If you have not studied horse training in any detail you will need to be aware that the topic can be hard to make sense of. Even more puzzling is a horse with difficult behavioural problems.This causes the owner stress and frustration. Many simply do not realize that the issue usually lies with the trainer and not the horse.

The first step is unscrambling the horse’s behaviour. Most riders will have experienced at some point or another a horse becoming spooked. This means the horse is nervous and afraid something is going to “get him. When the horse and rider go for a ride it is not a pleasant experience for either of them.

Let’s assume the rider is causing the horse to spook, so we must find out how the rider is doing this. The rider may be completely unaware that he is sitting tensely in the saddle. He may also be stiff and white knuckled from gripping the reins too tightly. The horse is a very intuitive animal and is more than able to sense these things and can easily pick up on tension that the rider is feeling. This animal is able to get into the habit of feeling this way. This will make the horse’s spookiness and the rider’s unease worse as the rider and the horse are effectively intensifying each other’s fears as their anxieties are feeding off each other.

The rider has the capability of reasoning consequently, it is therefore the rider’s duty to stop this irrational behaviour in him first and later the horse. You must loosen up in the saddle. If you lighten up and have fun, the horse will recognize this and signal that he is aware of the change. Then you are required to speak with him to give him confidence. The horse’s behaviour will soon change and the end result will be a more relaxed and fun to ride horse.

Whether or not the rider is aware of it, he or she is training the horse by just riding him. Each occasion you interact with your horse you are training him. The horse will respond in accordance to the praise and encouragement he is offered. If the praise is constant, the horse’s response will become a habit. If the stimulus is tense, it causes fear and results in a spooky horse.

This a typical example of how the you the rider can be the reason for the horse’s behaviour. Now this is not a hundred percent accurate but is a very good place to start. In most cases it is where the problem began.

If you are presently searching for horses for sale or ponies for sale be sure to visit The Horse and Pony Directory.

If you have not studied horse training in any detail you will need to be aware that the topic can be hard to make sense of. Even more puzzling is a horse with difficult behavioral problems.This causes the owner stress and frustration. Many simply do not realise that the issue usually lies with the trainer and not the horse.

The first step is unscrambling the horse’s behavior. Most riders will have experienced at some point or another a horse becoming spooked. This means the horse is nervous and afraid something is going to “get him. When the horse and rider go for a ride it is not a pleasant experience for either of them.

Let’s assume the rider is causing the horse to spook, so we must find out how the rider is doing this. The rider may be completely unaware that he is sitting tensely in the saddle. He may also be stiff and white knuckled from gripping the reins too tightly. The horse is a very intuitive animal and is more than able to sense these things and can easily pick up on tension that the rider is feeling. This animal is able to get into the habit of feeling this way. This will make the horse’s spookiness and the rider’s unease worse as the rider and the horse are effectively intensifying each other’s fears as their anxities are feeding off each other.

The rider has the capability of reasoning consequently, it is therefore the rider’s duty to stop this irrational behavior in him first and later the horse. You must loosen up in the saddle. If you lighten up and have fun, the horse will recognise this and signal that he is aware of the change. Then you are required to speak with him to give him confidence. The horse’s behavior will soon change and the end result will be a more relaxed and fun to ride horse.

Whether or not the rider is aware of it, he or she is training the horse by just riding him. Each occasion you interact with your horse you are training him. The horse will respond in accordance to the praise and encouragment he is offerred. If the praise is constant, the horse’s response will become a habit. If the stimulus is tense, it causes fear and results in a spooky horse.

This a typical exapmle of how the you the rider can be the reason for the horse’s behaviour. Now this is not a hundred percent accurate but is a very good place to start. In most cases it is where the problem began.

If you are presently searching for horses for sale or ponies for sale be sure to visit The Horse and Pony Directory.

Working towards a close and loving relationship with your horse can bring health benefits to you both. You may not think your companionship plays a big role in your horse’s health, but in actuality, it does! If you take good care of him, you can develop a long lasting bond with your horse, which in turn leads to excellent horse health, close companionship and a happy horse that should live a long life.

Treat Your Horse like He’s Family.

Most horse owners treat their horses as a part of their family, feeding them well, including exercise into lifestyle, keeping him well groomed and showering them with lots of love and attention. Whether you have horses for show, sport or leisure, having horses is a wonderful experience because they are beautiful loving animals. A horse can provide a rewarding experience for those involved in caring for it.

