Horses Health - Toxic Plants Part 2

Plants That Can Seriously Damage Your Horses Health

As I said before, it’s lucky that horses don't find most poisonous plants very palatable. However, there are exceptions and sometimes horses will eat highly toxic or lethal doses of poisonous plants, even when forage is adequate. That's why summer is a good time to explore your horse pasture to be sure toxic plants are kept out of your horse's diet.

This issue will cover:

• Water Hemlock
• Ground Ivy
• Larkspur (Delphinium)
• Bracken Fern
• Horsetail
• Caster Oil Bean
• Red Maple
  
• Buckwheat
• Alsike Clover
• Rhododendron and Relatives
• Potato and Tobacco Leaf Plants

This is the same reminder I gave last time. You need to know that I have not written the following – I am not a Vet or a plants man, so I have copied this information simply to make it easy for you to read. I would not re-write it because I was afraid of getting something wrong that may prove fatal to your horse, so I make no apologies for copying this.

Water Hemlock
All parts of the water hemlock plant, also known as western water hemlock, contain a toxin called cicutoxin. Some consider this to be one of the most poisonous plants in the US. Frequenting moist areas such as wet meadows and pastures or the banks of ponds or streams, it resembles the larger poison hemlock, but only reaches a height of two to three feet. Tuberous roots and immature shoots and leaves are particularly toxic and only a small amount is needed to poison a horse. The plant seems more attractive to horses after being sprayed with the herbicide 2,4-D. Common names include false parsley, snakeroot and poison parsnip. Symptoms include muscle tremors which can develop into violent convulsions and respiratory shutdown. Early signs such as excessive salivation and frothing may occur as quickly as 15 minutes after ingestion. Convulsions can be extremely severe, with head and neck thrown back, legs flexed as if running and abdominal pain is generally present accompanied by an associative grinding of teeth. Coma and death usually follow and there is no known treatment. The toxins act quickly and horses are rarely saved, however horses which make it through the first five to six hours after the onset of symptoms have a good chance of survival.

Ground Ivy
Ground ivy, commonly called Creeping Charlie, is present throughoutmuch of North America. Horses must ingest relatively large amounts for fatal consequences to occur, and such events are commonly traced to the plant being baled into the horse's feed. When ground ivy is present or suspected, consider unusually severe sweating accompanied by frothing at the mouth and / or difficulty breathing as signs of potential ground ivy poisoning.

Larkspur (Delphinium)
In the Western US, larkspur is the number two cause of livestock losses. Under natural conditions, horses will sample larkspur but will not eat enough to kill themselves if other feed is available. Delphiniums planted in ornamental gardens should be considered as toxic as their wild counterparts and the same precautions should be taken as with oleander.

Bracken Fern
This plant, also known as the brake fern, is common in wooded areasof the Pacific Northwest. Horses generally avoid it, but some can acquire a taste for it. Toxicity is cumulative and generally symptoms appear after the horse nibbles on this plant repeatedly over a long period of time. Early symptoms include weight loss which can progress to unsteady walking, then staggering with the horse spreading with all four feet to stay balanced, often pressing his head into solid objects. If untreated, death will occur from several days to several weeks after the symptoms appear.

Horsetail
Horsetail, also called mare's tail and scouring rush, poisons the horse in a similar fashion as bracken fern. All varieties of Horsetail are poisonous and they are often found near bogs and streams. The only reported difference in symptoms from bracken fern poisoning is that with Horsetail the animal may become quiet, unresponsive or comatose prior to death.

Castor Oil Bean
The castor oil plant, or palma christi, is grown as an ornamental plant in California and many southern states. It contains ricin, which causes severe irritation to the intestinal tract. (Castor oil is non-toxic because ricin is not soluble in oil.) The seed is the part of the plant which is poisonous - to all animals. As little as 7 grams of seeds have been reported to kill a horse although it is generally considered that about 50 grams (about 150 beans) are necessary to kill a healthy 1000 lb. specimen. Symptoms may not appear until two to three days after ingesting the beans. When signs do appear they are generally acute and progress rapidly. The animal may actdoped up and lose coordination, followed by profuse sweating. Signs of shock are not uncommon. Neck and shoulder spasms may appear accompanied by an extremely profound but ineffective heartbeat which can be easily felt, but which produces a weak and rapid pulse. Early on a temperature may be present up to 107 degrees F (41.5 C). Eventually a profuse, watery diarrhea appears often accompanied by colic-like pain. Finally the horse may go into convulsions and die.

Red Maple
Red Maples are natives in the eastern US and can be found as ornamental specimen trees in many other areas. The dried leaves and bark of the red maple can produce significant anemia in the horse when eaten. Symptoms include general weakness, and increased respiratory and cardiac rates indicating the animal's attempt to compensate for the anemic condition. Please note: Some nurseries have crossed silver maples with red maples to produce more color. These hybrids are also toxic to horses. Check with your nurseryman to make sure you are planting true silver maples!

Buckwheat
Buckwheat contains a pigment called fagopyrin, which when ingested by the horse, causes photosensitive dermatitis. Symptoms include a weepy, itching dermatitis in those areas exposed to sunlight.

