eXHorses asked:

This video discusses stopping your horse and backing. It is part of the Fundamental Training of a Horse video. In this set of videos, basic ground work, longing and handling methods are demonstrated, as well as numerous suppling and basic training maneuvers are shown to develop quiet, broke horses. Presenters: Gary Stauffer and Monte Stauffer, UNL Extension Educators This presentation was given at the 2007 Equestrian Academy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For more horse information, visit www.extension.org/horses!

I have been a horse nut for as long as I can remember. I had owned a number of horses which I had some training to do on each horse after my purchase. But it wasn’t until I purchased a totally untouched horse, raised in the wild that I had the challenge to correct a horse that was prone to flight. It took me a while to correct and thankfully my horse, myself and others around him never got hurt in the process. I hope this article will help you correct this problem in your horse, quickly and without injuries.

I was tired of retraining horses and tired of trying to fix a problem that someone else had created in a horse that I purchased for my own. So in order to fix this problem I found a yearling that had been field bred and spent the first year of his life in the Cascade mountains. He was untouched and totally wild. I negotiated his price, and an agreement to get him to the sellers home with the understanding that I have the use of her round pen for 2 weeks.

The first four to five days it seemed as though there was little to no progress made, but on day 6 I started to see improvement and by day 14 I had him in a straight load trailer without a fight. I was truly amazed that an animal so wild just 2 weeks before could be transformed in 14 days with just 2 to 3 hours a day of slow gentle work on my part.

This was just the beginning of many years of training. He is now 12 years old and is a wonderful trail horse and a true companion of mine. He is not fully trained as I don’t think any horse, at least any of my horses ever are. I believe in the saying, “always be training”, and I always will be. He is smart and gentle now but he was a problem to get the flight instinct out of him and make him use his brain. I would work with him and think I had him fixed until a turkey would fly up on the trail and suddenly I was without a horse under me!

A flighty horse has to be fixed and until he is, the horse will be dangerous to handler, rider and the people that are around him as well as dangerous to himself. The final straw was when I was camping, I got two horses saddled and ready to go for a ride, I tried them to a hitching post and went to the outhouse. When I came out I noticed that something was bothering my horse, I don’t know what, could have been a horsefly or something. I started over to him at a quick walk so I could untie him and find out what was going on. As I got to him, and before I could get the quick release knot untied he exploded. Now this is a big horse, about 1400 pounds, at a standing position he sprung off the ground like he sprouted wings. He came down on the hitching post which broke off at each end and was now a log tied to him which scared him even more and he took off. Now my other horse is still tied to the log and as he takes off she has no choice but to follow. There I was watching my two horses running off in the camp with a log between them. What a wreck!

From this story you can see that something very slight can create a terrible situation and a flighty horse needs to be corrected before these things happen. This was the hardest thing to correct in this horse and I attribute it to the first year of his life when he had real predators like bears and mountain lions. It took a lot to get him to think before flight but I did get that result and so can you.

Here is the horse training lesson in my online library that will fix this problem and a few others in the process. As with most things in horses, fix one thing and it will have an effect on other problems and other benefits to your horse training. [http://www.horsetack-supplies.com/horsetrainingflightyhorse.php]

By: Jackie Heinen

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DARSMAX asked:

www.HorseTrainingTips.INFO The best e-book available on how to train your horse to be an enjoyable companion. Work out any problem behaviours that your horse may have now and enjoy years of pleasure with your horse being able to understand you.

The simple reality is that an average 150 pound human has no means and ways to control a 1000 to 1200 pound horse. You can use the meanest bit in the world – and the horse can just throw you in the dirt. But does that mean we have to be afraid of horses?

Obviously not. Thousands of people are riding or driving horses – and enjoy the heck out of it. Yes every now and then accidents happen – but you could just stumble in your yard and break a bone.

But: What I call the “fear factor” can greatly influence how you train, ride or drive your horse.

Many years ago I had a friend who just loved trail riding and driving. There was only one problem. Besides an old Mustang mare the girl never got along with the horses she had. After a couple years the “problem horse” got sold. It took me along time and all my psychological knowledge to find out what was really going on.

