Horses Could Read Our Body Language From Distance

We could not hide anything from them and we could not fool them but they could fool us.

Horses can read our mind from a distance very easily.
If we are 10 people going towards a horse and only 4 out of 10 had an experience with horses the horse could tell from a distance.

If we have a shaky confidence towards horses it will have an immediate effect on horses.

Taking a single step toward a horse the horse could tell that you had experience with horses or not and if the answer is negative the horse would not have confidence on us.

In order to gain Confidence we must give Confidence.

Horses need Confidence More than we need Confidence because they have been FOOD all their life (Over 50 million years) just put our self in their position just imagine for a moment being food for the predator all your life how would we react ?
Actually human was food in the time of Dinosaur.
It is our duty to respect the horse which gives us a ride .
If we could really Respect them from the bottom of our heart we will gain Confidence.
If we could really Honor them we will gain Confidence.
If we could accept them as our Partner we will gain Confidence.
They need Affection , if we show them Affection we will gain Confidence.

We reach into the animals face and want to pet and touch their muzzle (nose). If I reach to someone's face and pet their nose it would be RUDE , THOUGHTLESS and DISRESPECTFUL. We do it to horses all the time . We think because they bring their head down to us to check us out that is OK to pet their nose or face . Or if he/she is sniffing us to investigate and get to know us that are they are all right with us touching their faces. How do we know we are invited or not , most of the time when we want to reach their head they move either sideways or up and down therefore we are not invited . We touch them for us not for them therefore we don't respect them. This is disrespectful to the horse.

Horses Focus on One Thing at a Time.
Horses are either Giving or Receiving Input , but not both at the same time.
I encourage humans to be more like a horse when they are with horses and have Requests rather than Demands.

A good leader doesn't need to DOMINATE.


First we have to listen then if we listen more we understand more and with horses we have to learn and understand more from them in order to gain their respect and confidence.

To improve our ability to listen with our eyes we have to practice listening with our ears because listening itself is a hard work and needs practicing.

The 2nd step is to watch and watch carefully.

Video recording is a great help to watch what our horse is saying and to go over and over and learn .
To learn we have to accept that our horse is telling us the truth , because sometimes they trick us for what they want us to do for them.
Practice working with your horse and learn how they communicate with you and with one and other and practice their movements and behavior that your horse displays.

We have to Earn their Respect in doing so we lower the risk of accident and less accident more confidence , more communication less accident , more understanding our horses less accident .

PH

Mule Has Given Birth !?

This was on the NEWS either CNN or BBC that a Mule has given birth does anyone know anything about this ? These days some things happen which is hard to believe in but I think its true.

The link to BBC for the above story:
This is from 2002 but there was something similar 1 or 2 days ago in the news.
BBC wrote the owner did not know she was pregnant and rode her for for 20 kilometers therefore no one knows who the father is .
Is the father a Horse or is it a Male Donkey ? I am sure the Mother Mule knows . I wish her well and good foals to come in the years ahead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2290491.stm


Visit this one this is the news 2/August/2007 :

http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4277



Visit this if you want to:

Mules for sale
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_6464853

PH

RIDING BLIND and BLINDFOLDED

Different Horses different attitude.

We first start with the riding in the dark for spooking.
I hope some of you have experienced riding at the time when lets say 18:00 will get dark and we started 17:30 and now going towards the darkness , How many have this experience?
As we go towards darkness Horses start to pay more attention to their surrounding's and they panic and spook a lot in that period of time (day and light going to night and dark).

This kind of reaction to the darkness is one of the basic instincts of the Horse from the moment of birth , Why ? Because this is the exact time which the predators start their Hunt and Horse is one of their prey. Therefore we can understand exactly where the panic and spook comes from.

I hope everyone would experience this because you will know what I am talking about in action to experience something for yourself is very much difference to something which I describe , isn't it?
The above is the root of what I am going to talk about in future so please give me your experiences and knowledge on this one , thank you so much.

For those who have not experience this please be very careful because the Horse which you know very well could be something else in these times and you never expect what is going to happen (Western Saddle is very good for these times and spooky Horses and those which panic at the time which I am speaking about why because when the horse panics and jumps side ways you have lot more grip on the saddle especially with your knees and stirrups) and you have lot more chance to stay in the saddle during the spook or panic. And it's the best to give it to someone else to do this part for you if you are new to what I am talking about so please don't go and try because if anything bad happen I will never forgive myself , always be very careful.

Please give me your thoughts so we can move on to other things which concerns the Horse vision , spooking and panicking.
Actually Spook and panic in any kind of living creature uses all the senses and the information from outside especially a Horse which has been food on the predator table from long before (52,000,000 years). In order to survive they have abilities which we don't even know , we pretend to know Horses or any other living creature but actually we don't for example we don't know for sure what colour does the Horse eye recognize and many many other secrets of the nature but now science is helping us to know them better .


The placement and structure of your horse’s eyes is vastly different from a human’s. While we can easily wear glasses to correct poor vision, this isn’t possible for horses.

Also, we are used to a clear field of vision in front of us. Horses, however, have amazing peripheral vision with two blind spots—one directly in front of its nose extending around four feet in front of it, and the other behind the tail, about ten feet long.

When you consider the front blind spot, the abilities of jumping horses seem all the more incredible. The horse loses sight of the obstacle when it is a few feet away and has to rely totally on the rider to tell it when to jump.

Horses also are unable to focus their eyes the way humans and most animals can. Have you ever seen a horse raising and lowering its head as it looks at an object? It does that to adjust the focal length, moving until the object comes into focus on its retina. Also, since the horse’s field of vision doesn’t overlap—the right eye sees what’s happening on the right side of its body, and the same on the left—it’s amazing that the horse isn’t confused all the time by two images that don’t match up at all.

The horse’s eyes also act something like a human’s bifocals. If the horse lowers its head and looks up, gazing through the upper portion of the eye, it can focus on the horizon. However, if it needs to look at something closer, it will raise its head to regard the object through the lower portion of the eye, where it can focus more clearly.

When you see a horse startled by a sudden movement just behind or beside it, its peripheral vision has sighted the movement but it has not yet had time to focus on it. Even when the horse is traveling a familiar path, such as to the stable or pasture, it can be startled by something as small as a paper blowing past.

Horses’ night vision is generally superior to that of humans. Horses have a reflective panel on the retina that helps to gather all available light at night. However, horses have a much lower sense of color than people. While they can distinguish green and blue, a horse’s sight is mostly in shades of gray.


Woman wins in dressage with blind Horse.
http://www.guidehorse.org/news_blind_dressage_horse.htm

Please see this one too:
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s545781.htm

I am glad that you find it interesting I hope everyone who deals with Horses read these and know them better we have to learn until the last day of our life from Horses that is the only IH thing that we could do with Horses the only thing that I call IH is learning from them then bring our experiences from what we have learned from them to action and bring them to action by great deal of patience and PATIENCE and PATIENCE.

To my knowledge those without PATIENCE should not work or have any kind of contact with Horses this is very crucial.

Some people think they know everything (you know who I am talking about) they don't even give the chance to some one to explain what he/she know what are the experiences that he/she has in their life , unfortunately.

I don't like blind folding a Horse.
It's natural the Horse becomes calm so he/she wont do anything wrong and uses the other senses but the calmness is natural actually he/she becomes more careful.


Q - So if it is a natural calm, why do you not like doing it Persianhorse? I only used it once with a horse that had moved to a new yard and wouldn't go in the stable. After trying everything else, we blindfolded her and she went in without a problem.

A - Sometimes I do it similar to your case for example to desensitize the ears.
I did not say I don't like it to use for something similar to your case .
I said it in general I don't like it .

PH

IMPRINT TRAINING, SENSITIZING AND DESENSITIZING

I have to thank Dr. Robert M. Miller D.V.M

Hi to all :
Are these important for the Horses and why?
Are these important for Horse keepers and why?
In what age is the best time for the Horse to do these?
In what age of the Horse the trainers could do these easily without harming the Horse and taking violent actions to achieve our goals?
What are the important things in these that are crucial for the Horse and the Handlers?
How each step must be done so it would be positive?
In my point of view these are very much crucial for both the Horse and the Human and the main reason for this is because it takes all the violent actions of us away in the future and the Horse will benefit from it all of his/her life.

You have a good and very much crucial point there (fell into the wrong hands). The person who does these he/she must be very well experienced. Those with much experience but with no Patient and Tolerance no use they could do all things negative.


This method can prevent many accident from happening especially if comes with knowing the body language of the horse.

This is a long and intellectual science subject I wish we could have a good and positive debate on this method.

This method can save 99% of horse and human problems .

This method is even good for humans too.

This method is good for other animals too.

We can save life , accidents and many other things that are very crucial and we can make the world a better place for horses to live in and I think this is the main goal of every IH horsemanship .



