Horse Talk, Issue #002 -- Get in Gear

Horse Talk, May 2007

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Horsetrue.com

Its spring or late spring that seems to be the time everyone is gearing up for the horse activities – trail riding, round up clubs, branding & gathering; so I thought I’d throw a few tips at you

Trailer loading is an issue we have yet to get a page up on, but hopefully it will be coming soon. Optimistically your horse loads like a champ. I can promise you though – 30 minutes before the trail ride is not the time to find out. There is nothing worse than catching and saddling your horse at 4:00 am to head to a branding, and he won’t get in the trailer. Its dark – you didn’t have any problems in the fall – why now. That’s when frustration set in, and that can all be avoided.

The best way to take care of this is to stop it before it starts. Practice loading your horse at different times of the day, and in different conditions – whatever you can imagine. Then when you need it, it’s no problem. I have an old buddy who feeds his horses in the trailer every day, and I can tell you, when the trailer doors are open, those horses are going in. Just use a lot of patience, lots of rubbing, don’t make it an issue, and you usually won’t have any problems.

Follow the links below for General tips...
For trail riders and roundup clubs, play days, etc.
For brandings and gatherings

The pages on the website – putting the head down backing up one step at a time, are really important to me. I know a lot of people want some big thing when it comes to horses, but this is such a strong foundation. You really get inside a horses head when he’ll calmly put his head down, back up one step at a time or flex – side to side at the poll. One of the things you’re teaching your horse is to wait on you. It may not sound like much, but it can really make the difference in time. I do this on every horse I ride before I ever put a foot in the stirrup. It helps the horse, helps me and lets me know where the horse is in his mind. Just some thoughts and they’re free.

Be looking for some more new pages coming up this month on backing your horse, trailer loading, hobble breaking and feed time problems. If you have a specific problem in mind that you would like to see a page on, please let us know.

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