Moving your horse's hindquarters

This is an easy way to teach your horse to move his hindquarters for you. Put your fist against his side about the place you would put your leg if you were going to tell him to move over. Then use your other hand to move his hindquarters without increasing the pressure with your fist push him over until he moves. Now, when he moves don't move with him. If you stand still and he moves the moment he moves   he gets a reward from instant release of pressure. Give him a reward for trying like he moves his feet just a little. A step in the right direction is better than none at all. With a horse that won't move his hindquarters with the pressure of your hand use a crop (dressage whip) or just any whip you have lying around. Hey, you could even use a rope. Start lightly and tap him three or four times on the rump in succession. If he still doesn't move increase the pressure repeatedly every four beats until he does. After he can do it on the ground pretty good  do it in the saddle. You can do this when you're brushing your horse too.

Patient and Calm

Patience with horses is imperative. Every trainer will tell you that. If you find yourself getting frustrated with your horse it is better to just get off and stand next to your horse for a little while. I am guilty of getting frustrated. My horse (Ana) wouldn't go out of the barn and it was taking forever. When it comes to horses I am usually extremely patient but she was really getting on my nerves. I didn't get off her but I got her out there into a little square pen and I just cantered her around that pen till I wasn't frustrated and she was listening to me. No matter how bad my horse or your horse can be you have to keep calm and patient. Another time was when the owner's grandson, Carter, was riding Santana, a tan colored barrel racer, and he was just really tense, and I could see that it was affecting Santana. I told Carter to relax and loosen up on the reigns. The change in Santana was immediate. He lowered his head into a more relaxed position and started walking calmly next to the fence. Don't ever think that how you feel doesn't affect your horse.

Cribbing

Okay, I have a horse who would crib when she was in her stall. We tried getting her to stop by throwing pebbles at her when she did but she just kept doing it. So instead of saying "Ana!" when she did it the owner of these horses put wire mesh around the inside of her pen so she couldn't put her nose through the bars. Make sure that there are no sharp ends on the wire that have the slightest possibility of injuring your horse. He also took out her feed bucket that was attached to the wall of her pen and replaced it with a bucket he just placed on the ground so that when she tried to bite the bucket to crib, it would just come up when she pulled her head back. When we let her out she would immediately go to the fence and crib there but we chased her away from the fence and  she left it alone. You will have to watch your  horse for this and immediately chase him away from the fence when you let him out. I haven't seen Ana crib since then.

saddle desensatizing

If your horse lays back his ears or moves around when you adjust the saddle blanket then just spend a few minutes moving the saddle blanket all over his body dragging it from his hindquarters to his withers and back again without picking the blanket up. My 8 year old mare hates it when I put the saddle blanket on and adjust it. What I did was just through the saddle blanket onto my horse's back from both sides not caring where it landed every time I wanted to saddle her. Eventually I took the blanket and hit her with it. Believe me it didn't hurt her in the least. "It's like hitting her with a sock!" I also like to throw the saddle onto my horse's  back without putting the stirrup over the saddle. I saw a trainer do it and thought it was a good idea just because it desensitizes the horse to the flapping stirrups and it gets the horse to listen to you while you're saddling because he has to know what you're doing and where you are. I suggest getting his attention first and swing the saddle beside him before you try this so he has a warning of what you're going to do and won't freak out. I did this with the  other horses I ride and they acted like I saddled them that way all the time.

Intro

This blog will be about my own experiences working with horses. Hyper horses, bridling problems, barn sour, flexibility, collection, scardy cat, trust, saddling advice, bucking horses, trail riding, leading, lunging, barrel and pole racing, etc. As spring and summer come I'll be putting more stuff on here, but school and winter makes it hard to work with my horses.