This newsletter is a personal letter from
me to you,
a fellow horse owner and enthusiast. My
goal is to send you interesting stories and helpful seasonal tips for your
horse care, training, and riding.
PREVENTION
IS THE KEY
TO AVOIDING VICES AND BAD HABITS By far, the most common questions I receive at this web site
and other web sites where I answer questions and at seminars and classes
that I teach, are those involving vices and bad habits. Some of the
most common problems are biting, rearing, cribbing, wood chewing, horses that
don't stand still for mounting, horses that won't load, horses that move too fast
or too slow, horses that won't cross water and so on. Although
there are ways to change such behaviors, it is far easier, safer and more enjoyable
to prevent them in the first place. That's why I try to outline the basics
of horse care, training, and management in ideal terms because the closer to the
ideal that you can handle and care for your horse, the less likely he will
develop vices and bad habits. When
you buy a horse that has been trained and handled by someone else, you might be
purchasing some vices and bad habits that you did not cause. And that's
why I'm including information in this newsletter on dealing with two common
problems, biting and rearing. Also be sure to look in the New
Postings on the Roundup Page section later in this newsletter for
information on other problems: Fear of Water, Cribbing and Wood Chewing, and Speed
Control. With
any problem, try to find the cause of the problem, don't just treat the symptom.
By this I mean, if your horse rears, don't immediately think "What should
I do TO my horse when he rears?". Instead think, "Why is my horse rearing
and what can I do to minimize his tendency to do that and what alternative
behavior can I encourage?" Odds
and Ends Look for another installment in Sherlock's foal training
and management section next month. He's growing up to be quite the handsome
gelding (yes, I did say gelding....more on that another time) and he will be weaned
before the next newsletter. I'm
way behind on answering questions to Ask Cherry. If you have sent me a question
in September but have not heard from me, please be patient as I try to answer
as many well-posed questions as I can. I know we will be getting
a rainy day (or another snow storm) sooner or later when I can catch up!
If you need help before I have the time to answer, be sure to read my suggestions on other places you can find help. Thanks to those of you who have sent feedback
to my webmaster, husband Richard Klimesh, related to links that don't work on
our site or pictures that don't load up for your browser etc. This feedback can
help us keep this site working well and useful for YOU. You can also let Richard
or I know what you particularly like about our site by writing Richard
at horsekeeping-webmaster@att.net. To contact the manager of Cherry Hill Books or me, go
to https://www.horsekeeping.com/e-mail.htm and follow the instructions on that page to be sure that
your questions go to the right e-mail address.
**************************************************************
IN THIS NEWSLETTER:
ARTICLES
Learning
Vices and Bad Habits
How to Prevent Biting
Rearing
ANNOUNCEMENTS
New Department in
Western Horseman Magazine - "The Fix-It Guy"
REGULAR DEPARTMENTS
New
Postings on the Roundup Page
Book News and Reviews
Our
Recent Magazine Articles
**************************************************************** Learning Horses, no matter what age, are constantly learning from
their interactions with humans. Whether or not you consider your interaction
with your horse a "formal training session" or not, your horse is learning.
This is true whether you are longeing, riding, feeding, bathing, or just walking
through your horse's stall or pasture. Whenever the two of you are in the
same space together, you horse is learning what he should and should not do and,
in some cases, what he can or cannot get away with. Your goal is to learn
about horse behavior and plan your interactions carefully so you help your horse develop
good habits. It is the joy of owning horses to say "Good
Boy!" or "Good Girl" and give your horse a pat when he or she does
something well. And it is your responsibility to learn how to say "No!"
effectively with your body language to your horse when he does something unwanted
or dangerous. Bad
habits usually result from a lack of the Basics. When a horse doesn't learn
his ABC's, he must go back to the Basics and have a thorough and consistent
review. Your job is to let your horse know his behavior is not acceptable and
to help him find a different way to behave so he is safer and more pleasant
to handle. Vices
and Bad Habits Horses are some of the kindest, most generous and trainable
animal partners you can find. That's why when a horse does something "bad",
it's usually due to poor management or training. In
order to deal with vices and bad habits, we need to understand what causes
them. THEN we can design our horse care and training to PREVENT them.
A vice
is an abnormal behavior that usually shows up in the barn or stable environment
that results from confinement, improper management (like overfeeding), or lack
of exercise. A vice can affect a horse's usefulness, dependability,
and health. Examples are cribbing, weaving, and self-mutilation.
