks soft, on the other hand, then he is likely calm and relaxed.
- Is the tail easy to lift up? Lift your horse's tail. Is it hard to lift up? If so this indicates tension, probably the kind of tension that comes out of fear or worry.
- Poke the muscles of your horse, especially on the hind end. Is his skin tight? Is it hard to poke him? These are signs of tension. A prey animal will tense up when in danger in an effort to make it harder for a predator to bite through the muscle. If your horse has a tight hind end, he is feeling worried even if he is just sitting there calmly.
To see if your horse is tense, try poking his hind end with your fingers. If he is relaxed, he will feel nice and loose. If he feels tight, this could be a sign he is worried.
These last two points bring us into our next topic. You need to be able to touch your horse all over without any worry on your part. You should be able to handle his feet. You should be able to touch his hind end, and you should be able to lift up his tail without worrying about being kicked. If you can't do these things, you need to spend some time with your horse. We will be working on some exercises to help you with these issues. The bottom line is we want a calm horse we can touch all over.
You should be able to touch your horse all over without any worry about being kicked.
Exercise 1: Lowering Your Horse's Head
Part of natural horsemanship is simply observing how horses behave. A horse that is relaxed will have his head positioned low. A horse that is tense will have his head raised up high. The first exercise you should master is getting your horse to raise and lower his head on command. This exercise is so important we are going to repeat the steps outlined here verbatim in a future lesson. Once you start lowering your horse's head, make it a regular practice and make sure you are lowering her head constantly when working with her. If the horse will lower her head on command for you, then you have a horse that trusts you and is relaxed in your presence.This exercise should also be done from both sides but as usual start on the left of the horse. Move so that you are positioned on the left side of the horse. Pet the horse once with a swipe along her neck. Grab the end of the lead line an inch or two below the halter with your left hand, and place your right hand on top of the horse's head. Pull down with your left hand while simultaneously applying pressure with your right hand. As soon as you feel the horse being to drop her head, release the pressure at both places.
The purpose of this exercise is to promote relaxation. A horse with his head up is not relaxed. A relaxed horse will have his head low. The ideal position for the head of a horse is so that his neck almost appears straight out from his body. At first, don't ask or expect the horse to put her head like this for you on command. Accept small steps as progress. If she lowers her head just an inch, take the pressure off and praise her. Then repeat. Keep doing this until she lowers her head the way you want, which means all the way down.
When the horse lowers his head the way you want on the left side, move around to the right side of the horse and ask him to lower his head from that position. This time your left hand should be on top of his head while the right hand is holding the lead rope just below the halter. Again, seek small gains. The first time you do this exercise praise the horse if they lower their head just an inch and don't ask him to go from not lowering his head at all to dropping it all the way to the ground.
Dropping the head, as seen from two angles.
You also want to be able to get your horse to raise his head on command. When he has his head lowered, poke his neck with your finger and click. He should raise his head right up. Practice lowering his head, asking him to raise it, and then lowering the head again. If you do this 50 times before thinking of anything else you will be well on your way to becoming a natural horseman.
Exercise 2: Touching Your Horse All Over
Previously, we mentioned that it is important that you be able to touch your horse all over. Sure, you want your farrier and vet to be able to touch him, pick up his feet, or whatever. But the fact is YOU need to be able to touch him anyway you want to. This is a good thing to practice when working with your horse. Here, we are going to focus on giving the horse a rub-down. We start with step one, which is:- Lower your horse's head.
You should be able to do this and take a step back without the horse raising his head unless you ask him to do so. To take your horse out and ground-tie him (which means just lay the lead line on the ground). Ask him to lower his head. When he does so, just step back. If he raises his head up, you need to keep working on lowering it. If he raises it up after 3 seconds have elapsed, have him lower his head, step back and wait 2 seconds, then praise him verbally and pet him. Then increase the time to 3 seconds, 4 seconds etc. This is an application of another natural horsemanship technique we discussed in our catching article, approach and retreat.