Pretty much unconsciously the girl was afraid of horses. That was the reason why she always “over-controlled” the horse. For the horse this meant that something was wrong. The horse got nervous and the problem kept growing.

In another example I watched a girl saddle a Morgan mare. She was acting way over-cautious, telling the horse in a whispering voice that everything was ok, when she put the blanket on. The horse got extremely nervous – about ready to blow – in the process. I had not ridden but handled the mare a lot. So I stopped the girl, took the saddle and blanket off and walked the horse a little.

Then I went back to the hitch rail, kind of threw the blanket and saddle on “cowboy style”, cinched up, put the bridle on – and way we went. The mare was just fine with that.

So, what is the point here?

I have observed many cases where a – often unconscious – “fear factor” had a very negative impact on the training or handling of a horse. Horses can “read” us humans often much better than we can read them. They sense tension or fear and it translates to them into some danger that they cannot make out.

How can you solve such a problem?

Well, first of all horses are not by nature aggressive. Second, most accidents are caused by a lack of attention or just wrong handling on the human side. I once got kicked pretty hard, because I did not pay attention. I tapped a horse on the butt, not noticing he had a nap and did not hear me coming.

I have written in another article about “trust”. This is a good way to overcome the “fear factor” – a bond of trust between you and the horse.

And especially when you are training horses the key is to pay attention. A raised head, folded back ears or a foot lifted ready for a kick are big red warning flags. The horse is uncomfortable or even afraid. When I work with horses on picking up their feet, I keep body contact with the horse. That way I can feel when the horse tenses up – which is another warning sign. Before I can go on I have to solve the cause of the tension.

If you encounter that a horse acts “strange” when you handle it, do some soul searching. There is a good chance that you are the reason.

By: Wolfgang Maass

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The following free horse training tips will help you teach your horse some basic things that will keep him and you from getting hurt. Some horses will learn more quickly than others. Many elements come into play when we look at this fact more closely. Research has indicated breed, temperament, and even age can all have an influence on how quickly horses learn.

Classical conditioning is probably the most familiar method used for training horses. We teach the horse to respond to a new stimulus or cue by combining it consistently with a stimulus for which there is a response. This horse training tip can be an easy way to teach all horses.

A practical example of classical conditioning is teaching the horse to stop his feet when you say “whoa”. Your horse probably already knows to stop his feet when he feels the pressure of the rains. If you say “whoa” before you apply the rein aid he will in due course learn to stop when he hears the word.

Say you want to train your horse to come to you when you whistle. You may begin by shaking some feed into his bucket (or feed can) and give him a chance to smell the feed. Before pouring the food into his feeder begin a distinct whistle. Repeat the same whistle each time he is fed. Over time he will come to you when he hears your distinct whistle. This free horse training tip is a simple example of classical conditioning.

Operant conditioning is another method used for training horses. With this type of learning for horses a behavior is strengthened, or in other words the behavior will take place regularly. The horse will learn to act on his environment to gain a reward he wants.

I recently experienced an example of operant conditioning, although it required no training on my part. One of my horses figured out she could open a gate and let herself out of her pasture. The first time she did this she probably was playing with the latch with her mouth and inadvertently pushed the latch out of place. She wondered out of her pasture into another larger pasture. Her reward was new grass or possibly a new place to explore.

After placing her back into her original pasture she once again experimented with the latch. She did not remember exactly how she managed to get the gate open but she did remember the latch had something to do with it. She kept experimenting until she was able to unlatch the gate. Each time she was placed back into this pasture she would return to the same gate and play with the latch until it opened and each time she became faster at doing this. Through operant conditioning she learned how to unlatch this particular gate and let herself out. This is a training tip that she taught herself, but with a little experimenting, you can find ways to use this method to train you horse yourself for free.

Operant conditioning is simply the animal performing the behavior not the trainer. With this method of training the horse learns to deliberately offer a behavior that has previously been reinforced. When positive reinforcement is used, operant conditioning can become a very effective training tool. This method can work exceptionally well for everything from trick training to training the horse to go into a trailer. And the best thing about this training tip, it is free. You just have to spend a little time and effort and with a little patience, you can reap some tremendous rewards.

By: Fran Mullens

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