Alsike Clover
Hormones in this plant can cause photosensitization of the skin and hypertrophy of the liver (big liver disease). Visible symptoms include increased sensitivity of the skin (especially the nose and lips) to sunlight.

Rhododendrons and relatives
These plants, along with azaleas, laurels and mountain pieris contain grayanotoxin. Symptoms include an excess of green, frothy salivation which is generally associated with gastrointestinal irritation and colic.

Potato and Tobacco Leaf Poisoning
Nicotine and its related compounds are toxic to horses. The stems and leaves of many types of potato plants contain high concentrations of this alkaloid, as do the wild varieties of tobacco which grow in the western United States and Hawaii. Horses have also been known to be poisoned by domestic tobacco which has been harvested and within their reach, typically when stored in barns where they are stabled.
Nicotine affects the autonomic nervous system. In minor cases the horse may shake, shiver or twitch, particularly around the neck and shoulders. As the symptoms advance, staggering, prostration and paralysis may be evident. The heart may beat violently but produce a weak, rapid pulse. The horse may show an elevated temperature, yet the extremities will feel cold. Sometimes colic and / or labored breathing may be present.
Severe cases will usually produce a rapid onset of symptoms, followed a few minutes later by death, although some horses have been known to struggle with nicotine effects for up to several days. There is no known treatment for nicotine poisoning.

From the author:
Roger Bourdon has written a book on Introduction To Horsebackriding and Horse's Health. (Article Adapted by All About Horses)

Learn All About Horses Here:

• Learn Horse Training Breaking Secrets. Five Horseback Riding Video Lessons Teach Natural Riding Without Bouncing, Safely Controlling Your Horse And Riding Bareback And Bridleless.

• Learn To Grow Gorgeous Horses! Now You Too Can Grow Long, Thick, Luxurious Horse Manes and Tails and Make Any Horse Stunningly Gorgeous Amazingly Fast!

• The Ultimate Guide To Pampering Your Horse provides a gold mine of ideas and inspiration. "For grooming, bathing, and hoof-care suggestions to homemade treats, toys, parties, games (and even costumes!) You'll find step-by-step directions for guaranteed horse-pleasers such as: Slop and Slurp Delight, Homemade Bug-Be-Gone, Edible Christmas Wreath, Mad Hatter Birthday Party and much more!
  

• Think your horse has laminitis? You need to know or at worst your horse could die! Treatment for both Laminitis and Founder are both explored in the content of this one of a kind e-book Liminitis And Founder Exposed

Horses Health - Do Horses Need A Dentist Too?

Horses Health Issues Matter.

Next Time You Go To The Dentist Make An Appointment For The Horse Too! Horse dental problems can lead to major health problems yet some owners never think to get a proper dental inspection carried out. We may be able to wear dentures if our teeth fall out, but what can horses do?

The expected life span of a horse or pony is approximately twenty to thirty years. Although according to the Guinness Book of Records Old Billy believed to a Cleveland Bay, cross-eastern horse, foaled in 1760 and lived to the incredible age of 62. Now by then, even with regular dentistry, most of us would have lost some of our teeth. So how can we help our horses to keep their teeth into old age?

Horses' teeth grow continuously until some time between the ages of 25 and 30. Grass, their natural food, contains silica which is an abrasive and which constantly wears down the horse's teeth. The fibers of heavier grasses require a bit of grinding on the part of the horse. Additionally the horse reaches down to bite off grass and then raises his head to chew which changes his jaw position constantly. A horse living on natural grass will be more likely to naturally polish off the surfaces of his molars into a level. Thus, the horse's mouth and teeth are pretty well adapted to his natural diet.

In order to efficiently grind their food, horses' upper molars are spaced a little farther apart than their lower teeth. While important in the wild, this offset can produce problems in the domestic horse. Horses on alfalfa and less fibrous feeds tend to chew less and their food is generally less abrasive. This being the case there will be surfaces which do not get polished off evenly. Raised edges may appear along the molars; typically along the outside of the upper set and the inside of the lower set. When these "unground surfaces”, get large the horse cannot rock his lower jaw laterally as he chews due to his teeth being locked between the opposing ridges. Thus, the problem gets worse; the ridges slowly appear larger as they are no longer being worn down, and as the horse rubs these ridges when chewing, he's actually wearing down the sides of these ridges into sharp points. He’s in the typical catch 22 situation.

Regular dental care is not only essential for dealing with problems like this, it helps them chew and digest their food and they are more likely to be happy with the bit in their mouth. A Horses Health depend on it.

What kind of dental problems do they get?

Signs of possible dental problems that may also be signs of other illness are as follows.

• Lack of appetite or reluctance to eat
• Drooling saliva – or a discharge from the mouth or nose
• Sores and swellings around the mouth
• Pain or swellings in the throat and along the jaw-line
• Really bad smelling breath
• Loss of body condition

If there is a dental problem when eating you might see:

• Chewing more slowly than normal or on one side of the mouth only
• Spilling food from the mouth or deliberately dropping (quidding) balls of partially chewed food
• Sores and swellings around the mouth
• Swellings along the jaw-line or cheeks

If his mouth is hurting while you are riding you may see:

• Aggression or reluctance to be bridled
• Resisting the bit
• Head shaking
• Reluctance to move forward
• Rearing or bolting

Therefore, what can you do?

