Stable Life

7 Common Mistakes Horse Owners Make

April 14, 2018 . by Cowgirls In Style . 0

Stop Bad Habits From Forming

Many serious, and potentially dangerous bad habits in horses started as little annoying habits. Stopping bad habits forming is easier than fixing them when they become serious problems. Here are two of the six problems. You can read more in our current issue of Cowgirls In Style Magazine.

#1

Not teaching the horse to lead. It is surprising how many problems people have handling a horse properly. Generally you will find a horse that is hard to do anything with on the ground (grooming, loading into floats, etc) comes back to either the horse was never taught to lead properly or has been allowed to develop bad habits when leading. The size and strength of a horse makes being taught to lead properly a very important lesson, and one that should be reinforced whenever you handle the horse. Do not let the horse pick up bad habits to start with. Think about the things you do with a horse on the ground… The majority comes back to leading, loading onto a float, in and out of stalls, moving a horse around during grooming, etc. All of these and many more have a basis in leading. If your horse does not lead properly start teaching it today.

#2

Letting a horse move off when mounting. This is a very common error for people to make. It may not sound like a very big problem until you have seen what can happen. Someone is mounting a horse, the stirrup iron or their boot is a bit wet, the horse starts to move off and they slip and end up on the ground and stepped on by the horse.Things like that don’t happen do they? Yes and it has the potential to cause serious injury and even death. Don’t risk it, teach your horse to stand while you are mounting until you give the command to move off.

By: Calum Steel

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