This last week a client and I reevalutated where she stood with her horse. She was concerned that her colt was not respecting her space when leading him around. We took the time to reconnect with the colt. As may happen with others who have multiple people handling a horse there may be different behaviors from the horse. As in our case the colt was not pushy with me but would have different behavior for his owner. We will discuss how this can be overcome.
First, make sure everyone who is handling your horse understands how you want your horse handled. I will have different rules or expectations then the next person. Ultimately we all want horses that anyone can handle without an issue. This will take time and consistent training. When working with your young colt try to limit who is handling the colt. Try to have a year at least of consistent handling. I have seen colts that were going great to only have an inexperienced person have something go wrong.
Second, as you move along with your training and your colt is progressing reaffirm the basics. As a person is able to do more and more with their colt they can forget about the basics. Remember that your colt's foundation needs to be checked. This should take only a few minutes every ride but will help keep them grounded.
Third, use different exercises to check your colt's abilities. I have a dozen different exercises to test my colt's ability to respond to my leg cues. This I will go into later on. Know what your colt is having trouble with and work on that often. Then finish with what your colt is able to easily. This will keep the colt's confidence high and each training session will end with you and your colt happy.
Please post any comments or questions. Next time I will discuss 3 activities that will help you test your colt's abilities. Have fun and spend time with your horse.
No comments:
Post a Comment