Horses Health -Yearly Dental Check up

The teeth of adult horses should receive routine professional attention at least once per year, even if you cannot actually see anything wrong. As I said in the title – when you book your own check up with the dentist book one for the horse as well.

Younger horses like young children, require more frequent dental inspections, to ensure that the adult teeth come down properly, and to confirm that the milk teeth have been lost successfully. If he’s still hanging on to some of them waiting for the tooth fairy to arrive, he may need help to deal with this.

As we get older we all need more frequent dental inspections. Older horses are more prone to dental problems and may suffer from loose or damaged teeth, decay or infections from trapped food. Like any animal, bad breath is a good sign of this. If you want them to keep their teeth into old age you’ll have to help them along a bit. Let’s face it; toothache is bad enough for us let alone an animal that can’t tell you why he’s in such a bad mood.


This article was written By Roger Bourdon, Author of e-book Introduction To Horsebackriding
(Adapted by All About Horses)

What You Really Need To Know To Feel Safe And Confident The First Time You Sit In The Saddle……

If you are just starting out with horseback riding, you want to focus on the information you need to get you in the saddle and to keep you there safely as you ride. And let's face it, when we are learning something new it is so difficult to take in all the information we are given verbally. If you have it written down, and can read it through several times before you get to the first lesson, how much better would that make you feel? Wouldn’t it be great to be able to take what the Instructor is saying because it is familiar to you – so that you can concentrate on staying in the saddle.

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• Learn To Grow Gorgeous Horses! Now You Too Can Grow Long, Thick, Luxurious Horse Manes and Tails and Make Any Horse Stunningly Gorgeous Amazingly Fast!

• The Ultimate Guide To Pampering Your Horse provides a gold mine of ideas and inspiration. "For grooming, bathing, and hoof-care suggestions to homemade treats, toys, parties, games (and even costumes!) You'll find step-by-step directions for guaranteed horse-pleasers such as: Slop and Slurp Delight, Homemade Bug-Be-Gone, Edible Christmas Wreath, Mad Hatter Birthday Party and much more!
  

Horses Health - Diarrhea

A Horses Health Rely On Their Surroundings

They say you are what you eat and that is equally true of your horse. Horses rely on their surroundings and of course you for their food and supplements to keep them healthy. The task of any person who designs a horse feed is to ensure the feed contains enough energy to maintain body weight under conditions of work load for the horses health. Mare and Foal Horse Feed is formulated on the belief that successful development begins in the womb. For that, special horse feed is needed. To do so, horse feed is measured by weight, not volume. Good horse feed is not laden with exotic weed seed. Although commercially prepared horse feed is heat-treated and represents a safe source of feed.

Good quality forage should make up most of your horses health diet, as they rely on it for a healthy digestive tract. Most people’s idea of a perfect pasture is a smooth even green grassland. Grass is at its richest in the Spring when the protein content can be as high as 28% with an equally high energy content. Whilst the sugar content is good for mares with foals, it is generally too rich for other horses.

Until hay was introduced, horses were largely used only in the parts of the world where grass was available all year round. An important feature of hay is the amount of water associated with it in the digestive tract. For every kilo of hay eaten, around 3kg of water is bound with it. This occurs as a result of the chewing and mixing of the forage particles with saliva and digestive secretions, that is not then easily released for absorption.

Your horse's digestive system was designed to take frequent meals and in very small amounts. That's why horses in the wild seldom get diarrhea as they graze on whatever forage they find in the open country.

While good body condition does not automatically equal good teeth, good teeth will mean a more efficient horse. Because of the unique anatomy of horses' teeth, they do not get dental caries for the same reason humans or dogs do, so their teeth should be regularly examined, at a minimum, once a year. Horse's teeth are vital to effective digestion and the horses health as they grind up their food, form it into a ball (called a 'bolus'), and swallow it for digestion.

But if your horse has bad teeth, he can't grind his food finely enough. So when it reaches his intestines, it can't just slide on through. Instead, it irritates the walls of his intestines, causing a low grade inflammation, which is a cause of horse diarrhea.

That's why you see so many older horses with this problem. They've ground their teeth down so much over the years that they can't digest their food the way they used to.

So you need to get your vet to “float” your horse's teeth, which is a process whereby he files off the sharp enamel points from the outer edges of the upper cheek teeth and then he files off the inner edges of the lower cheek teeth.

All of this results in better contact between the upper and lower sets of teeth which enables your horse to grind his food properly, leaving less chance for his intestines to become irritated.

This article was written By Roger Bourdon, Author of e-book Introduction To Horsebackriding
(Adapted by All About Horses blog)

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• The Ultimate Guide To Pampering Your Horse provides a gold mine of ideas and inspiration. "For grooming, bathing, and hoof-care suggestions to homemade treats, toys, parties, games (and even costumes!) You'll find step-by-step directions for guaranteed horse-pleasers such as: Slop and Slurp Delight, Homemade Bug-Be-Gone, Edible Christmas Wreath, Mad Hatter Birthday Party and much more!
  