First we do everything on the mother before giving birth to the foal.
The mother have to know us has to have no fear of us present when she is foaling actually some one has to be present especially when the mares foal in a box because many bad accidents could happen especially if is the first or second time which the mare is foaling she has no experience how to go on the ground for foaling if she lie close to the wall of the box both could die the mother and the foal.

The mother is relaxed in the time of foaling and in the time that we are doing the Imprinting when ever the mother wants she smells the foal and touches the foal with her muzzle and she knows that we are no harm because we have been with her for weeks spending hours in her stable with her in most of the time night time and day time and riding too.

We never interfere with the mother and foal relation .

Actually we wont prevent the foal from standing actually when the foal try to stand we help her/him in the technical way.

We do our work in the time that the foal is on the ground and we do not stop the foal from standing we stop on positive ground and we carry on the next time we never rush on anything.

The main point that we do this is the moment of birth we want the foal to feel our breath before her or his mother and we want the foal to see us standing tall just like her or his mother (as I said on lie down a horse) to establish the bound somehow close to the bound with her or his mother.

An Imprinted foal becomes a good mother and father and will pass the good behaviors to her foal this is very crucial for future all the foals that I have Imprinted they are good mothers and fathers.


What is SENSITIZATION ?
You all remember Pavlov's experiments , do you ?
Pavlov was one of the firs scientific behaviorists.
He conditioned dogs to a bell which he rang at feeding time.Initially the food not the bell caused the dogs to SALIVATE just by ringing the bell. What had happened ? the dogs were now responding automatically. Pavlov had conditioned their subconscious minds to respond to the bell and cause saliva to flow even in the absence of food. Even if the dogs had wanted to, their conscious minds could not prevent the salivating because the subconscious part of the brain over rules the conscious part.
All of us humans have many conditioned responses .
For example when I say vinegar your mouth starts to flow with just a word which is vinegar is just like the time you have vinegar in your mouth.

These are the conditional responses that I want and each can be taught in minuts if it is properly done I do these in the first or the second day when the foal can stand up on his/her feet properly:
We can establish a conditioned response.

1- To pick up each foot when asked.
2- To be halter broke. (this means the foal will follow the halter lead rope without resistance and the foal will not pull back against the halter when he/she is tied (we do not really tie the foal) we do it in a way that the foal thinks that he/she is tied.
3- To move the hinds laterally when cued.
4- To back up on command in respond to chest pressure.
5- To move forward in respond to butt pressure.
We can establish a conditioned response.

BJ , I hope that I have explained what is SENSITIZATION .

I can explain many things on these subjects is you like.

I hope we do at least 5 foals in this way and see how they behave in future when they become mothers and fathers then we judge the most amazing and magical method of training.


By this method we can do many things like stopping in a high speed on a losse rein.

Please keep in mind that a 2 months old horse is like a 20 years old man the foal is mature right after birth it is not like a dog which is blind and helpless at the time of birth .
The foal stands and drinks the mothers milk but the dog has to put the milk into her newborn mouth.
If we want a horse to be highly trained for world competitions we must start at that moment.
We believe we can not train a 2 years old horse for that purpose a 2 years old horse is a grown up horse just like a 20 years old human you can not teach a 20 years old human the way that you could at beginning now days we give a child a pen in very stages of life or paper and many other things so he/she could get use to what we call learning and educating for future.


Remember about the subconscious and conscious.
The answer is definitely yes we as human could never get in between the mother and her child.
I ask you a question when we born we do not see our mother for some hours , we spend some hours in the recovery room dose the nurse comes between the mother and her child?

These things are done because of us as humans if we where not in favor of using horses to our need then non these would be needed we do all these because we want horses to serve us better and in the same time we want to use the non violent systems which is not common around the world in many places horsemen use violent actions towards horses .

For Example when we desensitize a foal to shoeing and the sound of iron hitting the foals hoof this foal when becomes a 2 years old horse no one has problem of shoeing him/her but is she is not desensitized towards the shoeing many people use violent actions to shoe the poor animal and many other thing that work this way.

First I have to say that we do not interfere between the mother and the foal the mare is standing by an she smells muzzle to muzzle when ever she wants therefore they wont get separated like human baby.

If you read my posts I did say that we have to Imprint Train the mare (mother) first so when she foals at our present she wont feel any negative towards our present and this is very much crucial if we wont do that the mother could attack us very easily and she will not be comfortable about our presents.

I just compared the human with horses but it is not the same.


The NATURE :
If the mare would foal in a herd in wild and we did not have anything to do with them and we did not need the horse for many purposes yes it was much better to leave them alone and let the nature to do its natural work.


The HUMAN Interfering:
First we bring them from the wild and jail them in a box this is especially very bad for the horse eye because the horse eye works like a binocular and most of the horses when they come to indoor environment they mostly get eye problems they mostly go towards blindness unless the stables that when the horse brings his/her head out could see the far distance.

But unfortunately its not like that we are going to interfere in their life from the first day to the last, we need them for :

1- Riding.
2- Jumping.
3- Dressage.
4- Polo.
5- Endurance.
6- Long and Short distance running.

In old days we used them for :

1- Sending the Post around the world.
2- We used them as heavy horses for wars and battles.
3- Use them for heavy artillery.
4- Use them for transporting us like Trains, Buss and Airoplane.
and many other needs of human.

In that situation we need to train them for the things we want them to compete in we have to find out which horse is good for what kind of our needs for example the horse A is good for cutting, the B horse is good for jumping we should find out these in the very early stages of life we can not let the time pass and in 2 years old decide for what kind of job this horse is good for.
these are the training which we have to in early stages of life if we want the poor horse to become good at.



Imprinting a foal is not just manipulating the foal it is FAR GREATER THAN THAT:
1- Bonding.
2- Habituation.
3- Sensitization.
4- Dominance.
5- The Mare (how we should Imprint Train the Mother because of the needs in the future).
6- Immediate Postpartum Procedure as first session.
7- The second session.
8- The third session.
9- Teaching the foal to Tie.
10- More Halter Training.
11- Advanced Halter Training.
12- Teaching Performance Basics.
13- Reinforcing Responses.
14- Preventing Problems.
15- Effects of Imprint Training On Mares.(Very much Important and Crucial).
16- Imprinting the MULES are a bit different with horses.

All the resistance to the Idea of training foals are coming from the race horse people , there is a belief that if a young horse is taught to be well mannered and obedient and if he/she is not flighty he/she will not run well this is the main reason behind all that and the other reason is because they do not know the Training.

I wish you all the best and hope we open a positive debate on the Imprint Training of the new born foal and be well informed about the things we want to post on this thread so in the end many people which want to know about this could use this thread and this thread could help them in any way relating to horse training in early stages of life and be well informed about the benefits for the horses , the mothers and the owners .

We are trying to make the world a better place for them (Horses) to live happily,no fear from man and no pain either mentally or physically.


No mother could put changes between her childes if they do so the reason is somewhere else in this one is because the mother had more pain in the house with no doctors to give her confidence and pain killer as we all know the only thing that makes us put different between our loved ones is how much we take hard time for them or how much we sacrifize for them it is all about that not being aprt from each other for some hours.

let me bring another examples for you :

1-A is a rose plant that I brought you and you planted the A rose in your garden.
B is a same family,color and as healthy as the A rose but you have bought the B rose and planted it in your garden by your self which one will you care for most the A rose or the B rose?


2-You have one mare she gives birth to a foal in a time that you are on holiday (for example) the next year the same mare from the same stallion gives birth to a foal the you spent most of you time around her stayed up at nights so if she gives birth you be there and finally she gives birth to a foal that you spent many nights and days around her/his mother which foal is most dear to you?

Please answer the question carefully.


There are things in breeding which no one could experience in anywhere else but only around horses and in horses life.
I have seen a new mother killing her own foal right after birth because we as humans interfere in their life.
why she killed her own foal because no one has never touched her TEATS and in other words her teats where not desensitized .
When the foal gets up on his/her feet and puts her/his mouth to the mothers teats to drink the mothers milks it tickles the mother teats.
The natural reaction of a mare when her teats are touched for the very first time is a kick .
Especially when it's the first time this mare is having a foal and she has never lived in the herd to see other mares when the give birth after getting up and giving birth the mare will see something in her stall which was not there before and this makes her panic and she would do anything no one knows what each mare has it's own reaction to each matter.
Thats why we say any Broodmare whether or not her foal is going to be imprint trained , the broodmare should be gentle , tractable and well halter broke, she should allow us to handle any part of her body it is not unusual to find broodmares that are not broke to ride and the excuse of the owners are "She is just a pasture mare" or "She is just a range mare" or "She is just a broodmare".

We know horses are highly MIMIC creatures and if their mothers are well trained the foals will learn from their mothers very quickly and if the mothers are not well trained and they are temperament the foals will learn very quickly also that is why the mares without any training are not qualified for broodmares this is the main point when a mare qualifies for broodmare.

I can open a wide range of negative behaviors on these mares and the problems which they cause in future especially if they are in herds.