The Correct Way to Care for your Horse.

The specific breed of horse will to some extent determine the level of care, maintenance and exercise needed. They may be easy-going and loving animals, but like any other pet animal, there are certain essentials you will need to provide to ensure their health and happiness. Below are important things you need to include in your horse’s life if you plan to have a happy and healthy horse.

• A large animal like a horse demands a high level of upkeep and care.
• Horses are herd animals – they are sociable and require attention and lots of love.
• You’ll need to visit them daily and care for them as part of your family.
• A horse needs an activity to engage in every day which will stave away boredom.
• Your horse will need a stall comfortable and big enough in which to eat and sleep.
• You must provide a healthy horse diet.
• You must provide the horse with lots of water daily.
• Annual vaccinations will be necessary.
• Routine health check-ups including worming and dental care.
• Foot care (hoof maintenance).
• Obedience training.
• You’ll need to have access to a large enough and well-maintained area in which to exercise your horse.

A horse will often misbehave if he thinks he is not getting enough attention. For example, they may try to break out of the stall to roam nearby fields to find things to do. Their general behaviour may change first of all. They can behave in a similar fashion to children, and will disobey or act naughtily to try to gain attention from you!

If you plan to get horses make sure you are ready because more than any other pet owning a horse is a huge commitment. Horse care can be very expensive, particularly if your horse has an accident or develops an unexpected illness and needs veterinary treatment. This is just one of many reasons for which you will need to ensure you have good horse insurance.

A Healthy Horse Needs Plenty of Exercise.

Like us, horses like to have a bit of fun. Perform regular exercises to keep your horse healthy and happy. Exercising should not, and does not need to be all day long. Horses should rest too. Remember also that it’s important to include a variety of different work and exercises for your horse as otherwise he will get bored quickly. You need try to change of similar activities or work frequently so the horses remain interested all the time.

Exercises to Help Maintain the Health and Strength of your Horse.

• Riding in circles/Bending exercises: using circles in a figure of eight movement. You should perform these circle eight movements on both reins (left and right) to maintain even suppleness and balance on both reins.
• Lateral work: Lateral work is similar to gymnastics. First you need to do groundwork exercises with your horse. You will notice that the horse’s obedience, strength and flexibility will improve over time.
• Pacing: The purpose of pacing is to improve the horses pace. Your training should focus on teaching your horse how to politely speed up or slow down. An example is walking to trotting.
• Training and control techniques; including endurance, jumping and dressage. The purpose of the dressage technique is to focus on improving pacing and lateral work. Endurance riding, as the name would suggest, focuses on improving the stamina of a horse.

You can exercise your horse virtually anywhere that space and safety allows. Only exercise your horse in a secure area that he cannot escape from. Ensure the area is safe for both you and the horse to work in so as to avoid injury. You can buy horse insurance to cover you if you are riding someone else’s horse; so be safe rather than sorry, as accidents can and do happen even to the most cautious of riders.

Horse exercise works well when executed in an area where the horse can concentrate. Areas that work well are either an indoor or outdoor arena, or a specific area in a field or on a farm.

Riders as well as Horses will Benefit from Horse Exercises.

Both horse and rider will benefit from these exercises, as a rider can practice balance and position whilst performing them. The rider’s skills can improve dramatically over a short period. The goal for a horse rider is to develop good “contact”. This term refers to how connected you feel with the horse, both through your upper body to the horse’s back and also through your hands and down the reins to his mouth. Your level of “contact” is determined by how well your horse has been trained and how much the horse has retained. A well-trained horse will have the ability to work through the back and hindquarters. You will know when you have established a good contact when you feel the reins soften as your horse arches it’s neck in front of you and rises it’s back under you, you will also notice that your horse will use its hindquarters to thrust itself forward, rather than pulling onward from the forehand.

Once you have developed good contact with your horse you will be able to work and perform exercises together which will help to improve your horse’s health and increase your horse’s level of happiness by creating a tight bond with your horse.

While exercise is key to a happy horse, other things can occur which may effect the health of your horse. If only it were true that a happy horse will always be a healthy horse. Sadly there are plenty of ailments and illnesses from which horses can suffer, which is why it is important to also have good horse insurance to cover the cost of unexpected vet’s fees.