• Think your horse has laminitis? You need to know or at worst your horse could die! Treatment for both Laminitis and Founder are both explored in the content of this one of a kind e-book Liminitis And Founder Exposed

Horse Training Secrets Revealed - Part 4

HOW TO RIDE THE COLT

When you want him to start do not touch him on the side with your heel or do anything to frighten him and make him jump. But speak to him kindly, and if he does not start pull him a little to the left until he starts, and then let him walk off slowly with the reins loose.

Walk him around in the stable a few times until he gets used to the bit, and you can turn him about in every direction and stop him as you please. It would be well to get on and off a good many times until he gets perfectly used to it before you take him out of the stable.

After you have trained him in this way, which should not take you more than one or two hours, you can ride him any where you choose without ever having him jump or make any effort to throw you.

When you first take him out of the stable be very gentle with him, as he will feel a little more at liberty to jump or run, and be a little easier frightened than he was while in the stable. But after handling him so much in the stable he will be pretty well broke, and you will be able to manage him without trouble or danger.

When you first mount him take the shortest hold on the left rein, so that if any thing frightens him you can prevent him jumping by pulling his head around to you. This operation of pulling a horse's head around against his side will prevent any horse from jumping ahead, rearing up, or running away.

If he is stubborn and will not go you can make him move by pulling his head around to one side, when whipping would have no effect. And turning him around a few times will make him dizzy, and then by letting him have his head straight, and giving him a little touch with the whip, he will go along without any trouble.

The author then goes on to talk about martingales and why you should never use them when you first ride a horse, when they can be useful also, importantly, he tells you when you must end the early rides and why. Find out all this and more - just order now for immediate download. Order today and get 3 free bonuses. Bonus 1 includes How To Choose A Healthy Horse.

How to Choose a Healthy Horse - this bonus gift is worth $29, and free when you grab your copy of Horse Secrets Revealed today, provides the guidelines for a thorough exam of a horse to ensure you choose the best animal available.

It takes into consideration common faults of conformation, common unsoundnesses that impair a horse's usefulness and serious faults of temperament or training.

The book is illustrated with valuable photographs and diagrams and guides you through the examination in a logical sequence.

Here's a sample of what you'll discover inside:

How to spot stable vices and other vices that mean you should look for a different animal.

Indications of normal health in the horse which allows you to choose the best of the bunch.

Indications of desirable temperament that mean you'll go home with a happy and well adjusted horse.

How to tell a horse's age by its teeth so you know just what you are getting - with step by step photos included.

How the muzzle can indicate a possible lack of vigor or the presence of a bad habit.

How to test a horse's eyesight. If you see a certain behavior you should suspect blindness or a bad temperament (and THIS has nothing to do with the eyes).

The type of tail that indicates spirit and vigor in the horses that you are looking at.

How to check for all manner of diseases - both common and not so common so you can be sure your horse is healthy.

And so much more!

If you want to get the best, healthiest, most suitable horse for you, then take this book with you and you'll have a step by step, systematic approach that will ensure you choose the best horse available!

Otherwise, part 5 we’ll be looking at “How to Make a Horse Follow You” where you'll learn the author's method for having a horse "follow you about the stable" " in twenty or thirty minutes."

Take care and I'll see you then, Craig

Extracted from the ebook How to Tame and Train Wild and Vicious Horses (part 4)
© Copyright trainwildhorses 2005, All rights reserved.

Learn All About Horses Here:

• Learn Horse Training Breaking Secrets. Five Horseback Riding Video Lessons Teach Natural Riding Without Bouncing, Safely Controlling Your Horse And Riding Bareback And Bridleless.
• Learn To Grow Gorgeous Horses! Now You Too Can Grow Long, Thick, Luxurious Horse Manes and Tails and Make Any Horse Stunningly Gorgeous Amazingly Fast!

• The Ultimate Guide To Pampering Your Horse provides a gold mine of ideas and inspiration. "For grooming, bathing, and hoof-care suggestions to homemade treats, toys, parties, games (and even costumes!) You'll find step-by-step directions for guaranteed horse-pleasers such as: Slop and Slurp Delight, Homemade Bug-Be-Gone, Edible Christmas Wreath, Mad Hatter Birthday Party and much more!

• Think your horse has laminitis? You need to know or at worst your horse could die! Treatment for both Laminitis and Founder are both explored in the content of this one of a kind e-book Liminitis And Founder Exposed

Do You Use Treats For Horses When Training Them?

Something I have been wanting to get in a discussion with other horse owners is how they use treats for horses. What I am getting at is do you utilize treats in your training? I think a lot of people are inclined to do this because that is how many people train dogs to do things (at least at first). You get a dog to sit and then give him a treat. Later after he is learned the behavior then maybe you aren’t using treats anymore.

So the other day I was taping Eric at a lesson. He is against using treats for horses. He made a remark that stuck with me, which was that the alpha mare or stud in a wild herd of horses doesn’t use treats for horses to do what they want (obviously). So how do they get the horses to do what they want? By using body language. Eric’s training methods are pretty much based on teaching people how to utilize body language to communicate with their horses.