My very best wishes to all of you who are reading , posting and taking this subject seriously and having questions as much as you like and I hope to have the knowledge to answer as much as I can so in the end horses could benefit most .

These are the main goals of Imprint Training of a horse :

1- Bonding.
2- Habituation.
3- Sensitization.
4- Dominance.
5- The Mare (Mother and how to make a good bound with her before and after foaling)
6- Immediate after birth procedure , (as the first session of Imprinting).
7- The 2nd session of Imprinting.
8- The 3rd session of Imprinting.
9- The 4th session of Imprinting.
10- Teaching the foal to tie,(We never tie the foal for real).
11- Halter training of the foal.
12- More Halter training of the foal.
13- Advanced Halter training of the foal.
14- Teaching the foal the basics of Performance.
15- Reinforcing the Responses.
16- Preventing the Problems.

At all time the mother is next to her foal and we use the mother for most of our work as a 2nd handler actually the presents of the mother is a great help and she plays a big roll in our Imprint Training of her foal.

Actually Imprint Training has very good and positive effects on the Mare (Mother) and if it is her first time that she is having her foal and her self Imprinted she will be a great help the next time that she gives birth to a foal.


The EFFECTS of IMPRINT TRAINING on MARES.

One of the most frequently having concerns of early training of the foal is it will Interfere with the bonding between the foal and the mare (mother).
I have never come across a mare that has rejected her Imprinted foal in my life until now and never heard of such thing.

Just imagine a mare see a foal for the first time in her box the situation that she has never seen or experienced , this is one of the reasons of rejections and there has been situations that the mother (any species) has attacked her own new born and killed him/her.
Most mares reject their foals because of the udder pain they even would kick and injure their own foals.
When a mare foals for the first time and she see a familiar human that she has seen many times before and that human is touching her foal then the mother will reach to her foal and touches and smells her foal with her muzzle , lick and taste her own foal , exactly at that moment something very strong is happening the bonding is taking place and the foal is Imprinted with both the mother and the human at the same time in this case the rejection will never take place and I am 99% sure of what I am saying.
I have noticed that the mare which their foal has been Imprint Trained she wont show any aggressiveness towards human and this is important.(let me add something this method is not good for the wild this has negative results in wild because mare has to be very protectiveness towards her foal in the wild).
Even the gentle mare show aggressiveness toward the present of human and they are much protectiveness towards their foals .

If you have no bond with the mother is better not to step into her box when she has foal because I have seen many mothers that they have charged anyone who gets near her foal (that is why our work starts with the mother before she gives birth to her foal).
You never see a mare with an imprint trained foal act this way.

When the foaling mare gets up on her feet she smells the same odder on my hands and on her foal body this is important because it makes a three way bonding ,mare to human , mare to foal , foal to human .

Please remember that we are talking about well mannered mares and well halter broke (well manner broodmares).

It is a bad experience in general to lose a mother.

First I try to find a mare that she has lost her foal this is very important.
Imprint train mothers they accept some one else child but others are a bit difficult sometimes very hard but we have to be with them for some time so the mother would accept the foal completely but with imprinted mothers we have not any problem what so ever , actually this is one the good reasons to back up Imprint Training .
Because the foals are born in same season which is Spring it is not to hard to find a mother without a foal.

But if we wont find a mare which has lost a foal that is something different which I will explain in a near future because right now I must go and this subject needs time.



Q - Have you had any experience of foals that were bottle fed because the mother died giving birth Persianhorse?
How would you teach them to have natural horse instincts?

A - Yes I have it is a bad experience in general to lose a mother.

First I try to find a mare that she has lost her foal this is very important.
Imprint train mothers they accept some one else child but others are a bit difficult sometimes very hard but we have to be with them for some time so the mother would accept the foal completely but with imprinted mothers we have not any problem what so ever , actually this is one the good reasons to back up Imprint Training .
Because the foals are born in same season which is Spring it is not to hard to find a mother without a foal.

But if we wont find a mare which has lost a foal that is something different which I will explain in a near future because right now I must go and this subject needs time.
First of all I have to tell you this is very important that how do you keep horses what I mean is :

How close are they to their real life their real wild life.
Do you keep them in herd or in boxes?
How do they live in the environments that you have created for them.

Let me bring you an a example that I have before,
We have two mares one (X) is living in a herd and the other (Y) is living in a stable box,
They both are green in bringing a foal it is their first time that they are pregnant,
They foal in one night lets say Monday,
How do they react towards their foal?
Dose their character (I do not know if I use the right word but I hope you know what I mean) change in the time of pregnancy ?
Dose their character (I do not know if I use the right word but ... ) change when they foal ?
Can you explain for me each one ?
When you answered we start from there, OK?
What is the environments that they live in?

If you find a surrogate mother is the best but if you did not find one that is a problem.

Is best to bottle feed the foal among the others (the herd) is best to leave her/him among the others and watch her/him closely , they will take care of him/her but you should not let the foal near the mares who has foals themselves because they will kick the foal if goes near them and the smell of the mare milk will make the new born foal go to them and that is dangerous.
As the foal gets bigger and bigger the things will be more easier .

With such a foal we definitely should do the imprinting.


What are the affects of Imprinting in weaning time.
Dose Imprinting help the Separation anxiety .

When we leave the foal behind and go for a ride with the mother and without the foal the foal runs back and forward around the gate and looks always to the spot which he/she last saw the mother and ( presences of Human can not be any help but in dogs the presence of a human can help a little but in Horses there is no chance for the presence of human the foal wont lesson and like no one is there if any one is trying to make connection and be a bit of a help) after we return the foal is in the air jumping all over the mother and dose not care for anything up to some time .

The only time which I have seen that my presence helps the foal and they would accept me as a member of their family are the foals that I have Imprinted .

Please take your time and think about this because I think it is very much important for those who breed and they have to separate their foals .
This is one of the worst moments of my life when I want to separate a foal from his/her mother it really damages the foal inside (mentally) and I think the most important thing from Imprinting is the effect which has in the separation time.

Remember the foal which has lost her/his mother and we are raising him/her by hand and hand feeding the foal MUST STAY WITHIN the HERD TO LEARN HOW HORSES LIVE TOGETHER THIS IS CRUCIAL FOR THE REST OF THE FOALS LIFE.

PH

SPOOK & PANIC

I want to open a thread on the Spook and Panic subject so I could post for you dear ones how I deal with such problems and I hope it could be a little help for those who need such information.

Let me start with this first :

The IMPRINT TRAINED HORSES are much less spooky and they less panic this is general for all Horses and this is very important.

Spook and Panic could kill a rider or it could end up in a bad and sad situation for the rest of someones life.

Horses are not to blame for spooking or panicking its their basic instinct for survival.


1- Basic Instinct.
2- Fear.
3- unexperienced.
4- Human fault.


If we want more we have to do more but ...

We all have the experience of without warning in our ride the Horse flights,panics, twists,reverses direction and bolts away. Something has obviously scared him/her. It could be a attack,rock,bicycle or a deer jumping in the path ahead of you or something which we didn't see but our Horse did either by eye,ear or the senses which we don't have (this part is very much important so please give it a good amount of time thinking about it).

I have said before and I am saying it now we could try and DESENSITIZE our Horse to these things like bicycle,sound of a dry plastic,a pig (Horses are really afraid of pigs when they see one for the first time) but DESENSITIZING method works only for the SPECIFIC experiences and there are simply too many items in the world to get our Horse used to all and DESENSITIZE them all what must we do riding in the wild from light until night is very helpful , riding as much as we can especially in places which we could give our Horse more experience and desensitize them to unknown objects as much as we could is great but there is something else something greater than the ones I said above , WE HAVE TO TEACH THEM WHAT TO DO WHEN THEY BECOME AFRAID, we must ALTER their natural instinct like flight,spin and bolt reaction to fear so they stop and facing that he/she scared from.
One of the main reasons that we say never carry a whip or never scare your Horse (we say the same for the human children also) is this so they would find the courage to face what they fear from (Mules have this in their blood more than Horses) but we have to be with them and to show them there is nothing to be afraid of because when they gain confidence from their handler then they see many things with the reaction of their handler they feel true our feeling if we are afraid they become afraid if we are nervous the become nervous if our blood pressure is high their blood pressure will rise too thats why we say don't call them PETS call them PARTNERS.

This is not finished so please give me more time I have to make my thought to text , translate them then type them for you .
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The training technique based on communication both mental and physical that develops a partnership between the horse and human.

Traditional training normally starts with physical restraint then forces the horse to submit to the handler's commands. The INTELLIGENT trainer looks at the horse/human relationship from the horse's point of view and then works with the natural language of the horse.

Horses communicate primarily through gestures and positioning of their bodies only followed with physical contact in extreme cases or mutually friendly grooming. Horses are also natural followers and need a leader who knows where they want to go why I say Horses need a good INTELLIGENT leader because for example when a young and unexperienced Horse reaches an obstacle he/she either wants to step back , go round or do something else other than what you want him/her to do.