Saddle training is the ultimate goal for riding, but the groundwork must be laid first. You will first need to lead your horse from the trailer, for example, to the tack area in order to tack-up and then ride. Not much point in teaching your horse point B, the saddle riding part, if there’s no way to get there from point A is there?. When your horse learns to cooperate with you, you can act as a team. This cooperation begins with your ability to approach, catch, and halter him first. Then you’ll need to lead your horse about with a halter and a lead rope.

The primary objective in teaching a horse acceptable behaviour is safety for both of you. He will need to be taught that his natural tendency to pull against the lead rope, for example, is not allowed. Your horse should also know that he must not invade the personal space of the human leader on the other end of the rope. Accidents can easily occur if proper consideration to teaching basic safety manners to your horse is not given before moving on to more advanced training. Whilst a good equine insurance policy may cover you for accidents that happen in training, it’s obviously far more preferable not to have to find this out!

Leading your horse requires that you use the three Ps of horse training: patience, persistence and positive reinforcement. Having already accomplished haltering, it is likely that you have already discovered the effectiveness of the three Ps.

Beginning lead training when the horse is still a foal is the easiest plan. Although you won’t need to cover saddles and riding with a very young horse, it’s important to get an early start when teaching basic ground manners. The young horse will need to cooperate for farrier and vet visits, as well as for the various people moving about the yard, stables or paddock.

If you’re lucky enough to have the dam on site, the foal will copy the behaviours of the dam. Don’t worry if the dam is not present, as it works as well with any horse which the foal spends time with. A young horse will naturally learn from his elders. For example, you don’t need to teach a horse in the pasture how to graze or go to the water and drink. They learn by watching the others. If your student is older, you can still use another horse’s example by haltering and leading the other horse first. Horses notice everything that goes on around them – particularly if it involves other horses within the herd – so you can be sure that your student will be paying attention.

Begin by leading a more experienced horse or dam along with your young student horse, walking side by side with you in the middle leading both at once. The safest place for you to stand is to the left of your student’s shoulder, with the older horse to your left. A young horse could suddenly decide to bolt or to kick his heels, so make sure that you don’t wrap the lead rope around your hand or anywhere else that makes you vunerable. The last thing you need at this stage is complicating the process with an injury for which you may need to claim on your horse insurance.

If you have a calm horse which you think the foal will follow you could also use the pony method. Using a longer lead rope and simply tow the young trainee behind the more experienced horse. Since it’s natural for the young to follow the elders behaviours, this is actually a quite natural method for teaching the lead.

If you don’t have the luxury of having other horses close by from which your student can learn, you will need to rely heavily on your skills of patience, persistence and positive reinforcement. You will get there in the end but it will probably take a bit longer for the horse to understand what is required.

After satisfactory progress, it’s time to try it alone. Again, standing to the left of your young horse’s shoulder and with both of you looking straight ahead, gently walk forward and as you step out, tug very gently forward, then release any pressure on the rope as soon as the horse makes any motion to go forward. Understanding that release is a reward to your horse is a valuable tip used by professional trainers. It tells your horse he’s doing something right.

After you have him walking with you in straight lines with success, try turning slightly to the left, maintaining the space bubble between you. If he crowds you, use your right hand to push him out away from you and hold your arm out to the appropriate distance. Then try turning to the right with the same safety distance between the two of you, still using your right hand to guide him into the correct zone. Reward him each time he takes a step in the right direction by releasing the pressure on the lead rope.

Lead training can be a testing time. Stay with it and you will see great improvement. To get yourself closer to the day you can saddle up for a ride, you’ll need to put in the work; little and often (every day if possible) works best and will soon give you great results.

Horse riders will of course see saddle training as the ultimate goal, but first it’s necessary to complete the groundwork. You will need to take your horse from trailer or barn to the tack area, tack up, and then you’ll ride. Not much point in teaching your horse point B, the saddle riding part, if there’s no way to get there from point A is there?. Your horse will need to cooperate with you so the two of you can act as a team. This cooperation begins with your ability to approach, catch, and halter him first. Then you’ll need to lead your horse about with a halter and a lead rope.

With the primary objective of safety in mind, your horse needs to learn what is acceptable behaviour. Pulling against the lead rope, for example, is natural behaviour for a horse which you will need to teach him not to do. Whoever is leading needs to be secure that their personal space will not be invaded by the horse. Many an accident has occurred as a direct result of inattention to the importance of teaching your horse basic safety manners before attempting anything more advanced. Whilst a good equine insurance policy may cover you for accidents that happen in training, it’s obviously far more preferable not to have to find this out!

