| Here is a session that we did recently which we thought might make a good sample of one of the services we offer for Non-Beginners having trouble with their own horses. Non-Beginner: A 13 year old girl with over three years of riding lessons at the barn she is boarding at. Trouble: Her mother had purchased her her first horse and was watching as the situation with her daughter and this horse grew worse and worse. Her daughter was liking this horse less and less and her mother wanted her to take a few lessons with us, but her daughter said she knew enough to deal with this horse herself. The horse was becoming impossible to groom, saddle, bridle, mount and while she was on him he was starting to buck and bolt. He was fighting every bit that they tried on him and they were starting to talk about selling him. Finally the horse bolted and threw her daughter into a fence and broke the girl's arm. At that point the girl's mother insisted that she let us try to help her out. Below is a step by step evaluation process that we used on this horse and what we did to change the situation. To Start: First we asked the owner to start her usual routine with the horse so that we could see how they interacted together. The owner caught up her horse in the pasture and brought him up to the barn and tied him to the hitching rail. Problem #1: Did not like any of the bits they were using on him. Reason: Since they said they were having so much trouble with bits, the first thing we look for is dental problems. We thought the horse may have still had some wolf teeth. (see definition at left) But it just turned out to be sharp edges that needed to be filed down by floating. (see definition at left) Solution: Have the vet check his mouth for problems. Note: Not all riding lessons include health and wellness education. Most don't go into horse care at all. This was an issue that this horse's owners had never heard of, so they may not have figured this out on their own. Unfortunately unless you specifically ask your vet about them, most won't volunteer the information. Being well read on basic horse care is the best way to remedy this situation. M-Bar-K Farms teaches horse care in their riding lessons for people who are planning on getting their own horse. Problem #2: When the owner started grooming this horse, he started to pin his ears at her, wring and swish his tail. Reason: Further evaluation was necessary Solution: Find out what was causing Problem #2 Problem #3: Horse tried to kick at his owner. Reason: Because he was allowed to get away with Problem #2 which we were still trying to find the reason for. Solution: Find cause of Problem #2 Problem #4 and #5: While we watched the owner try to groom this horse during problem #2 and #3 we spotted Problem #4. This horse was extremely sensitive on his Flanks (See #22 on the horse chart on our Definitions page to see where this is at). And problem #5 The owner was jumping back in fear and avoiding this area altogether. This is what was causing problem #2 and #3 Bingo! Reason: Some horses are just naturally sensitive on areas of their bodies. The owner thought that since her horse was sensitive there she should avoid touching him there. This is a mistake that a lot of horse owners make. They see that their horses don't like something so they avoid it. Unfortunately a lot of people are not trained by professionals, who would teach how to safely deal with horses that don't like something you are doing to them and also to explain the reason why it is so important to do so. Solution: We showed the owner how to work on desensitising this horse's flanks (problem #4). We also looked for other sensitive areas and discovered that he was also sensitive on his ears. Now that we knew what the problem was we showed her how to assert herself and show no fear (in a safe way) solving problem #5 and how to stop his reaction to this sensitivity (ear pinning and tail wringing) which was problem #2. Once Problem #2 was dealt with correctly, that automatically got rid of problem #3 (kicking). (by reading the horses body language, ear pinning and tail ringing and correcting the thought process that was happening, it stopped the kicking since it never got to that point. With horses remember First they think it, Then they do it) Unfortunately most people would have just punished Problem #2 and #3 without finding the cause first which then would have caused the problems to escalate. Problem #6: The owners said that he was really bad about getting saddled and bridled. Tricia saddled him and tightened the girth and took the bridle on and off several times to adjust it right and the horse did not fuss at all. Reason: Problem #4 was solved when Tricia showed the owner how to desensitise the horse's flanks and ears. Since he no longer felt so sensitive there, problem #6 magically went away as well. Solution: See solution to Problem #4 Problem #7: Horse runs backwards very fast when you are trying to mount. Reason: After further evaluations during the lesson we discovered that the owner was wearing pointy toed boots and not mounting this horse smoothly enough which was causing those pointy toes to gig into his flanks every time she got on him. Going back again to problem #4. Solution: Have the owner change her boots to a rounded toe and practice her mounting technique to be more smooth and avoid toeing him in the side. And of course continue with the desensitising. Note: The owners had been backing him into a fence in a futile attempt to stop the backing, but by finding the cause and solution he no longer ran backwards after a few initial mounts by Tricia to help him realize that he was no longer going to be poked in the flanks. Problem #8: Horse was a little crow hoppy/bucky during the first part of riding him. He also bolted a lot. (Bolt means to run away and not stop) Reason: This was a young, energetic horse and he needed to expel some excess energy. Solution: Since the owner was unable to ride out the energy, we showed her how to effectively free lunge him for about ten minutes in the round pen to help with that. Tricia also rode him through a few bucks so that he would learn that it was not going to get him anywhere. We also knew that some of this was also caused from Problem #4 since her heels were going to hit him on the flanks when riding. This problem would go away with desensitising as well. After a few bucks with Tricia it did stop for the rest of the session. Note: The owner said when she tried to