Every horse no matter what his training level, breed, age or past experience, will benefit from all the experience. Every horse lover, from a beginner to a professional trainer will develop a better relationship with their horse if the NON VIOLENT techniques are properly applied.


We could try and desensitize our Horses to many objects like Deer, Bicycle, Chair, Car, etc but there are simply too many items in the world to get our Horse used to all of them and we can't ask our Horse simply not to be afraid. So what do we have to do?

- We Must Teach Them What To Do When They Become AFRAID.

- We must ALTER their natural SPIN and BOLT reaction to fear to one of stopping their feet and facing that which scared them.

Start with your Horse in his/her halter in a 30 foot rope attached to the halter.

Stand 10 to 15 feet in front of your Horse while facing him/her and holding the other end of the rope in your hand.

Start making the Cow noise but not so loud and vigor just enough to have him/her hear you making the noise.

If he/she stands still go up and pet him/her.

Now go back to your original standing point and try again with just a bit louder noise if your Horse dose not move go up and pet him/her and repeat this and each time put more energy to your noise and do the petting.

After the Cow noise add the noise Poof (like the air coming out of a balloon) then mix these noises together with great energy while making these noises move your hands up and down like the bird wings flying up and down mixed with the noises and each time that the Horse dose not move pet him/her.

Shake a noisy plastic bag at him/her if he/she dose not move drop the scaring object at the point where you are standing then go to him/her and pet NEVER take the scaring object with you while going towards the Horse for petting NEVER.

Your Horse is learning that if he simply stops his feet and looks at what is scaring him/her the scaring will stop.

If the Horse try at any point during the lesson to run off go with him/her while you continue scaring him/her with whatever your using (Never get behind the Horse because they think the scaring object is chasing them). Try to stay in front of the Horse withers not directly in his/her path where he/she can see you use the rope and gently tug at it to encourage him/her to look at you and stop his/her feet when he/she stops you should immediately quit scaring him/her drop the scaring object and go to him/her and pet.

This is not a DESENSITIZING lesson at all .
We are not trying to get the Horse to use to the sound of these object the only thing we are trying to do is to teach him/her how to handle his/her fear.

The SPOOK PROOFING teaches him/her to stop his/her feet and LOOK at what is SCARING him/her that is the reason we we don't APPROACH the Horse with the SCARY OBJECTS we DROP it and WALK UP to pet them without anything in our hands from the point which we drop the scary object up to pet him or her we try to show them we have nothing in our hands and this is very important for what we want to achieve.

We have to do this lesson every day with different objects for example a TRACTOR WITH A HORNE is a good tool for scary object but we have to come off of the tractor and go up to the Horse and pet.

I have trained many Horses for HUNTING the Horses which I have trained for hunting they become very good in spook proofing , first the smell of the gun and the gun powder is very important then gun touching the Horses body , the sound of bullet going from the chamber to barrel , holding the gun while on the Horse , shooting from the Horse coming into contact with the Hunt and all of that .

I do not train Horses for that purpose any more because killing any kind of animal even a fly it's not me any more and I hate it but we are trying to teach the Horse for SPOOK PROOFING and teaching them how to leave their fears behind we are not talking about killing animals.

I have taught many Horses how to attack Wild Dogs and Hyena or Wild Boar (Wild Hog) I hope I have write the name correctly but wild boar is very dangerous for Horses I have seen a male one hitting and opening a mare stomach from one end to the other because they live in very dangerous places.

I am saying these to tell you Horses which grow up naturally in that sort of places they normally have no fear but the Horse living around us they have never see these thing or heard any strange noises thats why we have to take their fear away from them and I am not saying its an easy job but nothing is easy in life especially dealing with a living creature and we have to do it we have to it is our duty or otherwise we should not keep them this is what I believe in .


Gradually they will its like taking something out of them and gaining their Confidence first and letting them know that not all things coming to you either from front or behind are scary.

In nature the wild prey like Big Cat, Wild Dogs, Wolf and all the Hunters in general they go to their Hunt from the back.
The most sensitive place in the Horses Body is the FLANK AREA this is the place which all Horses are afraid of and most of the Hunter they go for the Flank area.

After some time the Horse will realize that all things which are coming from behind are those which he/she has seen from the front but for a Spooky Horse everything is Spooky therefore you have to do your work in a way that it wont Spook the Horse from the Start.

My own experience I have trained many Hunting Horses all of them become Spook free when the training is done and let me tell you something they rely on you as their rider.

I have a question a Horse with a rider and without a rider dose he/she act the same when seeing a Wolf or a Wild Dog?

At the same time we are gaining their confidence too.


What I mean is a good trained Hunting Horse (the hunting Horses which we train not for FOX hunting) would never panic from a Wolf or Wolf herd but a normal Horse without a rider would panic.
What I want to prove is our Horse has confidence on us especially the well trained Hunting Horse and we have confidence on our Horse , we gain their confidence and they gain our confidence like a 2 way road.

PH

The RIDER BODY WEIGHT & its MOTIONS on the SADDLE

How can we use our body weight and its motions on the saddle to improve our riding ?

How important is our body weight and body motion on the saddle?

What roll does our weight and its motions plays on the horse and his/her movements ?

Can we do these in regard to our weight and body motions?

1- Step forward.
2- Step backward.
3- Step to the right.
4- Step to the left.
5- Full stop, (Freeze).

Can we do more complicated steps with regard to our weight and body motions?

For Example :

1- Doing figure 8.
2- Circling.
3- Spin rapidly.
4- Stopping in high speed on a loose rein.

How horses feel with this method will they be more comfortable?

Is this more towards NON VIOLENCE on horses ?

For Example :

1- When a horse stands high on his/her hinds what action should the rider take in regard to BODY WEIGHT and its MOTIONS ?

2- When the rider wants to stop a horse what action should the rider take in regard to BODY WEIGHT and its MOTIONS ?

Why the most Navicular diseases is on hands only?(not the hind legs).

I am sure you have the best vets in your country and this is good and you have to have hope .
In this country we dont have vets at all (I can not call them vets only 3 to 5 ) but nothing compare to yours.

In this country the main reason of what causes the Navicular is unknown but to my knowledge mostly is because of putting more pressure on the front part of the body (hands).

In early stages of navicular disease the horse will be lame after a hard work but it will return to normal after a rest period but it will return and as getting worse the horse trys to land his/her legs on toe when in motion.

Many blame the improper trimming and shoeing .

Heels too hight and heels too low.

Any kind of trimming or shoeing which interferes with the normal action of the FROG (the blood pump of the hoof).

Horses that have hard work on a hard surface are more likely to get the navicular problem.

We believe horses that they have not learn how to use the hinds as the main source of power and put more pressure on their hands they are more likely to get navicular (the horses that walk on hands instead of the hinds , hands are for changing directions and hinds are the main source of the power to jump , run and flight.

The only thing we know for sure is weight and pressure is transmitted to the navicular bone and forcing the navicular bone against the tendons the navicular bone gets bigger and when we put pressure on the center of frog.

The best thing is to teach our horses to walk on hinds 80% or more of this disease will vanish hopefully this is very important and the best way to prevent this disease .

I hope everything goes well for this horse and I keep my fingers crossed that this is not a navicular disease.


Let me tell you something very much crucial and important for Horse training because we all belive first things first.

In Horse training as I have said before WALK and TROT is our goal NO speed at all.
Now our goal is a Horse going on WALK ONLY and TROT ONLY with a PAUSE.

After each stop a PAUSE can make real difference in our training.

Stopping a Horse by the seat of our saddle using the weight of the rider,

1- Seating on the saddle in a upright position in the normal way.
2- Bending forward from our belt position means going Forward.
3- Pressing on the right Stirrup and bending a little (Not bending but putting pressure on the Stirrup) means going to the Right.
4- Pressing on the left Stirrup as described in No:3 means going to the Left.
5- Sitting hard on our Double Pocket Jeans slightly to the back means Stop.

How we teach a Horse to stop without using Reins,

1- We need a place which one side is closed and has fence and 2 ends which are also dead ends something like this ] 3 sides are closed.
2- We start from point A from walk to trot when the Horse in High Trot and reaching the point B the dead end we seat into the saddle with a bit of a shock and we could add a verbal word like WOW and bring the Horse to the Stop by reins we continue this until the Horse would realize just seating into the saddle way back ans saying WOW means Stop.
Actually we are CONDITIONING our Horse to our body weight and the word WOW.
When the Horse has been CONDITIONED perfectly now is the time to Loosen the reins and just seat hard on to the saddle and just say WOW.
This must be done starting from Walk to High Trot then stopping.

The crucial point is at each end when the Horse comes to stop Give the Horse a Good Pause.
The Pause at each end (A and B) is very important.

If there is any question please Put it Up thank you.