The three Ps of horse training – patience, persistence and positive reinforcement – come into play when leading your horse. Having already accomplished haltering, it is likely that you have already discovered the effectiveness of the three Ps.

Ideally you need to begin lead training with your horse when he is still a foal. Don’t leave it too late to begin teaching ground manners – a very young horse doesn’t need to know about saddles and riding yet, so you have time to focus on these important basics. The young horse will need to cooperate for farrier and vet visits, as well as for the various people moving about the yard, stables or paddock.

If you’re lucky enough to have the dam on site, the foal will copy the behaviours of the dam. Don’t worry if the dam is not present, as it works as well with any horse which the foal spends time with. Young horses naturally learn from the older ones in the herd. For example, you don’t need to teach a horse in the pasture how to graze or go to the water and drink. They watch the other horses to learn these things. If your student is older, you can still use another horse’s example by haltering and leading the other horse first. Your student will be watching, as they do notice everything that happens around them, particularly if it involves other horses in their own herd.

A good place to start is to lead a more experienced horse along with the foal; lead them simultaneously with you in the middle. The safest place for you to stand is to the left of your student’s shoulder, with the older horse to your left. A young horse could suddenly decide to bolt or to kick his heels, so make sure that you don’t wrap the lead rope around your hand or anywhere else that makes you vunerable. The last thing you need at this stage is complicating the process with an injury for which you may need to claim on your horse insurance.

If you have a calm horse which you think the foal will follow you could also use the pony method. This is done by simply towing the student horse behind using a longer lead rope. It makes sense in fact to teach the lead in this way, as it’s natural for a young horse to follow an elders lead.

You will need to fall back only on the three Ps of horse training in the absence of other horses to help the youngster learn what to do. It will still be viable, but may take a bit longer for your horse to understand what you’d like him to do.

After satisfactory progress, it’s time to try it alone. Again, standing to the left of your young horse’s shoulder and with both of you looking straight ahead, gently walk forward and as you step out, tug very gently forward, then release any pressure on the rope as soon as the horse makes any motion to go forward. Understanding that release is a reward to your horse is a valuable tip used by professional trainers. It tells him that he’s doing things right.

After you have him walking with you in straight lines with success, try turning slightly to the left, maintaining the space bubble between you. If he crowds you, use your right hand to push him out away from you and hold your arm out to the appropriate distance. Then try turning to the right with the same safety distance between the two of you, still using your right hand to guide him into the correct zone. Remember to release pressure on the lead rope and reward him every time he shows a step in the right direction.

Lead training requires large reserves of patience. Stick with it and you’ll soon see big improvements. Do a little work every day if you can and this will put you closer to the day you can finally saddle up for a ride.

This is basic ground manners explained. In it’s simplest form, good manners means your horse doing as he is told. Your horse should be able to perform each task or movement safely regardless of ease or complexity. The very basics include not pushing, stepping on or otherwise endangering you whether intentionally or not. These may seem like simple annoyances, perhaps, but you can see that there is definitely potential for someone to be seriously hurt. Since horses outweigh you by a ton, literally, a misplaced hoof can break your foot. Better not to find out the hard way whether your equine insurance will cover you for this! If you first establish and then maintain an area of personal space, this can be avoided.

Allowing your horse to nuzzle into your pockets in the search for crunchy treats could land you with a nibble in a rather inconvenient place. These love nibbles will not feel as such when made by teeth as big as those of your horse. Horses in a herd treat each other differently than they must treat us. Often they will bite, nip and crowd each other, but they are somewhat more robust than we are.

Unfortunately, the space bubble lesson has been learned by many the hard way. My first, and subsequently the last, experience with the concept of crowding occurred when I bought my first horse years ago. My wonderful new four-legged friend liked to “help” me with the paddock cleaning. As I shovelled and filled the manure cart, he would come and put his nose into it. Then one day he actually lifted his front hoof and put it into the cart when I put a rake full of manure in. He knocked the cart over, which spooked him, which in turn spooked the other three horses in the paddock. There was a furore of hooves and tails a-flying and I was stuck amongst this. Thankfully I was not hurt, but this could have been a mild or even a serious disaster – and may have even necessitated a claim on my horse insurance.