Let's suppose that you're at the point where you can ask your horse to lower his head and he keeps it there. Now you're ready to move on to touching him. Start by rubbing on his neck with your open palm. The idea here is that you should be able to rub the horse all over while he remains completely calm-which means that he is going to keep his head lowered while you do this.
Tip
As you rub your horse, you are going to reach a point where he is uncomfortable. You will know this point because he will raise his head up. A common position where this will happen is when you start rubbing a vulnerable area, like under his belly or his hind end. When you reach this point and his head pops up, walk calmly back to the side position and ask him to lower his head again. Then proceed to give him a rub down-starting at the beginning. This means start rubbing at his nec,.
As you rub the horse, begin to walk backwards. Rub him on his back, under his belly, and up and down his front legs. Move toward his hind end, and rub his rear. Rub up and down his hind legs. If you are worried about getting kicked, then you are not safe around your horse and you need to work on it. Build up to it until you can do this safely. Make sure his head does not come up. If his head comes up when you touch his hind legs, this means this worries him and you need to go back, lower his head, and start over.
Notice we are rubbing under the belly of this horse, but his head remains lowered.
Make sure you can rub up and down the front legs of the horse. Then progress to doing this with his hind legs. Remember-his head should be lowered.
Touching your horse everywhere while he remains calm means being able to touch his ears and his nose.
Tip
You might notice your horse flinches a bit when touching him. Horse have incredibly sensitive skin, after all they can get a fly off them by flinching their skin a bit. Is flinching a good sign? In fact it is. A horse that flinches readily is relaxed. If he is tense, he won't flinch as readily because he is puffed out and tense.
Your goal when completing this exercise is to be able to:
- Lower the head of your horse.
- Start touching him at his neck, on the left side.
- Give him a rub down, all over his neck, ears, and nose, up and down his front legs, and under his belly.
- Progress to the hind end. Walk right behind him around to the right side.
- Give his right hind a rub down, rub up and down his hind legs.
- Work back up along the belly and back on the right hand side.
- Progress back up to his neck.
The entire time you are performing this exercise, his head must be lowered. At any point he raises his head, return to the starting position, lower his head, and start over.
Exercise 3: Lifting his tail
The next exercise we want to work on with our horses is lifting his tail. You should be able to go behind your horse without worrying about being kicked, lift his tail without worrying about being kicked, and even twist his tail around without being kicked. In actuality, twisting his tail around is actually a form of relaxation. In any case, you can tell a lot by lifting up the tail of your horse. If it is hard to lift up, your horse is feeling a little tension. He isn't quite comfortable with you being back there. Maybe you're going to turn on him, and dig your claws into his hind end? Remember horses are prey animals so are a bit on the worried side, even if it doesn't make sense to us.When you are comfortable doing so, position yourself behind the horse and lift up his tail with one hand. Don't just wing it. How can you tell if you're comfortable being back there? You can tell if:
- You can rub his hind end, and his head will stay lowered.
Once you have step one in place, then work on taking things to a new level. Lift up your horse's tail and twist it around in circles. This isn't as dramatic as it sounds. In fact, doing this will help your horse relax.
You should be able to lift up your horse's tail, while he remains relaxed-which means his head is lowered.
When you can lift your horse's tail and can twist it, you guessed it-time to take things to another level. You should be able to pull on the tail and ask your horse to take a step towards you-all while being relaxed with his head lowered. Don't do this if you feel there is a risk of him kicking you. But if you can twist the tail and he keeps his head lowered, give it a try. Lift up his tail and pull on it, asking him to yield. He should take a step towards you to come off the pressure.
Exercise 4: Flexing
The next exercise we want to discuss is flexing. This is a very important horse training exercise, because flexing can be used to teach the emergency stop. This involves pulling on the lead rope as if it were a rein, and expecting the horse to turn his head back towards you. Don't just pull as hard as you can, instead bump and release. Bump to ask the horse to give you his head, and when you feel him giving, release the pressure.This is more than just some kind of exercise in flexibility. Flexing will turn out to be a vital component of your riding skills. If your horse flexes good, he will be able to stop on command in any situation. This type of movement forms the basis of what some people call and “emergency stop”.