I often see people using treats for horse in an attempt to calm them in a stressful situation. For instance, I have seen people standing their with a bucket of treats when a difficult horse is getting his feet trimmed. They sit there continually feeding the horse treats hoping it won’t kick the farrier or freak out.

Eric Bravo says this ends up teaching the horse to be nervous. In other words the horse is in a state where he is acting all wiggy and here we are giving him treats. Does the horse think of this as telling him that he is supposed to behave that way?

One thing I can say is that the behavior of my horses has improved a lot since I have cut back on the treats. I haven’t eliminated them entirely. I mean I love my horses and life is short so why not give them something they enjoy. But what I do is give them treats either in neutral situations (like grooming) or after they have performed work. So I won’t give treats for horses o perform some groundwork task correctly, but I will give him a treat when we are completely done and I’ve walked him back to the pasture.

I have found that the horses are not as pushy as they used to be. So try cutting back on the treats with your horses.

These horse training ground tips and stories come from Eric Bravo and his horse trainers who offer natural horsemanship training at Gentle Horse Training. He has a set Of 7 Horse Training Videos That Teach You How To Train Horses Yourself Using Natural Horsemanship Techniques.

Learn More All About Horses Here:

• Learn Horse Training Breaking Secrets. Five Horseback Riding Video Lessons Teach Natural Riding Without Bouncing, Safely Controlling Your Horse And Riding Bareback And Bridleless.
• Learn To Grow Gorgeous Horses! Now You Too Can Grow Long, Thick, Luxurious Horse Manes and Tails and Make Any Horse Stunningly Gorgeous Amazingly Fast!

• The Ultimate Guide To Pampering Your Horse provides a gold mine of ideas and inspiration. "For grooming, bathing, and hoof-care suggestions to homemade treats, toys, parties, games (and even costumes!) You'll find step-by-step directions for guaranteed horse-pleasers such as: Slop and Slurp Delight, Homemade Bug-Be-Gone, Edible Christmas Wreath, Mad Hatter Birthday Party and much more!

• The Original Book of Horse Treats offers fun treat for horses. Recipes you can make at home for your Horse. Stuffed molasse apples, birthday cones, soups snacks, desserts and much more fun horsey food! All tried and true at the barn! Also includes a section on bran mashes, hoof oil, fly spray, and electrolytes!
  
  

Controlling Horse Feet

Insert from Eric Bravo - advice from a Horse Expert

The other day I was watching a lady working with her horse. She was asking the horse to backup. So she is standing there shaking the rope, and the horse was taking a couple of steps backwards. But at the same time, the lady was walking toward the horse. Basically, the distance between the lady and the horse was always the same.

First we remind ourselves that the dominant members of the herd move the other horses around. So in order to attain our objective of establishing leadership with a horse, something we have to pay attention to is getting him to move his feet. As I’ve mentioned before, working a horse in a round-pen or using backing-up exercises are good horse training techniques we can use to do this.

But we also have to pay attention to our own feet. That lady I saw was not getting all she could out of her groundwork. Sure the horse was backing up, but she was moving around too. That may not communicate leadership to the horse very effectively. Also its a missed opportunity. One part of using backing up in horse training is to get your horse used to the idea that you can put some space between you and her if necessary. You might need to do this for personal safety someday, but if your horse is a problem because he’s one foot away and you back him up while walking towards him, and you’re still one foot away, you haven’t solved the problem.

Another example. Something I see all the time is how horses subtly get their handlers to move their feet. People are not paying attention to this and are barely, if at all, aware its happening. Maybe two people will be standing there talking, one of them holding a horse on the lead rope. The horse will start nudging at the person, maybe looking for a treat in their pocket or something.

Then what happens next, is instinctively feeling some discomfort because the horse is too close, they step out of the way.

What people often don’t realize is that by taking that step out of the way of the horse, the horse has got one up on you. He’s gotten you to move your feet-making him, not you, the leader. He may take this to heart and give you problems later with “bad horse behavior”. Later on, that horse might run off when he feels like it (when you’re on his back), crowd you in the barn, kick at your, or do who knows what else. Part of horse training is being aware of subtle cues in body language that horses recognize instantly.

The correct thing to do when a horse gets too close is to back them up out of your space without you giving an inch. Unless your safety is in immediate danger, like a horse is reared up and about to stomp on you, don’t give an inch. Stand your ground and make the horse move his feet, without you moving yours.

Discover Amazing Horse Training Secrets That Will Let You Handle Horses Like A Gifted Pro-No Matter What Your Skill Level or Previous Experience!

Learn More All About Horses Here:

• Learn Horse Training Breaking Secrets. Five Horseback Riding Video Lessons Teach Natural Riding Without Bouncing, Safely Controlling Your Horse And Riding Bareback And Bridleless.
• Learn To Grow Gorgeous Horses! Now You Too Can Grow Long, Thick, Luxurious Horse Manes and Tails and Make Any Horse Stunningly Gorgeous Amazingly Fast!

Dealing With An Aggressive Horse Behavior

I’ve noticed that a lot of people have problems dealing with an aggressive horse or a dominant horse. Often, because people don’t really understand horse behavior, they aren’t sure what’s going on. This problem arises because of the predator-prey difference in our relationship with horses. Being prey animals, horse behavior can be hard for us to truthfully understand at times.

