I’m giving a quick overview of bridling issues that I see pretty often. Most of the time bridle issues can be caused by an ill fitting bridle, bit, or mouth pain. Once those basics are ruled out, make sure the horse isn’t worried about being away from the herd. After all of this has been taken care of, use positive reinforcement training to start building good associations with being bridled.

Horses can become worried easily in wash racks or by being sprayed with the hose at bathing time. By taking the right training steps and making the whole process some thing your horse wants to do you won’t have nearly has much frustration. Also, make sure that the water isn’t too hot or cold depending on the season.

As I was watching a horse show recently on tv and I heard the commentator incorrectly describing horse behavior. This bothered me because what they were saying was just not true. If we truly want to understand and be partners with our horses we must accurately understand what they are saying to us. We all can benefit from reading our horses better and more accurately providing for their needs.

Using clicker training, I will go over the process of teaching a horse how to be dewormed. Deworming can be a stressful time for horses and their care takers. A lot of horses don’t like being dewormed and most people just want to get it done with because it is for the benefit of the horse. With some understanding and breaking down the process of desensitizing, your horse can learn to be dewormed in an easy quick manner.

When using natural horsemanship or traditional training techniques we can be chasing our horses and we don’t even realize that we are doing it most of the time. I’ll cover why we should stop using chasing and pressure to lunge, ride, and train our horses. And discuss better training options so that our horses are calmer, braver, and safer.

I’m sharing my thoughts on what I think horse training competitions can change and improve on.

Instead of doing a episode on training or behavior with notes, I wanted to use my driving time for something productive and do an episode just on thoughts and ideas about shows. I also talk about timelines when it comes to training horses. My take is to slow down and enjoy the ride and maybe do some online horse shows.

I’m going to talk about what a shut down horse is, what causes a horse to do this, and how to prevent it. Resources for this episode include: How to Tell if Your Horse is Shut Down, article by Katie Boniface. What is Learned Helplessness and How it Can Make a Horse Shut Down, article by The Whole Horse.com. The Willing Equine Blog by Adele Shaw.

The third episode in the equine body language series is about how to spot a calm, happy horse. This body language may not be as easy to notice as the worried or mad body language but it is equally important. When you see a horse show these behaviors you know you are moving in the right direction with your training.

Probably some of the most frustrating behaviors for riders and trainers are displayed by scared horses. In this episode I will talk about some common behaviors you will see in horses who are worried, scared, or panicked. Being able to read when a horse is scared is important so that you can take steps to calm your horse down and then carry on with your riding or training.