A bad habit is an undesirable behavior that occurs during
training or handling and is usually a result of poor techniques and a lack of
understanding of horse behavior. Examples are rearing, halter pulling, striking
and kicking.
Biting Prevention Biting can be very dangerous. I've seen
a girl get her nose bitten badly when asking for a "horse kiss", I've
seen a man get his abdominal muscles torn away from his rib cage by a horse he
was petting over a fence, and a very good, experienced horse friend of mine got
the end of her finger bitten off when she poked some hay back into a horse's
hay feeder at a horse show. Now that I've shared some of my biting
horror stories, with you, let's get control of this bad habit. I want you
to be safe! First
of all, biting is normal behavior between horses. If you watch horses play
together, they often nip at each other, and buddies mutually groom each other
with their teeth along their withers and back. When fighting, horses use
kicking and biting to assert their dominance over each other, often inflicting
serious wounds. You
need to teach your horse, in no uncertain terms, that you are top on the pecking
order when it comes to biting and that YOU make the rules. No biting, nipping,
nuzzling of any kind period. Teething has nothing to do with a horse biting
people. Teething
might have something to do with a horse biting wood and other hard objects, but
biting at people is totally a behavioral issue and one that has no "excuse".
When
I am handling a horse that likes to nip or bite, I do one of two things.
If it is a foal or a horse that is just "testing" or if he is a horse
that is just nuzzling or lipping me as I groom or lead him, then I stop what I
am doing and firmly massage the end of his nose, upper lip, and lower lip for
about 2-5 minutes. I don't pinch or squeeze - I am not disciplining
him - I just rub until I get the feeling he is sick of the attention.
Then I stop and usually the horse holds his head straight forward or turns his
head away from me slightly which is what I want - GET YOUR NOSE OUT OF MY
SPACE! Each time a horse like that comes at me with his nose, whether is
seems like a sweet nuzzle or not, he gets a nose massage. Pretty soon, horses
learn that they don't have to be so nosey - it is that simple. By
the way, while nuzzling is sweet, it often leads to nipping and then biting, so
if you let your horse nuzzle you or your pockets, be aware of the danger.
Also, be aware that feeding treats from your hand often leads to nipping and biting.
It is best to never feed a horse a treat from your hand. Instead, drop
the treat on the ground when you unhalter him and turn him out, for example,
as a treat for not racing off. Now
for the other type of horse, one that dives at you, often behind your back or
when you just start to turn away. Whether or not this horse puts his ears back
and looks mean or has his ears forward and looks pretty, if he dives at me with
his mouth, he is going to get a BIG discouragement from me. And with a horse
like this, I AM ALWAYS ON ALERT. WHERE you
hit him is important - never around the eyes or ears but almost anywhere else
is fair - it is a case of you defending yourself from attack.
WHEN
you hit him is essential. It must be within 2 seconds ("one thousand
one, one thousand two") so he makes the connection that you are disciplining him
for the biting. Otherwise, if he bit at you and then moved away and was
just standing there and you reprimanded him about 4-5 seconds later, you
have punished him for standing there. WHAT
you hit him with is also important. Never with your hand - you can't deliver
a blow hard enough without hurting your hand, especially if you "smack"
him on the "nose" - you would hurt your hand on his teeth. And
never with something that would hurt him. I often use either a rope, sending a
wave to snap and pop him or a foam bat which makes more of a noise than anything.
HOW
INTENSELY you hit him is the real key. If you "cartoon" the
situation and just dab at the end of a horse's nose, what do you think that would
mean to him? It would be an invitation to continue playing! He'd react by
nipping back at you - he'd think you were playing a game of "bite me
tag" with him - like he would with another horse. Then think of the
other extreme - two wild stallions fighting over a mare. In order
win, one stallion has to kick and/or bite with an intensity to make an impression
on the other stallion and drive him off. You have to be as intense as the
stallion in your message and your manner although you are not going to bite and
kick your horse! You will need to be very quick, stern, use forceful body
language, add a menacing growl, and deliver a strategic blow. Then
go on with what you were doing as if nothing had happened. Be tough, then
go on. If
you follow these rules, you will only have to do this once or twice. If
you back off and moderate, you will have to pick at your horse for the rest of
his life. You need to figure out how to be the right level of "gruff"
with your horse.