One way to get a handle on aggressive horse behavior is to go out into a pasture where there are several horses and just watch them. Find out who the dominant horse is. Something you’ll probably notice is that a dominant horse moves the other horses around. Sometimes, a dominant horse will make a more submissive horse move out of the way just to show whose boss. He might do this by motioning to bite or kick at the more submissive horse, or even actually doing it. Its hard to believe for some people who are new to horse life, but horses can be very aggressive and mean with each other.

At other times, the dominant horse moves other horses out of the way for a practical purpose, while also showing that he is boss. For instance, if there is a large hay stack, he might make a horse move out of the way so he can eat. If horses in a pasture are fed in bowls with grain, the dominant horse will eat first and make the other horses move off so she can do it.

In the wild, the dominant aggessive horse will decide when and where the herd will go. Once again, this involves getting the horses to move. They do this with body language.

Getting insight into this can help humans who own their own aggressive horse to deal with aggressive horse behavior that arises from dominance issues. One of the first things we need to teach our horses is never to invade our space. All too often, people let their horses pester them by invading their space, maybe the horse appears to be looking for treats or something. People think its cute, but the horse might actually be testing you to see where you stand in the hierarchy.

To deal with dominant aggressive horses, we can act to turn negative situations into positive situations. One way to do this is start moving an aggressive horse behavior around instead of letting her move you around.

Lets say that you are going out into the pasture where you have an aggressive horse. Give yourself a leg up and add some confidence by always taking a tool with you. This can be a crop or a lead rope, just something you can use to make yourself look bigger and put some pressure on a horse with.

If a horse comes at you, take the end of the lead rope and whip it around like a helicopter blade. Don’t be afraid to smack the nose of an aggressive horse with the end of your lead rope. This can be really helpful. I know I used to be intimidated by aggressive horses, and being able to swing a lead rope or whip in the air was really helpful in giving me the confidence I needed to keep a horse from chasing me out of a field.

Something else you can use is kick dirt at the aggressive horse and make a hissing sound like a snake or just say “psssst” as you do it. When an aggressive horse behavior comes at you or won’t move off, assume a confident stance with your body language. Then look down at the ground toward your right foot, and kick some dirt toward the horse. While you are doing this make the “ssss” sound (think snake). This is pretty effective at getting horses to move off. And remember horses will have a tendency to yield to you, even if they are aggressive or dominant-provided that you show them you are not intimidated.

Step two is to start doing some groundwork with this horse to let the horse know YOU are in charge and the mare IS NOT. To do this, you need to start using your body language to communicate to the mare in horse language, which means body language, that you are in charge. Can you catch this mare? If so catch her and put a lead rope on and perform these simple leading exercises:

Leading Exercises

The idea of this exercise is to lead your horse using body language that communicates leadership and teaches the horse to respect you. I know we all want to bond with our horses, but you cannot really bond completely until the horse respects you. Its just like human friends. Can you really be friends with someone you don’t respect? Your horse needs to respect you.

A good exercise is to start every day with a groundwork session that begins with the hook-on:

Horse Hook-On in the Round Pen

That will go a long way to teaching your horse to respect you as a leader and make your horse easier to catch (if that is an issue with you).

Now, a great way to deal with a dominant aggressive horse is to give them more than their share of backup exercises. Horses do not like to back up because of instinct. They are prey animals, and even though they are domesticated and live in more or less safe environments, their instincts have them on the look out for lions and tigers all the time. So walking backwards where they can’t see makes them uncomfortable as a general rule. But the alpha mare can certainly ask them to backup. So assume the role of alpha mare and put a lead rope on your horse and ask her to backup. If she doesn’t listen shake the rope aggressively. Spend 20 minutes a day doing this until her behavior improves. Its easy for you do do and produces results.

Also, take some time out to do other exercises that just involve moving the horse around. Remember as I said the dominant horse gets other horses to move off. So you do that to your mare. Make her move her forehand left, then right. Then ask her to disengage her hindquarters. Then repeat. This is all tedious, but it will get your horse to respect you so that she will not chase you out of the field. A horse that chases you around like that does NOT respect you. And would you want to ride that horse? Probably not a safe idea.

Learn More All About Horses Here:

• Learn Horse Training Breaking Secrets. Five Horseback Riding Video Lessons Teach Natural Riding Without Bouncing, Safely Controlling Your Horse And Riding Bareback And Bridleless.
• Learn To Grow Gorgeous Horses! Now You Too Can Grow Long, Thick, Luxurious Horse Manes and Tails and Make Any Horse Stunningly Gorgeous Amazingly Fast!

Dealing with Horse Bites

One day when I was quite new to horses I was feeding treats to a horse I really liked named Cowboy. I had been told to hold your hand out flat, and I was pretty much doing that. I gave him a couple of treats. Then I reached up to give him a pet on the nose, and he clamped down on my fingers.

