Wow, the last day of the year as we go to print! It amazes me how fast time continues to fly!!

As a fitting topic for the New Year’s column, I thought I might suggest some New Year’s Resolutions - for you and your horse!

Resolutions for you:
1. To spend more time with your horse around your work or school hours, even if it just means brushing your horse, teaching him tricks or perhaps using clicker training, or feeding him treats, etc.
2. To always pick out your horse’s feet before and after riding - you can prevent serious damage by simply making sure that the hoof is free from obstructions before and after you ride.
3. To start looking ahead of time for your hay supply this coming spring - make note of which farmers may have surplus hay, or approach your usual supplier in plenty of time. Keep lots of options open though - you never know who’s hay might get rained on!
4. To look further into your vaccination schedule this spring. For many people, vaccinations begin in February or March if they are hitting some of the earlier clinics! Be sure to consider the West Nile Virus vaccine well in time for it to be effective before bug season begins in May or June.
5. To treat your horse once in a while to a hot bran mash or other special treats, especially on cold or windy days. Bran mashes help a horse to get more water than they might otherwise in the cold part of winter!

Photo credit: Chris Hassell

Resolutions for your horse:
(hee hee hee)
1. I promise to quit chewing on everything in sight - like the fences, barn walls, any leather or nylon or cotton gear hung within reach, the manger and the other horse’s manes and tails. I will find something else to suitably amuse myself with!
2. I resolve that on trail rides I will not spook at every single scary thing that JUMPS out at me... (but I draw the line at horse-eating garbage cans, large white rocks and loudly barking dogs....)
3. I promise to try and keep my paddock and stall neater by always using one corner as a bathroom and not turning round and round and round before lying down to sleep at night. Well, I’ll try anyway - sometimes I get too busy eating to remember to go anywhere else!
4. I resolve to try and understand my human a little more, instead of playing dumb any chance I can get. Of course, this does not extend to memorizing the patterns for reining or the Medium III dressage test!
5. I promise to behave at horse shows, clinics and other events away from home. No, no, I mean behave properly - as opposed to running around like a fool looking for his long lost stablemate... and I won’t scream and yell in my owner’s ear anymore as I can obviously see she is standing right there... well, unless I am convinced that the grey horse on the other side of the arena is actually a light palomino who I knew back in 1993...

Have a great New Year’s Eve (remember to stay safe!) and we’ll be back, well, next year!
~ Kristi :)

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The chain should be run through the side ring on the left hand side, over the nose, through the side ring on the right hand side, and then attached to the throat ring on the right hand side. The purpose of a chain is to break up the monotony of a wide halter band, which a pulling horse can easily ignore. It is not there to inflict massive amounts of pain, and should be used carefully at all times. You can also sometimes achieve the same results with a rope being passed through the halter rings in the same manner, or by using a stiff rope halter, which puts pressure on a much smaller area than a nylon or leather halter.

I often use both a regular leadrope as well as a shank with the chain on it. That way I can lead him with the halter rope until he misbehaves and then I can discipline him for it. When your horse decides to pull you around the yard in search of that tempting bunch of grass, tug once sharply on the regular halter rope. You can also use a voice command such as “Quit” or “No” - in both cases make your tone very firm and sharp.

If he responds to the sharp tug on the lead, don’t use the chain. However, if he continues to ignore your attempt to stop him, use the shank with the chain on it. Each horse will require a different level of restraint, so try a gentle tug on the chain first after saying “Quit” again. If he still continues to ignore you, give the verbal reprimand again and increase the tug - repeat this until you have stopped his forward motion.

You may find better success with this if you get after him until he actually backs up away from you, but beware, this is not always easy! A spoiled horse is far more likely to move into you, or forward through your space, or even to rear up above you, than to back away from you - you may wish to find professional help for at least the first session of this retraining. The pro will help show you the required force to restrain the horse and have him back off, while at the same time setting the stage for you to continue retraining the horse.

Once your horse understands not only the fact that he is not allowed to drag you around, but that the word “Quit” or “No” will be backed up by a physical reprimand, he will become much easier to deal with most of the time. He will also be much easier to rebuke when he forgets his manners as he will know that you mean business when you tug sharply on the lead - even just on the leadrope by that time, and you likely won’t have to use the chain anymore at all.

Next week, a look at the horse that crowds your space or steps on you.

If you have comments or suggestions along the way, please share with me at kristi@hiway16.com

I hope that this in depth look at your training your foal to halter, lead and tie has been helpful. There are other helpful tips and training ideas as well, and of course you can read along with the retraining a spoiled horse column for more ideas and warnings.

Another method that works for helping to halter train a wilder foal is to leave a halter and lead rope on them in a safe enclosure (usually a stall). You are at risk here for having the halter or rope catch on something and causing serious injury or even death, but the method itself does work fairly well. If you decide to employ this method, always use a breakaway halter designed for that size of horse.

For an older colt, you can consider the belly rope method of tying them up. Using a long soft rope, with a non-slip knot (a bowline is common for this), tie a loop around the horse’s barrel behind the forelegs. Run the rope up through the halter ring and tie the horse to something solid. After doing this several times, they are usually pretty respectful of the rope, and you can progress to a leading lesson. Continue using the belly rope for the first few leading lessons and you have extra control over the youngster if he should decide to bolt or rear up.

Of course, halter training doesn’t end with having your foal or horse simply trained to lead beside you and to tie up. There are many other things you can do with your horse of any age to improve their reaction to you and also to make them safer to work around. Teach them tricks, work on clicker training, go for outside walks, and use trail class obstacles to develop their response to your cues and to develop their trust in you as their leader.

To teach your foal to trot in hand, please refer to the following three columns
December 20, 1999
December 27, 1999
January 3, 2000

Just like horse people, horses never lose their capacity to learn, so keep adding things to your horse’s repertoire - it is well worth the effort!

Northern BC Horse is sponsored by local businesses who support equine sports in our area including:

• Baerental Ranch
• Burns Lake Building Supplies
• Griffin Crick Ranch
• Hoskins Ford
• Northern Horse Supply
• Ridennoure Paint Horses
• The Tack Store

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