PH

What is Intelligent Horsemanship

This is a post I put on the IHDG and they are my own word,Ideas and has nothing to do with it's original IHDG website .
What is the Definition of IH (Intelligent Horsemanship) ?
Is Intelligent Horsemanship a Process ?
Is it possible to write a Dictionary for Intelligent Horsemanship ?
What is our responsibility as Horse Lovers (Human being) in Defining Intelligent Horsemanship ?
Dose the Horse has any role in Intelligent Horsemanship ? If yes what?


Some of the definitions of 'intelligent' in my dictionary are: 1. guided by reason; rational. 2. able to modify action in the light of ongoing events. 3. having knowledge and information.

Horsemanship : Skill in riding , training and dealing with Horses , anything to do with Horses even up to some degree medical.


Up to my knowledge in Intelligent Horsemanship lies great deal of knowledge behind it and we could write books about just these two words with these two words comes our knowledge and understanding how to react especially with the Unknown Horses , Horses that had a bad memory and experience with man (especially those men who act as predator) in their past and to know their unpleasant things that has happened to them and how to cure and solve those problems.
Understanding the problems is one thing and choosing the right way to solve those problems is another and I think choosing the right way for solving the problem needs a great deal of knowledge.
When we buy a Horse his/her History Book dose not come with them and you realize most Horse dealers they don't say the truth to you.

For Example:
We buy a Horse in the market now we want to just simply lead him/her by the rope and halter and normally we use a Whip to point direction or what ever and we do this with the other Horses which we have from the time they where young.
Our new Horse has a bad memory of Whips this is the time we need Intelligent to observe this problem and understand this new Horse is not like our other Horses and dealing with this new Horse has to be different with others therefore the first thing is to put away the whip and don't even let him/her to know that we have such a thing as a whip in our stable. In this case and thousands more this is our Intelligent which could help us doing such things.

If there is any wrong spelling forgive me please.
With Regards,

PH

Overcome Fear Means Build Up Confidence

Always Help Your Horse To Overcome Fear This Means Horse/Rider CONFIDENCE.

I especially put the thread - Horses could read our Body Language from a distance , for you to read.
Can you start from scratch? but keeping in mind the thread I put up for you and the thread - Horse basic instinct , you have to start with those rules (always keep them in mind and deal with your horse with those in mind and action).

1- Is the horse teeth OK?
2- What kind of bridle and bit are you using?
3- How is the saddle pad?
4- How is the saddle?
5- In general there should be no physical problem , when was the last time vet saw the horse?
6- When you go up into the saddle how dose the horse keeps the tail , if the horse lowers the tail or puts the tail between his/her legs then there is something wrong with either A- Saddle. B- The saddle pad. C- Something wrong with the horse back or spine. All these must be in good condition.

With those rules you should let go of riding for the moment and start long lining your horse with the Outside Line Touching The Horse Hinds Just Above The HOCK'S , if you are doing this for the first time to your horse , the horse will NORMALLY BUCK'S this is a good sign don't take it as a negative sign and soon he/she get use to it this rope on the hind must just touch, no hard pressure on it , circling the horse in both direction's (the time of long lining is up to you just leave some energy for the horse so he/she could give you a ride lets say for 10 to 15 minutes) the long lining must be on Walk and Trot Only always ask for a step back (pressure when the horse puts a step back the pressure automatically will be released this is very important it actually REWARDS the horse when he/she puts a step back .

In your post you said that you have a western saddle with a good and thick saddle pad saddle up the horse and with a spare leather stirrup close the stirrups together under the horse belly so the lines could go inside each stirrup ( I use a BOSAL as a bridle I saw you have a DUALLY HALTER) attach the lines to either one and start long lining your horse but on Walk and Trot only.

Your stirrups in a Western saddle is longer than English saddle therefore after long lining for some time it would be easier to mount with longer Western stirrups , do not use mounting blocks or anything like that.
You should do the above in a Round Pen or a closed area.
You should make it hard for your horse when he/she wants to do something wrong and make it easy when he/she wants to do something right.
We always have to give our horses a work to do and they will understand if they are doing a job or they are just wondering around and this is very crucial.

Now I Put It Step By Step:

1- Long lining for one week starting once a day and in the middle 2 times a day ,1 session in the morning and 1 session in the afternoon or evening.
2- After one week of long lining only you start mounting your horse after each session of long lining for 10 to 15 minutes and gradually adding to your riding time but for the time being always long line first then ride.
3- When riding after long lining put a very light bridle on your horse if bitless then perfect but keep in mind we don't want to canter or fast running we are going on WALK and TROT only.
4- Walk some steps forward , stop and ask for a step to the back release of pressure (crucial).
5- Walk then circle to the right, stop and step to the back.(release of pressure,crucial)Rewarding.
6- Walk then circle to the left , stop and step to the back.(release of pressure,crucial)Rewarding.
7- Do figure 8 on trotting , stop and step to the back.(release of pressure and CRUCIAL BECAUSE OF REWARDING).

8- In a place which one side is a good fence and closed going from point A to point B one trot start from point A-------trotting------>seat back into the saddle with all your body weight and say Wooa----->B point STOP.
Starting from B------>trotting------->seat back into the saddle with all body weight and Wooa---->Stop. Seat on your back pocket jeans when you want to command STOP.

9- Always when your work is finished unfasten the girth this is a REWARD the release of pressure always is the best reward for your horse.

If you do this well and step by step you will build up your horse in everything you want your horse will have confidence on you and you will have confidence on your horse because you are doing something positive , you are not just riding , this is not just a simple ride for the fun of it you are building something important.

I hope I have not miss anything if there is any question I will be honored to answer.

Make your sessions short per day , short sessions are much effective and will have great quality than the longer ones.

Always finish on a good and positive ground EVEN DOING SOMETHING VERY SIMPLE.

Prepare the ground which you will long line the horse 3 to 5 inch cushion.

Some More Tips:

1-Always mount and dismount with mane and rein in hand.
2-Teach your horse to accept being mounted from both sides, (Not for now).
3-Teach your horse to accept being mounted from a block,fence or anywhere, (Not for now).
4-Only your toe in the stirrup when mounting and dismounting.
5-Never let your horse (make it uncomfortable) to walk off when mounting or dismounting, Make it very comfortable to stand still when mounting or dismounting.
6-Never allow your horse to walk off when mounted until you are ready and giving the signal to walk , you are in command not the horse.
7-Never kick your horse , tell him/her to go with your body language.
8-Never use the bit for balancing yourself in the saddle.
9-Horses learn a lot from the release of pressure , REWARDING , BUT TIMING IS VERY CRUCIAL.
10-If it is possible for you to make a dummy it will help , with the help of someone during the long lining session put the dummy on the saddle and tie it , this is a great help for you.

Horses Afraid Of RAIN AND WIND:

Generally the better your relationship and the deeper your bond of trust with a horse the better all things go.

Example:
A child who is raised by a fearful and insecure parent will pick up STUFF from the parent a horse will only rise to the level of the humans interacting with it.
I would highly suggest you do more on the ground with your horse to develop your own confidence with the horse and the horse's confidence with you , Forget riding for a little while and spend all of your time on the ground with your horse. This is where your bond is really formed anyway. Get used to being with your horse when it is raining and windy. Be with him/her
on the ground and get her/him settled during the rain/wind with you near him/her on the ground. Do fun things with him/her on the ground . Have a lot of good and successful action and interaction on the ground . Your horse and you will get closer . Your bond will really deepen. You will come to know your horse more and better if you focus with him/her with you on the ground first. Let the riding be the ice and you the glass , your relationship is important with your horse. You will be amazed at how great your relationship with your horse can become if you stop focusing on riding and focus on the horse itself but not riding (even if it is just for a little while).



You are doing:

Your confidence travels right through your body into your horse's , So building your own confidence and you'll build your horse's as well.

PH

The Equine Musculoskeletal System

Written By: Leslie Berro.

The Equine Musculoskeletal System


The horse is an athlete; some are more naturally gifted than others. But the common denominator between them all, is that the musculoskeletal system, pound for pound, is their largest bodily component; over 60%! When you buy a horse, you're buying motion. When a million dollar horse no longer moves like one, he isn't one! And this is the system mainly responsible for motion. Yet it is mostly overlooked because it does not reveal itself in radiographic and other testing mediums.

The Equine Musculoskeletal System


The Four Causes of Excessive Strain are:

* Speed of Contraction
* Strength of Contraction
* Isometric Contraction
* Protective Splinting


The challenge of training any athlete, is finding the balance between maximum muscle strengthening (hypertrophy) and bodily abuse. Most injuries due to muscular strain are cumulative. It is not the last thing your horse did that caused the problem, but was most likely building for weeks.

The normal progression of muscle problems is:

Trauma or Strain -----> leads to Tightening -----> creating Spasm or Muscle Tear -----> resulting in Malfunction.



