The Cure To Stop A Horse From Kicking – Recreation
The Cure To Stop A Horse From Kicking
Andy Curry
I get a lot of horse training questions about stopping a horse from kicking. The kicking habits of these horses range from the horse kicking at virtually anyone to kicking at only the husbands.
Its a daunting problem that lots of people have no idea how to cure. That being so, I want to share some insight to horses kicking.
First I want to relate some causes of horses starting in the habit of kicking. Because a horse kicks is no reason to think he is naturally bad or unmanageable. I dont think there is a horse alive that is "naturally" vicious. In fact, theyre made that way due to bad management or ignorant handlers.
Admittedly, there are some horses that inherit the characteristics of their ancestors. But one should never start to break a horse without first taking into consideration the nature, disposition, and understanding of a horse.
For instance, there are some horses that are naturally predisposed to have a "not so good" disposition. There are certain physical characteristics you can spot on a horse that indicate what his disposition is like.
Jesse Beery, a famous horse trainer from the 1800s, was brilliant at deciphering a horses disposition. He even wrote extensively about how to do it. You can read about it at http://www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beery_etips.htm.
Anyway, now we can handle the horse according to its disposition. We can get it very nearly equal with a good dispositioned horse. All the difference in the world is due to the management and training of the colt. A horse with a "not so good disposition will require more patience and thorough work.
All animals in nature have a self defense of some sort. A horses self defense is kicking. After all, if you work with a horse that gets badly excited by some cause such as ropes or chains coming in contact with his legs and those parts of his body arent broken his first inclination is to kick it out of the way.
The trick is to break a horse in a way that the habit never occurs in the first place. Too many people think a lesson will be enough to educate the horse to be ready to go. But if youre driving your horse and he gets caught under the tail or the cross pieces of the shaft touch his quarters...and those parts are unbroken, it would likely frighten and excite him enough to cause him to kick.
And the worse part is this: Once started, there is an increased inclination to go on kicking until confirmed in the habit.
So the cure is prevention. You must make all parts of his body submissive to sensitivity of his extremities. One way to do this is using a technique called poling. Essentially, you take a light pole and start at a horses nose, rub it over the mane, back, belly, quarters, and sensitive parts of the body, until all muscles become relaxed.
But what if you have a horse confirmed in the habit of kicking
If thats the case, I can give you three possible answers.
One is to sell the horse. If you feel its not fixable then its not a good idea to keep the horse around. Youre going to get severely injured if youre not extra careful.
Two, get a professional trainer to help you. A trainer will charge anywhere from $400.00 per month to $900 per month. Is that worth it to get your horse to stop kicking Only you can decide.
Third, you can learn to do it yourself. There are solutions out there that are pretty good. Jesse Beery, which I mentioned earlier, has a permanent solution to stop it.
About The Author
Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author of several best selling horse training and horse care books. For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com. He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beerys horse training methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm.
Horse Training Facts And Maxims – Recreation
Horse Training Facts And Maxims
Andy Curry
To the uninitiated horse owner, there are timely facts about horses they should know. In fact, when someone first gets a horse these timely facts should be studied and learned.
These timely facts come from the Jesse Beery horse training manual. Jesse Beery was a famous horse trainer from the 1800s. Interestingly, Beerys training methods are as powerful today as they were when Beery was alive.
Timely Fact #1:
Make your horse your friend, not your slave.
Timely Fact #2:
Almost every wrong act of the horse is caused by fear, excitement or mismanagement. One harsh word will increase the pulse of a nervous horse ten beats a minute. Hoses know nothing about balking until forced into it by bad management. Any balky horse an be started steady and true in a few minutes. I never found one that I could not teach to start his load in fifteen minutes and usually in three.
Timely Fact #3:
Intelligent horsemen have learned that kickers, biters and balkers are natural results of abuse, that not one horse in a hundred is vicious until made so by cruelty; that whipping a horse is as mean and senseless as whipping a baby, and that the most useful, obedient and long lived horses are those treated from birth with kindness and common sense.
Timely Fact #4:
The whip is the parent of stubborness, but gentleness wins obedience. There is no such thing as balkiness in a horse that is kindly treated, and that gets an occasional apple, potato or sugar from his masters hand.
Timely Fact #5:
When a hose is afraid or excited, quiet him by kind words and caress. An excited horse is practically crazy and to whip him is dangerous, foolish and cruel. I have known a single blow of the whip to balk a spirited horse. Whipping a balky horse is barbarous and only increases balkiness.
About The Author
Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author of several best selling horse training and horse care books. For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com. He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beerys horse training methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm.
The Importance Of Habit And Repetition During Horse Training – Recreation
The Importance Of Habit And Repetition During Horse Training
Andy Curry
Picture this.
Youre out feeding your horse. Youre petting her, talking to her, and admiring how beautiful she is.
Suddenly, you get the urge to get on her and go for a ride. The only thing is, you dont feel like getting the saddle and bridle - so you just jump on...bareback.
Now youre sitting on her. Her head is high, her ears are twitching, and shes wondering whats going on.
Its boring just sitting on her. You want her to move. So you boot her forward.
She moves. Youre delighted. Suddenly, she starts going faster and faster until shes in a full gallop.
The fence posts go whizzing by. Your white knuckle hands have a death grip on her mane. In your raging fear you see a turn coming up and youre wondering whether your horse will take a sharp right or go straight.
In a flash you prepare for her to take a right so you wont be thrown to the ground. Thank goodness you did because she took a sharp right. In fact, it felt like she turned ninety degrees.
What I didnt tell you is this whole time youve been yelling "Whoooaaaaa!!!"
No matter how many times you yelled "whoa" your horse didnt stop. It was like she never knew the command - she simply kept moving despite what you said. And all the while, all you could picture in your head was your life in danger.
Hopefully, this will NEVER happen to you. Its a sick feeling being on a horse you cant control and the fence posts whiz by you while you quickly and silently rehearse your own funeral in your head.
This scenario actually happened to a friend of mine. She had help training her horse and did a decent job except for something very important. She didnt teach the "whoa" lesson thoroughly enough.
One of the most important things one should do while training a horse is repetition. Whatever lesson youre teaching your horse it should be taught so thoroughly that it is a fixed habit on his brain. It becomes a fixed habit by repetition.
In this horses case, she hadnt been taught that "whoa" means to stop. In fact, Id bet she thinks "whoa" means to slow down. Lots of people tell their horse "whoa" when their horse is moving too fast and they want it to slow down. Before you know it, the horse thinks "whoa" means to slow down a little.
Pretty soon, the horse has been thoroughly taught that "whoa" means to slow down...not stop. Thus, repetition worked in this case but backfired. "Whoa" was repeated so many times to mean to slow down the horse now believes "whoa" means slow down.
Thus, the horse will have to be retrained to understand what whoa really means. It will take a lot of patience and thoroughness in training but itll be well worth the time.
The value of this significant piece of knowledge cannot be overstated. When youre out training your horse a lesson be sure to give it enough repetition that the lesson becomes a habit for the horse.
Jesse Beery, a famous horse trainer from the late 1800s, overemphasized this crucial training tip. He preached teaching only one thing at a time and having that thing so thoroughly taught that the habit is fixed upon the horses brain.
Thats some of the best training advice you will ever get.
About The Author
Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author of several best selling horse training and horse care books. For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com. He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beerys horse training methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm.