Here's Tommy & Jake working on a good FOUNDATION.
The following 4 lessons are all you'll need to
begin to
establish
a solid "foundation".
Add these to your repertoire no matter
how old your
horse is and repeat them over & over throughout
your horses life. By doing so,
you'll be on your way to getting
your horse to (eventually) accept YOU as the head
of his herd.
Until your horse is 18 months old, these steps are all you'll need
to do
by way of 'lessons'. You should also be brushing them,
picking up & cleaning
their feet, and adding new (safe) objects
into their pasture/space, such as, tires,
plastic chairs, tarps,
big rubber balls, etc. (Avoid anything with sharp edges!)
Leave each of these items in
their area for awhile, remove them,
add something else, remove that, and bring
back something
they've seen before. Keep them thinking!
Older horses know that kicks and bites can hurt you, but
youngsters are not yet aware of how powerful they are or
even just where
that hoof may land. They are learning
their own abilities, so it's your responsibility
to
be
watchful and aware when around them.
So, let's get started!
Click on the following pictures for
descriptions
of the 'four' lessons.
Before you can become part of the 'herd', you have to
THINK
like the horse. HORSES can only think as
HORSES. We humans
(theoretically, ha!) are smarter animals, therefore,
we must learn to 'think' like the horse from the horse.
We always hear about 'body language', but it's hard to know
what to look for
from the horse in order to understand
the horse. If you take only 30
minutes at a
time, each
day, week, or month, to be out in the pasture,
you
WILL notice new things each time. ( I've noticed,
among other things,
that Magnum lays down for
naps more often than Aspen did and Aspen
always let you
know when it was feeding
time with a healthy whinny.)
We have to start with the very
basic BASICS!!