The Muscle


Generally speaking, a muscle features:

* a point of origin (anchor)
* a muscle belly (power), and
* a point of insertion (motion)


It is during the cooling down period after a strenuous workout, when insufficient oxygen (anoxia) is getting to the muscle that it is most susceptible to strain and spasm. Stress is most likely to occur at the muscle's anchor, where it attaches to the bone by tendonous fibers and is the least flexible. Stress point locations are the same for all horses. Features of an equine muscle

However, different disciplines stress different points. Depending on whether you train your horse for track racing, endurance, competitive trails, driving, English hunter-jumpers, cross-training, dressage, Western reining, roping, barrel running, cutting, or whatever else, will determine which points are stressed the most by repetitive movements. When a muscle can no longer accommodate what is being demanded of it, it will pull or tear.


Importance of Maintaining Good Musculoskeletal Health

"Any muscle that is not working for the horse, is working against the horse - actively!" - Jack Meagher

Muscles contract and release. Whereas contraction is a generated process, release is not. When muscles tighten and cannot achieve full release, they remain tight and shortened, or contracted. This puts strain on the surrounding areas. Tight shoulders pass their inability to release to the digital flexors and tendons of the fore leg. This creates a dangerous scenario for the lower limbs. Tight muscles lead to spasm (knots) which leads to tears in the fibers.

Here's where you start to see short choppy strides, refusals, and resistance in the horse, because it hurts! The tendons become irritated. Most often, one pain killer or another is prescribed and administered to alleviate soreness. But this just addresses the symptom (pain), not the real issue (muscle fiber adherence that results in spasm), not to mention the inevitable side effects and loss of efficacy over time. If the underlying issue, the spasm, is not treated and eliminated, the horse will compensate by passing the problem to other muscle groups. By covering up minor problems, we end up creating major ones. It's only a matter of time before you're headed for a full blown muscle tear or a permanent problem!


Signs of Muscular Problems:

* Head tossing
* Coordination difficulties
* Saddle slipping to one side
* Short, choppy strides
* Improper tracking forward, back, or laterally
* Resistance when bending &/or backing
* Hind leg scuffing
* Girthing problems
* Refusing or resisting leads
* Unwilling or unable to walk up or down inclines
* Poor disposition, eating, or sleeping habits
* "Off" for no apparent reason


Prevention Is the Best Medicine

The best protection against injury there is, is prevention. Most injuries due to muscular strain can be prevented. The more that is expected of your horse, the greater the need for preventive maintenance.

Not your horse, you say? Unfortunately, even a buck in just the wrong way, out in the pasture, is enough to strain a muscle. By the time you notice a problem with your horse's movement, it's a sign that a problem has already taken hold. With a sensible training program and regularly scheduled Equine Sports Massage Therapy sessions, you can avoid injury to your horse.


I hope this article would help especially those which don't think about the Horse's weight and the amount of workout.


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Persian Horse:

Please will you lesson to what I say and observe in time and see if there is any possibility that I would be right I am not saying you have to this is my knowledge thats all very simple.
-You ride a Horse or lunge or long line the body get warm and hot.
- You come off or finish the lunging or long lining .
- Walk the Horse for some time and let it off on the grass.
- The grass is wet on itself and inside , the water on and in the grass and the Horse starts eating the grass or shall I say the Horse starts drinking the water, this will stop the flow and the circulation in blood vessel especially in the blood vessel of the Hoof and this will end up as laminitis.
I am not saying to agree with me just think about it.
We don't allow water near our Horses before 2 to 3 hours after riding but during riding we allow the Horse to drink under saddle.


Unfitness.
The over weight of the Horse.
The over weight of the Horse added with the weight of the rider.
The food which has close relation with the over weight.
Above all the amount of time we put them to work and the kind of work.
Sometimes we take the Horse straight out and lunge this is very much towards damage not fitness.

let me bring an example:
An office secretary or any kind of work which has the seat and a table for it and the person behind it , can you ask him/her to run 100 or 400 meters championship ? the answer is no.
For a Horse resting for most of his/her time (24/7 outdoor is not fitness and is resting) lunging is like a poison and it will heart the poor animal.
Especially for our Horses if we put them to lunge they fly like a rocket and there is no way of controlling them some times when I ask how do you control a single line lunging and I get the answer by body language or by voice command for our Horses this wont work they have too much energy maybe for a Horse which you have to push to put a step forward lunging would do but for our Horses its out of control. This is where the damage comes in but most of the time wont show right away.

Wish you all the very best.
Always be careful.

PH

Mules For Security

Mule for security especially Horse Herd in the time of foaling.

I just want to share some of my experience on Mule's and how they serve as the security guards in the Horse Herd.

They always stay on the wider line of a circle which forms the Horse Herd.

They never give up to Wolves , as you know Wolves hunt in pack's and also they never give up on any of the Predators which they want to hunt in a horse herd.

We always keep up to 3 Mules for guarding the horse herd only specially in the foaling season which has been started 30 days ago (Middle of April).

Mules are excellent for carrying things on their back going into the mountain area , the Horse is not capable of doing such thing as Mule dose , Mule can walk on a line in rocky mountain especially in situations which the packing on the mule back could hit the wall and on the other side is a open area which could fall down into the ground God knows how long in depth.

Mules have lots of positive things and they are really helpful to mammals and human.

A Mule trainer could train a Horse but a Horse trainer can not train a Mule , (what I mean is a Horse trainer has to learn many things about training a Mule so he/she could train a Mule . Mule training is much harder than Horse training), I hope I could explain properly for you guys forgive me if I didn't do my job well.

Sometimes we tie down some of the mares in long ropes so the herd will stay in one place and we watch over them day and night in this situation or in any other situation we never tie a Mule somehow they have the DUTY of watching over the herd (just like GUARD DOGS) we believe it's in their blood.

The Mule was very popular in British Army in 1st and 2nd world war and the Army used Mules in India and Asia.

Mules can stand extreme climates .
In the time of danger the Horse will choose to flight and run away but Mules will choose either to fight or flight depending on the individual responding.
A well trained Mule is very steady and calm thats why the army used them for carrying explosives and ammunition , they where less likely to panic or get spooky in the time of danger.
Mules are very intelligent and sensitive therefore is not positive to stable them for long periods of time , we must work with them most of the time .
We never stable the mule more than one day.
Mules just like horses could get Laminitis .


I have lost in a mountain at night and the mule saved my life , I simply grabbed the tail and the Mule find the way and brought me down , I just walked behind the Mule , there was no moon light in the sky.

When going in the wild a good and well trained Mule is your best friend.

Hi Dear :
One day I will write for you about Donkey's and Mule's but they are different with horses.
A mule trainer can train horses but a horse trainer can not train mule's and donkey's.
I don't mean can not I mean the trainer needs to learn other things as well and they are different with horses in training.

PH.

What Is a Cold Back Horse

Q - could anyone please explain cold backed for me.



A - A Horse that his/her back instead of Desensitizing it has been Sensitized by Human because of some kind of damage to his/her back in his/her life in the past , it can be cured but needs Patient Trainer , Time and No Riding to Desensitizing the Back.
How old is the damage and what kind of damage is a big factor also.

Cold Back in Horses has its own Definition and mostly about the Horses Gear some time in the past the gear has hurt the Horses back and it has left without treatment during time and nobody cared therefore gradually the Horse becomes Cold Back.

Cold Back Horse and their reflection:
The term refers to the flinching behavior of a horse when a saddle is placed on his/her back. Horse may sink or arch his/her back when seeing saddle,being saddled or mounted and in some cases can pull back or try to sit down to avoid being mounted.
The most important MUSCLE which plays a big role in Cold Back is LATISSIMUS DORSI MUSCLE.
When you go to their stable without any saddle or any kind of Horse Gear the Horse stands normally and no reaction but when you go with just a saddle PAD they react and the SPINE CURVES INSIDE and the Tail to the Loin comes up, the neck comes up or to one side mostly to the side where the object (saddle pad or the saddle) in our hand is approaching and the Back curves and goes down. This is the reaction of a Cold Back Horse. They horse knows to react to what objects because they know this object will be on their back the.

I always recommend to warm up your horse with the saddle on and readjust the saddle and the girth once more when your horse and the saddle is warmed on the back of the horse,always one open hand should go under the girth where the girth attaches the saddle.
Always before mounting stretch the hand from the front,just stand next to your horse,pick up the hand and stretch it from the front,your hand on the knee and the other hand under the fetlock.

Horse did not know you want to put the Poor child on his/her back thats why did not react at first but it was a dangerous thing to do I am glad that the child is OK.

Always be careful,

PH.

Lack of Confidence Q & A

Q - I would love some advice from members of the Confidence Crew.
I have only had Roger since about June and looking back now can see that I made a big mistake.
As my grandmother used to say there is no point crying over spilt milk. The problem is that it is not milk that has been spilt but my confidence. Roger is greener and sharper than I thought and I have lost my nerve.
But I adore him, he is so handsome, sweet and trusting. I am just terrified to ride him. So he is the best dressed horse in the county. But having a holiday.
I am having lessons on a school horse which is buzzy but safe in an effort to build back up my confidence and convince myself that I can ride.
I cannot sell Roger, I cannot. What if something bad happened to him? He is safe when I am looking after him. My husband does not want me to work to keep a big pet though. It makes him cross and grumpy and then I feel inadequate.