Rearing There
are two habits that I think require the assistance of a qualified professional
horse trainer - rearing and kicking. Both of these habits are very
dangerous. If you have a horse that rears, you should be working with a qualified
instructor who can help you diagnose this horse's problem in person. Even
if a horse is not rearing very high, such behavior often gets worse
rather than better. The big risk, of course, is that when a horse rears,
you can easily fall off, and often when a horse really gets into rearing, he can
fall over backwards which can be deadly. But
let's talk a little bit about what causes rearing and what you can SAFELY try
to eliminate the bad habit. Rearing
is an "avoidance behavior" - the horse is trying to avoid going forward.
This usually occurs when a horse has not learned that when you say go
forward, he must go forward, so he is confused and needs progressive training
and a review of the basics. OR
it could be a horse that is becoming herd bound or barn sour and does not want
to leave a certain area where he can see the barn or his buddies. The horse
is saying "NO". This is more of a psychological problem.
The horse needs to develop security and confidence in the rider or handler. OR
it could be a horse that has at one time or another has received a sharp
jerk or rough handling when he DID go forward so now he is afraid of the consequences
of going forward. When a horse that tends to rear is switched from
a curb bit to a snaffle and the rider is very good with her hands
(following the horse's movement), the horse tends to move OUT (forward) rather
than UP (rearing). It is important that when you apply the leg cue for the
horse to go forward, you don't pull on the bit as that would be conflicting
signals which would confuse the horse. You can
rule out physical causes by having a veterinarian check the horse's mouth
and back to be sure there are no dental or spinal problems. You
can also review "forward" lessons in in-hand work (walk out and
trot out promptly when leading) and longeing, concentrating on the horse working
in a long, low frame with lots of extended trot type work, rather than collected
work. Collecting a horse too soon or improperly can lead to rearing. If
you feel unable to resolve this problem with the help of your instructor or trainer,
then you should find another horse. It is not worth the risk. *********************************** New
Western Horseman Regular Feature -
"The Fix-It Guy" Beginning
with the October 2000 issue, Western Horseman has started a new regular feature
by my mate Richard Klimesh, "The Fix-It Guy". You can read about
it in Pat Close's opening editorial on page 12 and see the first installment,
"Keeping Rubber Mats Together" on page 166. Western
Horseman invites readers of their magazine to send in problems for "The
Fix-It Guy": If you have
a question regarding stable maintenance, send it to:
The Fixit Guy
Box 7980
Colorado Springs CO 80933
OR
email: edit@westernhorseman.com ************************** New
Postings on the Roundup Page
Speed Control Speed Up Slow Down Fear of Water Cribbing and Wood Chewing
************************
Book
News and Reviews Maximum Hoof Power review in October 2000 Quarter Horse Journal on page 126.
******************
Our
Recent Magazine Articles Here's a roundup
of the most recent magazine articles by the "Klim-Team", Richard
Klimesh and Cherry Hill October 2000
Western Horseman
"Introducing the Fix-It Guy", p.
12
"The Fix-It Guy - "Keeping Rubber Mats Together", P. 166
September 2000 Western Horseman
"Selecting
a Barn Site", p. 72
"The Klim Team", p. 102 October
2000 Horse & Rider
"Mouth Wash - Flushing the Mouth
before Giving Oral Medication", p. 39
"Muckbusters - Cleaning a
Stall and Manure Management", p. 44 September
2000 Horse & Rider
"Got Bots?", p. 37
"Horsekeeping
on 2 Acres", p. 48
"The Cushion Question" (therapeutic saddle
pads), p. 88 September 2000 Miniature
Horse Voice
"Electric Fence - How it Works...How to Troubleshoot
it" ****************** Coming
Attractions My
training philosophies, catching a horse, winter riding, more foal training,
and tips on buying and selling horses. ************************************************************************* Cherry
Hill doesn't do endorsements! I don't accept
payment to recommend or endorse any horse products in my articles, books or this
newsletter. I do, however, mention names of products that I am currently
using and find satisfactory. I do this to give you a starting point or help
narrow the field. Sometimes finding the right product or piece of tack
is the beginning of the answer to a training or horsekeeping problem. That's
it for this month. Keep your mind in the middle and
a leg on each side. 
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https://www.horsekeeping.com/horse-training-care-info.htm
to find information on training, horse care, grooming, health care, hoof
care, facilities and more. Browse the complete Cherry Hill Horse Book Library
at https://www.horsekeeping.com
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