Let me tell you horse bites hurt! It was like having a stainless steel vise come down on your hand. Even worse-there seemed no way to get him to open his mouth-it was clamped down solid on my fingers. He was looking for a treat and would have swallowed my hand if he could. I risked serious injury-a broken bone or two at least, if I couldn’t get out of the situation. So instead of petting him on the nose I basically punched him and he let go.

I felt bad about hitting him but wasn’t sure what to do in a situation like that. A similar event happened to a friend of mine at the same horse ranch. She was visiting with her horses and another one came by and when she had her hand out, the attention-seeking mare bit down on it. This time, bones were broken and the woman had to be taken in for surgery, and no doubt a long recovery period with those kind of horse bites.

A horse bites for many reasons. They may bite looking for a treat, or they may bite as a means of establishing dominance. I happen to have my horses at a relatively large facility with 60+ horses in residence. That’s a lot of horses, and its a great opportunity to observe horse behavior. They have groups of horses living together in open pastures, maybe 5-7 horses in each one. The horses have large hay bails where they can graze all day long. What is nice about this is you can watch the horses behave in natural horse fashion, because they basically form a herd with a hierarchy and aren’t confined in an artificial barn situation where they need to be “turned out”.

One thing you find is that in some of the groups, a lot of biting goes on. This is where there is a lot of jostling to find out who is the head honcho. Horses bite and kick at each other all the time, and they have the scars to prove it. This isn’t a good or bad thing, its just the way horses behave, although in an extreme situation you might want to move a victim to a different living situation.

So while a horse may bite because of the occasional mistake of looking for a carrot, more often than not a horse is biting because they are asserting dominance. If your horse bites you, it is not something you can accept under any circumstances. A firm, immediate response is required. Remember that horses live a lot more in the moment than we do, so you can’t give a firm response 20 minutes later and expect the horse to understand. It has to be immediate. You don’t have to punch the horse, the only reason I did that was he was about to break my fingers off. Hopefully you will have a tool at your disposal like a whip or lead rope (now I never go around horses without one). One thing you can do is firmly make the horse back up out of your space if he tries to bite you. Dominant horses make the other horses move their feet, so if a horse tries to bite you-get him out of your personal space and make him move his feet. Asking for a backup (FIRMLY!) is a great way to do this.

Of course why do horses bite? Its important to establish leadership and respect with good horse training so that this doesn’t happen in the first place. That is done with good groundwork training-so invest time in your groundwork so that your horse respects your personal space, and doesn’t try to assert dominance by doing things like biting.

Learn More All About Horses Here:

• Learn Horse Training Breaking Secrets. Five Horseback Riding Video Lessons Teach Natural Riding Without Bouncing, Safely Controlling Your Horse And Riding Bareback And Bridleless.
• Learn To Grow Gorgeous Horses! Now You Too Can Grow Long, Thick, Luxurious Horse Manes and Tails and Make Any Horse Stunningly Gorgeous Amazingly Fast!

Making a Bad Horse’s Behavior Your Idea During Horse Training

One of the best ways a horse owner can eliminate an unwanted horse's behavior is to make it your idea. At first thought, this might not make a lot of sense. But as you move along in your horse training you’re going to find out that using reverse psychology works very well when training horses. So when a horse does something you don’t want, steal the thought from him and make it look like you’re asking him to do it. Pretty soon the horse is going to loose interest in the bad behavior. When he thinks its your idea, then he’s going to want to NOT do it anymore. Let’s see how you can apply this technique to some common horse problems.

1.Your Horse Drags on the Lead line
You’ve seen it a thousand times. You or someone else is walking a horse through the arena on a halter and lead and the horse is walking along, but is just a tad slow causing the lead line to drag. The person walking the horse responds by trying to pull the horse forward or making the horse shift his weight to the side. Those methods might work in the short term (well provided you can win a tug-of-war match with a horse) but they aren’t going to teach the horse anything. To permanently eliminate the horse's behavior you want to steal the idea and make it your own, and get the horse to put more energy into the unwanted behavior. Why does this work? Horses are lazy. They want to put minimal energy into anything so by putting them in a position where they have to put more energy into an unwanted behavior, its going to loose its appeal.

OK so you’re leading a horse along and he’s dragging on the rope. Where is the horse putting his energy? He is thinking BACKWARDS. So instead of trying to pull on the rope or egg him forward, turn around and wiggle the rope side to side vigorously and ask him to back up. If you’re firm, the horse is going to have to back up. So now we’ve taken his idea, directing energy backwards, and made it our own. Then we’ve multiplied it, taken the amount of energy in going backwards up two or three notches. You think the horse is going to like this? No he ain’t. Do this a few times and see how much your horse drags while leading.

2.You can’t Catch your horse
You walk out into a field with a halter and lead line. Your horse lets you get within say ten feet, takes one look at you and takes off. Feeling frustrated, you go get a bucket of grain or some carrots and beg your horse to come to you. Or you chase your horse around like a mad fool.

There is a better way. The thought we want to steal in this case is being separated. The horse is blowing you off like someone you wanted to date in high school that thought you were a dweeb, but deep down they wanted to go out with you. We’re going to do the same thing that works in dating. We’re going to turn the tables and blow the horse off. Instead of heading out with a bucket of treats, just go out with your halter and lead line. Walk towards your horse. When you get the first indication he is going to move off, you turn around and walk away. So we’ve taken his thought-wanting to be apart from you, and made it our own by showing him we are going to decide to be apart from him first. Do this a few times and you’re going to find you can get a lot closer to your horse and suddenly he is going to find your company more desirable. Note: It takes some skill to move away from the horse at the right moment, so be patient and practice.