A - We all have accident in our life with Horses thats for sure all of us have fell off from our Horse not once but many times.
What we should know is each accident must give us more confidence , why? Because we are not the same person as before the accident now we have More EXPERIENCE we have more knowledge of what we are doing.
If we don't learn from each accident then we will loss our Confidence but if we learn from each accident then we will add to our experience this is what you should do ADD to your Experiences and gain more Confidence.

What do you have for Training your Horse do you have a Round Pen or Paddock?
Can you do some work on your Horse just for few lessons to Gain Your confidence and do some Training and Clinic with your Horse?
How well do you know about Grooming? Do you Groom your Horse yourself?
There is some Tips for Training and Tips for Spook Proofing your Horse if you are willing to put up some work this will affect you both the Rider and the Horse.
If you are willing let me know and these Tips are very simple dose not need a highly trained person to do them.

Sometimes the source of pain there is no more existing but if the pain was from the saddle then the saddle itself works as a Stimuli and brings the pain from the back of the head to REMINDER what do I mean is when in the past the pain was from the saddle now the Horse gives reaction to the saddle itself this is when we have to Desensitize the parts of the body to put away the past and renew the SADDLE PAIN MEMORIES we have to remove the saddle pain memories from the BRAIN, we have to replace the pain memory by something positive and reassure and make vow this wont happen so I beg you to forget and forgive me because your safety is my greatest responsibility.

If any Horse has BACK pain from anything and the pain is in the back lets say the spine , saddle or the saddle pad the Horse will tell you the moment pain reaches the brain , the Horse will speak to you with Body Language the sign for any back pain is LOWERING THE TAIL and BRINGING THE TAIL DOWN TO REACH BETWEEN THE HINDS , the moment pain is removed the TAIL goes back to its normal place.
Recognizing the saddle pain , back pain or any back related pain is to watch the reaction of the tail which is the Horse Body Language.
Any reaction from the tail which looks abnormal to you there is pain.


Thank you for your well reply, it shows you are serious about what you do and that is important for someone like me.
You and your Horse will gain your confidence back don't worry just needs time and patient don't rush for things so important. always take small steps and finish your work on positive note and ground build up "Trust" .
1-Establish trust.
2-Make good bond.
3-Groom your Horse as much as you can in short sessions take some steps back and show yourself to your Horse by this he/she knows you touched him/her and there is no fear from you no harm from you.
By doing these you will gain your horses confidence and your horse will gain your confidence.
Don't worry this needs quality time , I learn from your posts you don't have much time to spend with Roger is it so?

Always be careful especially when touching the Hinds,

PH.

HORSE FRONT & REAR ENDS AND THEIR CONNECTION

How important are these?

Are we forgetting the main part of the horse body which is the rear part , the hinds and the main source of power?

How many of the horses that we see and ride are on hinds (walking on the hinds and using them as the main source of power) and walk on hinds ONLY ?

How many of the horses that we see and ride are using the hands for changing direction ONLY.

How many of the horses that we see and ride are walking in COLLECTION ?

What happens if half a part of the horse which is the main part and very important one is left behind in developing and training ?

How can we bring a horse on his/her hinds , how can we train a horse to walk on his/her hinds and to use them as the main source of power ?

What are the benefits (for riders and for the horse him/her self) of the horse using his/her hinds as the main source of power ?

How could the rider find out that the horse which he/she is riding for the first time is on hinds and why the rider has to find out this crucial matter ?

Are there any measurements for these to find out which horse is better in which part and which horse has to be improved on what part and what are the main parts and measurements that the trainer has to look for and make them improve?

Up to my knowledge these are very crucial and I hope we could open a dialog and make a good and positive debate on these issues.

If we want to train a horse up to a level of international and world competition we must know and improve these where ever they are weak and need to be improved.

If we want to train a horse for a international competition we have to know which horse is good for what purpose because horses are different with each other and each one is good for a particular job this important matter is our job to find out and train the horse for that particular reason , Example horse A is good for Polo but horse A is not good for Jumping or horse X is good for Dressage but horse X is not good for endurance.

Some people when you talk about COLLECTION they attack you as hard as they can why I don't really know but they say COLLECTION is for the Horse learning Dressage I am so against this how could you tell them otherwise the big problem is they keep and breed Horses that is the nightmare part of it.

TO LIE DOWN A HORSE

What you are about to read is from a Q & A I thought is best not to bring the other peoples names and comments which most of them where positive but I don't want to upset anyone therefore if you see some sentences are not on the right track please tell me I will explain, thank you so much.

I was reading the Horse Talk on the IH site the other day and saw a post that intrigued me. The thread was about a stallion that was dangerous, hadn't improved with gelding, and the majority of people thought the horse should be put down. The post that I found fascinating was by Persianhorse, who lives in Iran and seems to have a lot of knowledge about horses. I was hoping that his post would be discussed but it wasn't, therefore I pm'd him to ask his permission to copy it here. Hopefully he will come here and explain more about the purpose of lying a horse down and tell us for what sort of problems he would use it. Re: For info and a warning! « Reply #7 on 9 Jan, 2007, 3:27am » Hi : For this kind of problem we make the Horse to LAY DOWN this is the only way that can bring a Horse back to normal life I have experience of laying down the Horses with great problem and mental illness or better to say Killers this is the only way that we can save a horse from bullet. If there is a way this is it . laying a horse down is like formating a disc , it cleans the brain from all the bad memories. best wishes. The above was the starter of this topic by Brenda.

Hi :
We should know everything is done by us as humans all the accidents and all the bad memories are man made horse by itself does nothing wrong we can only learn from them many accident in my point of view wont happen if learn the body language of the horse because horses tell us everything the only thing we have to do just to lessen and learn.
To LIE DOWN A HORSE:
I use this method only when all other methods wont bring back the poor horse to life and for only those horses that they have no other way back to normal life and the owners want to kill them I prefer to lie them down and don't allow them to kill the poor animal which we are the one which has done this to the animal everything is are fault.
Everything we do is NON VIOLENT all are actions are based on it please remember this because it is very crucial and important my way of thinking and the way I work is based upon ESTABLISHING TRUST and MAKING A GOOD BOND WITH THE HORSE.
Some of the works I do :
1- I know BODY LANGUAGE OF THE HORSE.
2- I IMPRINT THE HORSE from early stages of life (the moment which the foal is still on the ground and has not stand for the first time actually everything lies on that moment which you are bigger than the foal if the foal stand up there is no point in it all animal connect to something which is bigger than them self).

Actually when we lie down a horse we become bigger in my point of view everything is in the matter of being bigger than the horse itself the magic is in this to become bigger.

Very important:
First we prepare the Ground the place which we want to lie down the horse on it at least 10 t0 20 inches thickness (much the better) of good footage mostly from the horse poe and hay mixed together .

First we Long Line the horse for some time so he/she gets tiered then we put a rug on the horse so the body has more protection.
We put on a jacket which we call a (STRAIT JACKET) this is a usefull tool it comes over the horse body and behind the hinds just above the hocks and in front just above the knee on the forearm when we put this on the horse we bring one of the hands up and close it to the jacket (if we bring up the right hand and close it to the jacket then the horse should lie down on the right hand side if we close the left hand then the horse should lie down on the left side it depends which arm we close on that side the horse should be lie down this is very important if it done wrong we can damage the horse all together).

When a horse comes to a situation that there is no other way than putting him/her to lie down I do it from both sides because horses should see everything from the both side because horse brain the left side has no connection with the right side like human does.
If a horse has seen an object with his/her left eye that does not mean he/she know that object you have to show him/her on the right eye too.

The moment the horse is on the ground we open the jacket but we wont let the horse head to come on the ground because the only way that he/she could stand up is when the horse head is on the ground we keep the horse head up and the neck bent.
We let the horse to kick as much as he/she likes the hands and legs must be free this is very important too.
We rub the neck the face , around the eye if we have a small boy is better to walk one or two steps on the horse withers and shoulder a place which the horse could see (this is especially good for some one which the horse had a accident or with some one which the horse had some kind of accident if we know the horse past which normally we don't know the horse history and mostly the owners or dealers they don't tell us the truth unfortunately why I never know the dealers come up with good lies mostly).

When the horse want to stand up I put the person which walked on the horse in a way when the horse wants to come up the person is on it as a rider this is important too.

It is unbelivabel how the horse changes when he/she stands for the first time it is like the first day that he/she came to life for the first time.

I do all of this in a round pen .

If there are any questions I will be glad to answer if I can .


It is my honor to answer as much as I can but sometime some people put some things which drags the subject in a different way why they do it God knows?

