How to Get Your Horse to Obey You
In the animal kingdom there is a pecking
order. Richard Shrake points out that it’s a lot like the
military. He ranks in the pecking order go from General down to
Private. The General will get first pick of the food, decide
where to go and when, and so on.
The “second in command” will act just like the General but
he won’t pick on the General because the General dominates him.
This string of command continues all the way down to the bottom
of the pecking order. Any time a new animal comes into the
group then the pecking order shifts. Knowing this information,
you can use it to your advantage. You can make yourself the
leader in the horse’s eyes. He’ll look to you for instruction.
He’ll obey you.
If you have a dominant horse it will be instinct for him to
let a more dominant being make the decisions. In this case the
dominant being will be you. You will become leader by using
your body language to show you are confident. Being dominant
doesn’t mean you’re being aggressive.
On the other hand, if your horse is the General, you may
have to be more assertive. Make sure your horse doesn’t think
you’re a threat. It’s easy to come across as threatening when
you’re being assertive. If your horse feels threatened he’ll
fight back and you can’t win. And if you are doing horse
training, you will find it hard to get results.
In the wild, dominant and aggressive horses will make their
bodies tight and make sudden moves with fury while getting into
the other horse’s space. The weaker horse will concede and move
out of his space. Think of it as the General screaming an order
and the Private is obeying.
Slow movements tend to draw one horse to another. Horses
express calmness with relaxed, slow steps. This is how they
welcome other horses in their space.
If a horse is trying to show you he’s the General you may
see a clamped-down tail with pinned ears. To get him to accept
you as the General you will move him out of his space. You do
this by matching any quick moves he makes with your own quick
moves. The trick is to make the first strike before he
does.
One way to do this is with a quick arm movement towards him
– almost like you’re violently shooing away some pesky flies.
Also, you can use an aggressive tone of voice towards a horse
if he’s being aggressive.
How can you tell if he’s conceding to you? If he turns his
head or drops it, relaxes his tail, begins chewing, or takes a
deep breath, then that’s how you know. If any of these happen
he’s saying, “Okay, I’ll do what you say because I want to
listen to you.” Pay attention to these clues that tell you your
horse is in the Private mode (the follower) instead of the
General mode.
When you go into the round pen to work with your horse first
check to see how he responds to you. If he rubs his head on you
or swings his rear end toward you then he’s challenging your
position in the pecking order. If you’re with a horse that’s
not dominant you want to make sure he has confidence. Thus, be
very careful not to be threatening.
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 Beery's horse training methods
which can be seen at
www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.htm.
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