Adorable Baby Mini Horse Trots Around

Magic

Handling a Mouthy/ Biting Horse

Mouthy horses are quite common, especially young horses, and especially young geldings. How to handle or correct a mouthy horse is one of the most frequent questions that I am asked.

Biting or "mouthy" behavior can stem from a variety of causes. It can be natural playfulness in a youngster, a warning or display of agression, a sign of frustration, or a learned habit for stopping some activity that the horse does not like (such as tightening a girth).

This past week, as I was spending several days on the island of Molokai, Hawaii, I had the opportunity to work with a young horse named Jelly Bean who was a great example of mouthy behavior.

There are numerous different techniques for correcting mouthy horses, but I feel it mostly boils down to this:

Avoid getting bit

Make biting uncomfortable for the horse

Make it clear to the horse that biting won't get him anywhere - no release of pressure, no opportunities to snatch food or play the "tag, you're it" game

Stay calm and don't take it personally

In this week's video, you can watch how I actually use several of the above tips while working with Jelly Bean. Enjoy!

Find more riding and training videos at www.CRKtrainingblog.com

Sisäänratsastus / Starting a young horse

Selkään nousuihin asti video kuvattu 7. koulutuspäivänä. Käynti ja ravi selästä 10 päivää myöhemmin. Ruohonleikkuriin tutustuminen ensimmäisellä koulutusviikolla.

Until the point I climb on and of the horse, the video has been filmed on the 7th day of training. Walk and trot under rider is filmed 10 days later. Getting used to the lawn mover during first training week.

young horse finds the rhythm troting over poles

Some horses don´t find their natural trot rhythm easliy. Some need help to balance under the weight of the rider.

We start with simple exercises and increase the demands gradually...

See the complete training video and many other training ideas on our website: www.youcanclassic.com

We welcome you to join our horse training community to share ideas and experiences.

3 Keys to Working with a Young Horse

Young horses can be more or less difficult than an older, trained horse depending on how you look at it, and depending on the quality of the training of the older horse.

What I mean by this is that young horses have fresh minds - for the most part they are unspoiled by bad training, and they probably haven't developed negative associations to people or riding, or picked up bad habits that may be annoying or even dangerous. In this way, young horses can be much easier to work with because you don't have to change as many behaviors, you just need to teach them new ones.

On the other hand, young horses have had less interaction, so they are generally not as good at generalizing and figuring out what you want them to do as an older horse who has had, for example, many riders who all give slightly different cues. The older horse has probably learned what people generally want from him and can better offer the right answers, where a young horse may offer all kinds of different behaviors.

With a young horse, I have found I need to be very clear and specific in what I want them to do, and also not get frustrated if they don't get it. There are a few keys to working with a young horse that I like to keep in mind, and today I thought I would share them with you.

Find more riding and training videos at www.CRKtrainingblog.com

Young horse first month under saddle incorporating Philippe Karl legerete training

Young TB/Akal Teke gelding in his first month under saddle. Sessions are kept short to 15-20min. The first goal is to get him used to carrying a rider trustingly and finding his balance and teaching him the leg and rein aids.

Catherine Clinckemaillie Skookumhorse Ranch in Clinton, BC Canada.

www.frenchclassicaldressage.ca

Starting a young horse with Michael Peace part 1.

Placing a saddle upon a horse’s back and girthing it up for the first time can be a frightening experience for a young horse. How you approach this delicate task makes the difference between a horse who is happy to be tacked up in the future and one that is not. Presentation is key and knowing how to help a horse through this important lesson is crucial. Essential milestones such as this in a horse’s training leave very little room for error.