One of the thing that we are against and it is common in your country is CASTRATING the male horse I believe this is much worse than putting a horse which is man killer to lie down castrating a horse brings some kind of trauma to the poor horse some will say oh it is for the benefit of the horse but I will say no it is for the benefit of us and that is it.
One of the main reasons that I say it wont break the horse spirit is because if some kind of accident happens to the same horse that we have lie down the horse will get upset horse knows what has happened and he/she will get sick again by a new accident.

You have something which is done by Mr Monty Roberts called Join Up and Follow Up we have the same thing with another name we use the same rules as I know some of the Monty's but I have worked with some horse whisperers in U.S before and they use to use the same rules some of the traumas could be cured by Join Up and Follow Up and many of the horses cure by that and they don't need to lie down , lying a horse to the ground is the last act when there is no other way to bring the poor horse back to life we use this technique and REMEMBER ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS ARE MAN MADE BELIEVE ME ALL OF THESE ARE MAN MADE PROBLEM PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND.
The horses that I lie down they don't give up they put the bad things behind and start a new life again and if the next day something bad happens to them they react as a normal horse as the accident goes stronger the reaction of the horse will be stronger.
First they start by showing the WHITENESS OF THE EYE AS THE WHITE GETS BIGGER IT MEANS THE HORSE HAS A BIGGER AFFECT IN HIS MIND THEREFOR WE SHOULD NOT LET THE WHITE GROW BIGGER THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT BJ.

Please ask as much as you like I do not mind to answer up to my knowledge it will be my honor BJ and please ask your questions from 1 to 5 or 1 to 20 give your questions a number please .

Whisperer forgive me if I say something that was unpleasant to you at the end we all love horses.


I am one of those as I said before in my post that believe horses did not come to life for us to ride them I am totally against any competition like jumping , polo,dressage and so on I think horses are more greater than us as humans if now days we are talking about democracy we should look how they live in their herds and learn something from them I have a small clinic for curing humans which have mental disorders and some which you call AUTISM I cure them with connection with horses not only riding them but understanding the body language of the horse and try to get connected to horses especially mental connections like touching feeling the breath and so on riding comes at the very end and this riding is on walk only , I live with horses and every day I learn something new and my learning is a never ending process.

About the wheat machine as I understand the horse has no room to kick or to move is this right?
If so we have problem with this kind of method because we believe the horse has to kick as much as he/she likes to release all the aggressiveness inside (if I have used the right word) for example when a horse get the habit of kicking we cure it by letting the horse to kick as much as he/she likes.

If we want to DESENSITIZE THE EARS for example we use a long and wide wet cloth we put it on the horse ear so he/she could not remove and we rub the ears as much as they DESENSITIZE
now days with a hair dryer we do the exact thing with a hair dryer.

I have to say we do all these things right after birth we DESENSITIZE the places that human needs to work with in the future and true the life of the horse if we do this without interfering between the new born and the mother is the best, thats for sure if we do this correctly then the horse will have a better life in future because he/she must with no choice live with humans it is obvious that horses with no freedom at all live with humans but they must do everything from the start by force not by their free choice now we have to make the world a better place for them to live by our side , horses are herd animals they are social but what we do from the start we put them in a box to begin with what I am trying to say is we take their spirit by force from the start from the first day of their life they have to do everything to our liking not to their liking.

When we want to drive a car (I am not comparing cars with horses) we must reach an age mostly 18 then we must read a thick book them we have to test drive for some time them we have to pass two exams one the book the other driving this is for a car which has no spirit and has no life.

When we want to ride a horse we go normally to a stable which is belong to my dads friend and some one put us on the saddle thats all for %90 of us then as we get older we try to understand in these days God knows how many accidents can happen which could be life threatening one my lose a leg the other a broken back and on a while chair for the rest of the life and who is to blame the poor HORSE if I am wrong please tell me .

I have much more to post but I do not want my post to get too long so all could read it .


I would like to tell you what is my opinion on why and how lie down a horse works.

I am sure you all have heard of IMPRINTING when the Goslings hatched from the egg if there is no mother they will expose to a moving and bigger object like a human leg or a dog (even a predator) or something like that this process occurs widely in the animal kingdom up to my knowledge this is science .

When we lie down a horse and rub certain parts of his/her body then we put a person on top of him/her to walk some steps this is exactly just like the above and it is in the animal from its birth this is not from the animal experience the animal has it from its mother the experience which has past to the animal thousands of years ago obviously everything is experience first but when it happens generation after generation it becomes SYNGENIC.

In the wild when the gosling is with its mother and sisters and brothers it will survive but if it left alone then has less chance of surviving its the same with the horse and foal when we lie down a horse it will expose to the moving object which is bigger than him/her it will IMPRINT itself to the moving object for survival and therefor knows that it will do no harm to him/her all the fear will vanish and horse knows there will be no harm like before.

We have ot realize that all bad things that make a horse to attack people is the results of bad things that has happened and has harm the poor animal these bad memories will vanish until the next time that something bad would happen in its life.


The first thing that we do are :
We put the horse in a round pen first.

We do some communications with the horse the tool for this is Body Language and do a very deep observation.

Now the horse is ready for the Join Up and Follow Up (as you call it by this name the work which Mr: Monty Robers does) but we call this procedure another name actually we become a horse in the round pen we start a relation as horse to horse relation all based on Trust and making a good and deep bound with the horse mostly the horse does not need any lie down but only towards the person which makes that bound and establishes that trust but towards other people the horse is still the same horse but very much less fearful.
Let me bring an example for you :

Lets say I have an accident with my horse from the time of that accident whenever my horse see me realizes the accident (horses have excellent memories) whenever my horse sees me the accident comes up to his/her memory then you do the above as I said my horse after what you do in the round pen the horse will become to more positive towards you but still whenever my horse see me still that memory of that accident will come up this is what we can not get rid of unless we lie down the horse.

I hope I have explained it well.

Can you find the movie called The Horse Whisperer Played by Robert Redford ?
If you can watch the movie very carefully and then we will talk over it in detail (but be vary careful to observe all the things about the horse and human from the start because many of the things on the horse matter is very much true.

Unfortunately in the beginning of the movie the two girls do not know the body language of the horse if they would of know that accident would never happened in the first place because the horses are shouting to the girls that under our hoof is ICE but covered by snow which you (the two girls which are riding the horses) can not see.




Because not all horses with something wrong in them need to be lie down there are many problems that you can fix with many other methods for example when a horse is a kicker or pulls back or a bucker we wont put them to lie down we use other methods when a horse rears we put GOGGLES ON and fix that problem we wont lie him/her down.

When a horse has come to the end of his/her life and we do not know anything about his/her past and no one could go near her/him and we use all the methods and they wont work we use the lie down as a last resort to prevent the horse not to be killed by any one we go and give money and buy the animal in that situation the only way is to lie down the horse to cure all the bad memories if the horse owner was me it would not reach a point so he/she would need to lie down if only a bad accident happen which has never happened in my life .

The reasons that horses need to lie down is because of us humans we are the ones which do all things wrong and we put the poor horse in a state of being so aggressive and become a man killer.

We use the lie down as last resort to prevent of killing the poor animal.

Did I answer your question or not if not please as more specific so I may answer I hope.



Mostly the horses that we put to lie down they have complex of mental problems they have very bad and harsh memory's they get so mixed up in their heads that they leave you with no choice of doing something else therefore we have to lie them down.

For all problems there is a way of fixing that problem .

If there is no other way left for you to fix the problems then you lie down a horse.

Mostly the horses that we lie down they have a complex of problems there is not one or tow or four to fix them one by one and go step by step.



Let me say what is my routine in horse What ever you want to call it lets say Horse Training The process to lei down .

The first step is horse and me together for some long time to observe each other very carefully to gain each other trust as much as we can and make a bond spending time with the horse is the most important part.

!- Sitting with the horse for days and Nights in the More Wilder space .

2- I use all the equipment that I want to use all around me and my horse all the time.

3- We make bound in the end of step 2 .

4- After 3 we establish Trust with my horse the main POINT that I want to achieve.

5-I become a lets say I never want to give it a number but I become half horse.

6- When I became a half horse and with Trust and the bound .

7- We lie down together I Will lie down with him or her we are both horses the are on the ground.

8- I am in what position that She/he is.

This is something spiritual I can not put it in words.

To lei down a horse must be spiritual , no rush and giving it a good amount of time all together.

Did I put my thoughts into words properly?

You make such interesting points persianhorse. Why are you against competitions? I work with kids with special needs too! What other disabilities do you work with apart from autism? How do you go about curing autistic kids, what work do you do with them, do you work alongside someone in the medical profession? I think its facinating what you do! The above was from some poster and you will read my answer under this line:

Because I see so much violence in it.
Some horses are not good at what they want from them , but by force they make them to do it.

For example:

Today there is a competition and I am a horse and I don't just feel up to it , they make me do it.



Best wishes,
PH.