This was in the basic learning curve time period for both of us. I was so amused at his trying to help me with my chores that I didn’t think about the potential consequences. I learned about the importance of safety manners that day. From that moment on I taught him how to respect my space when going about my tasks within the paddock and with the other horses. There was still plenty of time to be cute during our training time.

The three Ps of horse training success can be utilized to teach basic safety manners to your horse. The relationship which you have with any horse – be it your own or one you are training for someone else – is largely dependant on the use of patience, persistence and positive reinforcement.

Patience. Remember that your horse doesn’t yet know what is expected of him. You will go a long way in building trust by showing patience with your horse when showing him what to do, and letting him try and try again until he gets it. Allow your mind to become clear of stresses and strain before you start a training session. Take a deep breath and relax. It is part of the natural learning process for your horse to test the waters. He needs to check and see if what he thinks you want is correct. This can occur several times before the horse has confirmed his correct assessment of the task.

Persistence. Don’t simply give up when things don’t happen quickly. At first it is hard to communicate. You will both need to learn how to speak the same language! Stay with it and be consistent in your cues. Horses are very perceptive to even the slightest cue. Your horse will only cooperate when he has learned what the cue means.

Positive reinforcement. Whenever your horse does something correctly, show him a signal. The best reward for a horse may not be those tasty treats. They love to be released when they’ve done their job. Imagine the “whoa!” or “stop” cue. This is a pull on the bit within his mouth. When the horse exhibits the signs that he understands that you want him to stop, release the bit immediately. That tells him he’s doing the right thing.

Horses need to know their limits. How close can he stand to you before you feel crowded? Can he pull on the lead rope if he doesn’t want to go the way you are leading him? If he doesn’t feel inclined to pick up his foot, will you allow him to get away with this? For a horse this is not natural, even though to us it may seem like common sense. A correctly and carefully trained horse will forever be both a most pleasing companion and could also represent a lower liability when it comes to renewing your horse insurance policy.

Although it does depend on individual circumstances (e.g. whether you are an experienced trainer or not), most people buying a horse are better off getting a fully trained horse. If you are intending to use a horse just for basic riding, it is advisable to buy one already trained in the basics; if you are using a horse for advanced riding consider getting one already trained to the advanced level. Likewise, if you are using it for show jumping, get one which is already trained in show jumping.

Of course, after looking at horses for sale, one can purchase an untrained horse or a partly trained horse. Such a horse will be less expensive to buy. Also, you can instruct a trainer on exactly how you want the horse trained, and you can have the experience and pleasure of participating in this. However, against these advantages, there are a number of disadvantages:

• Training Expenses. With an untrained horse, training is an additional cost which one has to factor in. Aside from the direct costs of the trainer, unless the trainer comes to you there is the additional cost of transporting the horse to the trainer for each lesson, or stabling the horse with the trainer. The exact costs of training depend on individual circumstances, but they are under-estimated far more often than over-estimated. Frequently, once one factors in the final total training costs, it would have been cheaper to have purchased a horse that was already trained.
• Accidents. Accidents can easily occur during training, even with a good trainer. These may result in vet costs or worse.
• Incorrect Training. Some trainers are not as good as others. In addition, many trainers will rush training or under-estimate the amount required, to get the contract at an acceptable price. This may result in an incompletely or incorrectly trained horse.
• Feel of the Horse. Two horses, with the exact same training, will feel differently to a rider due to the individual characteristics (build, personality, movement) of the horse. With an already trained horse, one can ride it before buying to know exactly how it feels, whereas with an untrained horse one can only guess what it will feel like after training.
• Health Check. It is easier to evaluate the health of a trained horse than an untrained one, as one can ride it and also watch it while being ridden in each gait. With an untrained horse, health checks are not quite as complete.

Because of these factors, buying an already trained horse is often less expensive, less risky and less stressful than buying an untrained or partly trained horse and then having it trained up.

You should not try to train a horse yourself, unless you are a professional horse trainer or working under the complete supervision of a professional horse trainer. When non-professionals train horses, the horse will almost certainly pick up bad habits and behaviors (which are very time consuming and expensive to correct), as well as the risk of accidental injury to the novice trainer.

Be wary of purchasing an incompletely trained horse on the basis that the seller will complete the training. Far too often in these circumstances the remaining training is rushed and not done to the highest standards. Insist on the horse being trained up first and pay no more than a holding deposit until this is done and you’ve ridden the horse to make sure that you are fully happy with the result.