“It is our responsibility to have the horse so well trained that we can do whatever we need to do without a problem,” he stated. “Our horse does not have the right to hurt anyone. It’s not because the vet smells funny that a horse hurts him
Can you explain the concept of positive reinforcement training? What exactly does it mean? I was recently in New Zealand, where I was with a group that seems “converted” to what they call “all-positive training.” It sounds like good old-fashioned
I’m going to start discussing ground manners by talking about a 2-year-old colt from Arkansas who hadn’t been handled much. He wasn’t mean, he was just uneducated.
I use a rope halter to give me a little more leverage and “bite” if the horse
Sometimes we need to hear the same things again in order to learn them. Or maybe it’s not the learning, but the applying what we’ve learned. I had to call Dr. Andy Anderson after reading his column this month and put his lessons into practice at
Last month we talked about how to aggravate the horse to load into a trailer. Remember, this isn’t beating the horse or getting angry. It’s like the horsefly being able to make a 1,000-pound horse move. You merely make it more comfortable to be
I have a 5-month-old colt that was never halter broken. According to the breeder, it appeared that at one point a halter had been put on him, and the experience was traumatic for him.
Since he came home with me, I have been spending time with
The reason most horses don’t load in trailers is that owners have studiously trained them to not load. Horses learn this by accident. The horse gets led up to the trailer and decides not to go in and turns sideways. Then the owner leads him away an
Using operant conditioning, scientists have quantified horses’ attention spans, and they have drawn some conclusions that could help horse trainers and owners better understand their charges and how they learn.
The researchers at
People are shocked that I give my horses treats. I tell them there’s a big difference in giving your horse treats, and him demanding treats. My horses don’t demand treats. I don’t show them treats before I catch them. Consider my horse Epic. I give
My horse was seen biting another horse in the throat. They were up on their hind legs supposedly playing when all of a sudden my horse made a very unusual move, according to the witness, and bit the other horse in the throat. The other horse ran an
Various horse management and health care tips offered by equine professionals at the AAEP 2006 Convention.
Last month we started talking about the three things every horse needs to know to make his rider happy. My hero, champion reining horse owner and trainer Dick Pieper, told me I had been making the training of my horses way too complicated. “You
Champion reining horse owner/trainer Dick Pieper is my hero. I was showing and winning, but I wasn’t completely happy with my reiners. In less than an hour under Dick’s tutelage, I learned more than I had in the last 20 years. He said I was making
I have a stallion that “saucers” (exhibits glans penis enlargement) prior to mounting. Any suggestions?
I’m a veterinary student from the United Kingdom and have been riding with a stud farm veterinarian in America going from place to place. I am trying to figure out the art of handling stallions for breeding. Can you please enlighten me on the
Desensitization, the gradual introduction of a new stimulus, might be the most effective way to reduce fearfulness and reactivity in horses, according to a recent study by Danish and Swedish researchers.
The scientists examined three method
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