OK! Sooo how do you teach a horse to CALM DOWN when it sees other horses? This makes it very difficult to go on trail rides or do anything in particular when the horse gets so excited that it sees another horse that it's about to drag you behind it. Or explode. One or the other.
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CALM DOWN! It's just another hors-AHHHH!!!
ElusiveKimmaby
Jan 04, 2005 11:11 AM
Replies (1)
PH Cody
Jan 05, 2005 06:46 PM
>>OK! Sooo how do you teach a horse to CALM DOWN when it sees other horses? This makes it very difficult to go on trail rides or do anything in particular when the horse gets so excited that it sees another horse that it's about to drag you behind it. Or explode. One or the other.
Well, you don't really teach them to calm down, you teach them to pay attention to you at all times, even around other horses. That takes lots, and lots, and lots of groundwork and patience 
That and you do a whole lot of work with them around other horses so that they realize that they still have to behave around others and that being around other horses is no big deal.
First and foremost, they need to learn the simple word of "whoa" and they need to learn, without a doubt, that "whoa" means "stand still now and don't move until I say you can". It's amazing how many horses never learn this simple rule! While learning that they also need to learn to always pay attention to the human at the end of the rope, or in the saddle, and to be aware of not only where they are but what they are asking the horse to do. If you are starting with a baby, its a bit easier because they are more impressionable and more willing to follow, not lead. An older horse is harder because they have already learned they can ignore the human and that they are big. So it takes a lot more groundwork and specifically, respect building ground work.
Hope that helps!
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PH Cody
HorseHobbyist Site Coordinator
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