3.Your Horse Won’t Lower His Head
Asking a horse to lower his head is a great way to teach the horse to enter a more relaxed state on command. Step to the left side of the horse, and place your left hand at the point where the lead line is connected to the halter, and place your right hand on top of your horse’s head. Pull down with your left hand and apply pressure with your right hand. When he lowers his head below the poll, release the pressure and let him relax. The first time you do this, your horse might resist. If he is resisting, you will feel the resistance as pressure against your right hand. So where is he directing his energy? Once again, backwards. So turn his thought into yours and ask him to back up 4 or 5 steps. This puts an energy cost in for the horse each time he resists.

4. Your Horse won’t give you his feet.
You pick up the foot of your horse, and he fights to put it down. This time we are going to steal his thought and make the idea of putting his foot down our own. The first step is to pick up the foot of your horse and find out exactly how long he will let you hold his foot and make a mental note of it. Suppose its two seconds. You find this out by counting one-one thousand, two-one thousand and then your horse starts struggling. That’s not enough time to clean his feet, much less trim them. To get him to allow us to hold his foot any length of time we want we’re going to apply the reverse psychology technique and make putting the foot down our idea.

Start by holding the foot for only 1 second. Pick it up, hold it, even stroke his lower leg, then put the foot down assertively so that he knows you decided to put it down. Do this a few times, and then add an additional second. After several tries he is going to be pretty comfortable letting you hold his feet for 2-3 seconds. So then push it to 4 seconds. But each time you decide to put the foot down, you do it (don’t let him) and you do it assertively, maybe even with some slightly exaggerated motion. The idea is to do it so that its your idea to put the foot down. Soon enough, your horse will be letting you handle his feet for as long as you like.

5.Your horse Puts his front feet in the trailer, but won’t go any further
If your horse won’t get in a trailer, steal his thought by asking him to get out of the trailer. Like catching, you’re going to have to learn to read your horse and sense his muscle movements so you know he is about to make a move to back out of the trailer, or start showing signs of discomfort. At the instant he does, then ask him to back out of the trailer.

6.You are leading your horse and ask him to stop, but he takes one or two extra steps
If your bad horse's behavior doesn’t stop right away, use psychology to convince him that he isn’t really the one looking to take the extra steps. Watch him closely and match your steps with his. Then ask for a stop, and as he begins to take those extra steps, you do it with him. After seeing this a few times your horse is going to think you’ve gotten wacky and you’re the one asking for the extra steps. At that point he will stop taking extra steps when you ask him to stop.

These six scenarios may represent different situations with a horse, but we used the same basic approach to solving each problem. Steal a thought from your horse and make it your own. This simple idea will eliminate just about any bad horse's behavior.

Learn More All About Horses Here:

• Learn Horse Training Breaking Secrets. Five Horseback Riding Video Lessons Teach Natural Riding Without Bouncing, Safely Controlling Your Horse And Riding Bareback And Bridleless.
• Learn To Grow Gorgeous Horses! Now You Too Can Grow Long, Thick, Luxurious Horse Manes and Tails and Make Any Horse Stunningly Gorgeous Amazingly Fast!
  

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Horse Training Breaking Secrets Revealed

With several days past and no headway with Bo in my horse training breaking, I was frustrated and beginning to think nothing would ever work -- until a conversation with my Grandfather changed my life forever.

After sharing my problems with him, he recommended that I look for an old book... he said that if I could find it, my problems would be solved.

My first reaction was to scour the Internet, but to no avail... this was apparently not something that I could just pick up at Amazon...

Next, I went down to the library, thinking that surely I could pick up a copy there. Again, no such luck as they had NO copies of this book anywhere.

I was beginning to think it a lost cause -- considering perhaps bringing in another trainer for the horse training breaking with Bo when I happened upon a vintage bookstore in town.

I figured it couldn't hurt to check it out... and there it was... I had struck gold... in their collection of old and rare books, I found the book with the very long title about training horses...

And no wonder I couldn't find it anywhere else - it was printed way back in the 1800's...

Curious, I began to read...

A couple of hours later when I'd finished the whole thing I realized that I'd stumbled across a book that was EXTREMELY valuable to anyone and everyone who works with horses!

Now you might be asking yourself, "Is this old information really of any use today?"

The answer to that is, "ABSOLUTELY YES!" You see, this book is from a time when the relationship between man and horse was MUCH closer than it is today. A time before the domination of the motorized vehicle.

A time when lives, yours or your loved ones, depended on a good, reliable and well trained horse. Now, a lot of things may have changed since the 1800's but a horse is still a horse and these old horsemen knew them a lot more intimately than we do today.

They had to because lives and livelihoods depended on it! I'd bet that those old timers knew more than most of today's 'experts' put together!

If you work with horses in anyway, especially horse training breaking read more about my findings at Training Wild Horses.