As usual, start on the left side of the horse. Position yourself by the withers, and put the lead rope over his back. Leave enough line hanging over his back to the halter so that it forms a kind of rein. Stand facing forward in the same direction that your horse is facing. Now lift up the lead rope, and slide your hand down it toward the halter.
At this point, ask him to give you his head. That is, we want to ask him to bring his head around toward you. You want his nose to come completely around. If you imagine that you are in the saddle, you would want his nose to be touching the stirrup.
Tip
Do not pull on the horse. Ask him to give you his head This means you should lightly bump the rope or hold it. When you feel the horse give in and yield to the pressure, reward him by releasing the pressure. So at the slightest try, stop bumping the rope or back off on holding it.
Start small and build on it. Praise and reward the horse for the slightest try. If he gives you an inch the first time, don't ask him for five inches more. Just praise him, pet him, and let him rest. Then ask again to get him to give you two inches. Perform the flexing exercise 5 times on both sides every time you get your horse out.
Flex your horse from both sides. This picture shows the proper position when flexing on the right side of the horse.
Exercise 5: Picking up the feet
The final exercise we will cover in this lesson is picking up the feet of your horse. As you might imagine, horses are kind of sensitive about having their feet picked up! If you can do anything, make sure you can pick up the hind feet of your horse, and hold them there for 5 seconds. You should be able to clean your horse's feet for her well being and to make sure they can be trimmed without any hassle.If you aren't able to pick up your horse's feet, this simple exercise will help you. Let's suppose you can't pick up your horse's feet at all. You could just throw your hands in the air and say “that's life” and “I ain't risking getting kicked”. But you're a natural horseman in training and so you're going to take a deep breath, close your eyes, and proceed in a smart way to get your horse to give you her feet.
To think about how we can get a horse to give us his feet, once again we turn to natural horsemanship. This is another opportunity to apply approach and retreat.
The place to start is having your horse let you rub her legs up and down just above the hoof. For one week, do nothing but this. Start with the left front leg. Don't ask her to lift it up, just stand beside her and rub it up and down. Then do the right front leg, and repeat the process for the hind legs. Rub the legs up and down like you're petting her, and don't ask her for anything. This will teach the horse to associate your picking up her feet with pleasure.
In week 2, take things up a notch. We aren't going to go straight to cleaning or having the farrier trim the feet.
Starting once again with the left front foot, stand next to your horse and give her leg a nice rub down. Then ask her to give you her foot. If she gives it to you, lift it up and rub her leg again. Then set it down without doing anything else. Repeat the process in the same order, doing her right front foot, her left hind foot, and her right hind foot. Do this everytime you see your horse for one week.
Now we are in week 3. At this point, we want to be able to hold the foot for any length of time we want. Again, starting with the left front foot, stand next to her and rub up and down her leg for a minute. Then ask her to give you her foot. Hold it for a length of time. If she is anxious to put it down or tries to pull away from you, notice how much time elapses before she does so. If she lets you hold it in place for 5 seconds, then put it down. Wait a minute and ask her for her foot again. Then hold it for 4 seconds, and put it down. This is an extension of a concept we've met in earlier lessons. Make it your idea to put the foot down (steal a thought). You do this by putting it down just before she thinks about doing so. When you can hold her foot comfortably for 4 seconds, then add two seconds to it until you push her limits again. Extend the amount of time you hold the foot each day. Pretty soon you will be able to hold the foot for as long as you want. Repeat the procedure for all 4 feet.
In Week 4, you are ready to clean and/or trim her feet.
Article Summary
In this lesson we focused on getting our horses to relax. This starts by recognizing the cues that a horse is going to come unglued. You can help your horse relax by asking her to drop her head on command. Once she does that, learn to touch her all over while she remains in a relaxed state. After you can do this, lift her tail and begin flexing exercises. Finally, practice handling her feet.