lunge this horse in the past someone at her barn came up to her and told her that lunging was bad. Unfortunately well meaning, but ignorant people can give people bad advice which can cause much harm. This is why we always recommend getting a full bio on any trainer that you use to be sure that they are qualified to even be a trainer and also to get references whenever possible. More then likely if this horse had some of the edge off of him he would have been less likely to bolt and maybe the owner wouldn't have broken her arm. Problem #9: Tricia actually noticed this problem while evaluating the owner riding her own horse. The horse was being very hard mouthed. Reason: The owner was not being careful of her hands. While this horse was responding wonderfully to Tricia's gentle asking and release of contact when he was responding (signs of a well trained horse), his owner was being much rougher with her bit commands and not releasing contact when the horse did what he was asked to do. Solution: Tricia explained how the owner was causing the horse to have a hard mouth. She helped the owner learn how to position her hands correctly and coached her on asking, not telling the horse what to do, and also told her how to reward the horse with released contact when he did what he was asked. Note: Again training for the owner is the problem here. She was more then likely given lessons on poorly trained, hard-mouthed, uncooperative lesson horses who she had to have rough hands with in order to get them to do anything. This is a common problem we see as well. When she was given a nicely trained horse she did not know how to adjust her hands properly for his more responsive mouth. Without being trained on a nice horse she did not know that they are dealt with much differently then bad horses. Conclusion: What the owners thought of as a horse that was just being very bad was actually nine problems that were actually only being caused by just a few issues (see summary at left). Over sensitivity on the flanks and ears and rough hands by the owner on a very well trained horse's mouth. This actually solved all of the problems in just two hours. We asked if we could schedule two more lessons to go over again with the rider about how to handle her horse properly to ensure that this won't happen again in the future. Here is an email we received from her mom two days after this first lesson: "Let me first say that Tricia has made a world of difference in (her daughter's) horse after 1 two hour training session. He has been excellent that last two days of riding and handling. We look forward with great anticipation for her training session next week." Thank you." She later wrote us to tell us that they would no longer be listening to unsolicited advice at their barn that was not helping at all and that her daughter was starting to get excited about her future with this horse. Now this is what we love to see! |
| What are Wolf Teeth? Wolf teeth should be removed by the time a horse is two or three years of age, especially before a bit is introduced. Some horses never get them, but the ones who do can suffer a lot of pain from them. They grow on the horses bars (the gaps between it's front teeth and back molars) right where the bit is supposed to sit. The metal from the bit will constantly bang and bump on those teeth, causing constant irritation. |
| What is Floating? Because most horses don't eat with their heads down completely at all times, their teeth have a tendency to wear to a jagged edge, causing uneven wear and tear, loss of food digestibility and eventually loss of the horses' teeth. Floating is when a veterinarian files down the horses' molars in order for there to be even contact between the teeth. There is a lot of misinformation about floating which is unfortunate since it is now attributed to the new longevity in a horses' life. Floating needs to start at weaning, and continue every six months until age 4. A Veterinarian can take off caps and pull wolf teeth to help the horse maintain comfort during it's early learning years. After age 4 then a horse should be floated at least once per year. Horse retirement homes say that horses that were not floated on a regular basis usually have no teeth by age 20. |
| Every Case is Different With hundred's of different problems that horses and owners can be having. Each situation is entirely different then the next. That is one of the reasons we wrote our Problem Solving Page. Usually if an owner has allowed a problem to go on for years, it can not be fixed in just a few hours. That kind of horse may need a 30 day refresher to get straightened out. Some horses were never professionally trained, those are harder to fix since you have to undo the bad training and then build the proper foundational training that should have been there in the first place. Sometimes this can take two to six months. On some occasions we see horses that are so poorly trained and then have been so mishandled that they are really beyond help. We usually see this when someone with virtually little or no horse experience tries to raise and train a foal or young horse themselves without any professional training or guidance. Unfortunately by the time they realize the mistake they have made the damage from mishandling has gone so far that it would take six months to a year to bring the horse back to the type of good horse that he originally had the potential to be. Most times it is not worth the cost or the trouble to the owner, so unfortunately it just never gets done, usually dooming this horse to eventually be sent to slaughter along with the 80,000 other unwanted horses each year in the United States alone. |
| Summary of Conclusion Problem #'s 1, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 all stemmed from the owner not being taught how to effectively evaluate and deal with these problems in her three year education with horses. As well as not having a qualified trainer or instructor available at her barn to help her when she first got her horse, during their transitional first month or two. This is so common that it is considered to be why 80% of people who get their first horse unassisted will get out of horses within one year. Problem #'s 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 were all just basic reactions to Problem #4 |
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Case Study with a Non-Beginner Having Trouble
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