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Five Fun Things to do with Your Horse
….other than riding
 By Alexandra Heilbron
Riding is really fun, but there are plenty of other things you can do with your horse too! When you spend non-riding time with your horse, he begins to see you as not just someone who hops on his back and rides him around a ring, but as his friend.
- Pull up a chair
Pull up a lawn chair outside of his paddock and relax where you can watch him. Bring a horse magazine and look up every once in awhile to see what your horse is up to. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, he’ll notice you there. You don’t have to watch him every minute, but get a feel for who he is. Is he at the top of the pecking order? Which horse can boss him or get him to move? Which horses does he boss around or move around the paddock? Which horse is he the most friendly with – who does he like to groom with?
Sidebar:
Grooming is when a horse reaches out with his lips to another horse in an area where they may have an itch. In return, the other horse grooms your horse. It starts with the lips, and then they may gently use their teeth. When they’re done, one horse will give the other a little nip to let them know.
- Hang out in the paddock
After you’ve spent time outside of the paddock, at some point you may want to go inside and hang out somewhere out of the way, like on a little hill if there is one. Your horse will likely wonder what you’re doing and come over and nuzzle your head!
If you begin to feel comfortable inside the paddock, it’s fun to just hang out at the round bale as if you’re one of the horses. They’ll look at you at first and wonder what you’re doing, but horses accept humans very easily into their herd and will listen attentively while you chat with them. You can tell them anything – how your day is going, what problems you’re having, what your plans are for tomorrow. They love hearing you talk and even more than that, horses love the sound of human laughter. So tell them about something that you thought was funny – funny enough to make you laugh again! If you hang out with them for awhile you’ll probably find yourself laughing at the funny things they do and the facial expressions they make – horses have very expressive faces.
- Go for a walk
Put your horse on a lead line and take him for a walk. In summer, take him to a place where there’s plenty of tasty stuff for him to munch on, like long grass or clover. You could talk to him or just enjoy each other’s company in silence. Give him a scratch on a place where he likes to be scratched or rubbed. If you have a nice calm horse and you feel safe doing this, you could even sit on the ground while he grazes.
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Indoor versus Outdoor Board – What do the Facts Say?
By Lindsey Forkun, www.LFEquestrian.com
 It seems that for every person who swears by outdoor board, there is also a person that claims indoor board is better. Grand Prix Show Jumper McLain Ward thinks all horses should be stabled, even retired horses. Grand Prix Show Jumper Amy Millar thinks that keeping horses outside is healthier and at Millerbrook Farm all of their youngsters and retired horses live outside.
This article looks at the facts – what is healthier for a horse? Put your personal opinions aside and instead open yourself to evidence by certified equine professionals.
First off, it is important to understand what is meant by indoor and outdoor board, for the purpose of this article:
- Indoor board means the horse is stabled in a stall, minimum of 10 feet by 10 feet, for a period of 10 to 15 hours. The horse is provided turnout in a paddock/field for the remainder of the day which may or may not include other horses for company.
- Outdoor board means the horse is outside for the entire day and night, regardless of weather. The horse is provided with a shelter that has adequate space for all of the horses in the paddock, the paddock is safe (free of dangerous debris, safe fencingetc). The horse is provided with at least one companion horse.
There are several key areas that will be considered when comparing indoor versus outdoor board:
- Convenience
- Cost
- Mental Health
- Physical Health
- Safety
When exploring each of these categories, we assume the horse considered for indoor/outdoor board is of average health and does not have an illness, injury, or condition that requires quarantine or stall rest.
 Convenience
Convenience is a bit tricky to decide which type of board has the upper hand. There are many factors to consider. Whose convenience are you considering? Generally it is easier for barn staff to care for outdoor board horses because of less mucking, spreading bedding turn in/out and other chores related to horses that are indoors.
However, for the owner/rider, it can be quite convenient to park at a stable, walk a short distance inside, and find your horse ready and waiting inside for you. Your horse is dry because they are out of the rain which is more convenient if you are going to ride.
On the other hand, a horse that is boarded outside generally has less excess energy and play – which is much more convenient for training/riding because you don’t have to spend time lunging or arguing with your horse for their attention and cooperation (which may not be true for all horses, but certainly a lot of horses that are stalled require extra training to get rid of excess energy and playfulness).
This one is a draw.
Outdoor Board: 1 point
Indoor Board: 1 point
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Building Better Partnerships with Natural Horsemanship:
Tips for strong partnerships
 By Lindsey Forkun, www.LFEquestrian.com
Many people are passionate about horses, but not all know how to have a true partnership with their horse. Horses are panicky and skittish animals by nature, but there are many ways you can help your horse to become a calm and confident partner. Horses have different personalities, just like humans, and you have to suit your training to the horse.
Going beyond typical training programs, if you want to master a true partnership you need to know what motivates your horse, how confident your horse is, how sensitive, and how dominant your horse is – this is all part of natural horsemanship.
There are many things you can do to improve your partnership with your horse. This will help the horse want to be with you, want to work for you, and ultimately lead to a safer and more successful relationship because the horse wants to follow you.
Tips:
- Make the right thing comfortable and the wrong thing uncomfortable – the wrong thing is made uncomfortable, not painful or terrifying. For example if you want the horse to go forward you start with a gentle squeeze from your leg and then may increase pressure to an annoying kick or swinging of a rope, but as soon as the horse moves forward you reward the horse by being still with your body and you may even give the horse a friendly rub. You need to be careful never to cross the line of causing pain to the horse. It is very damaging to the partnership if the horse becomes scared of you or your tools.
- Be patiently persistent until you get what you want – often when horses and handlers are confused the problem becomes much worse when the handler stops asking and gives up. This is because the horse then thinks they must have fulfilled your request because you rewarded them by stopping asking for the cue. This means that the next time you give the cue the horse will repeat the same behaviour they did before which got you to stop asking, because that is the reward. Do your best to continue cuing the horse until you get what you want. Your partnership will become stronger when you and your horse can work through confusion and figure out what each other wants.
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Building Better Partnerships with Natural Horsemanship:
The 5 Most common communication mishaps
By Lindsey Forkun, www.LFEquestrian.com
Communication is key in everything we do. As a child you learned to read, write, and speak which meant you could communicate with other humans. When you begin working with horses you need to learn a new language of body language and sounds so that you can effectively communicate with horses.
The horse needs to understand you, and you need to understand your horse. When starting a partnership with your horse, try and read your horse’s behaviour and recognize when the horse is trying to communicate with you – do you know what it looks like when your horse asks you a question?
Many people understand the basics of horse communication. For example, pinning ears means the horse is mad. However there are many more details to horse’s body language and it is surprising how little horse communication is taught in traditional riding programs. It seems as if some programs think that riding horses is only a one way set of communication – the rider giving cues to the horse, but the piece where the rider learns to understand the horse seems forgotten.
Many horse people, even many ‘professional’ horse people, do not understand many of the signals a horse gives us. Instead a lot of the time the communication is misinterpreted as misbehaviour and the horse gets punished for trying to ask a question, or show some other sign of communication.
It takes time and experience to learn to read a horse’s body language and learn all of the signals. You can learn a lot from watching horses out in the paddock as well as from watching other experienced people work with horses. When observing horses, look for how the horses react, listen, and how they show confusion, fear, anxiety, motivation, and eagerness.
Here are the top 5 most commonly misunderstood communication signals:
- The horse asks a question: horses ask questions all the time. Horses want to know if they are responding the right way, if you are sure about what you want, or they may even be requesting permission. When you play with a horse from the ground, the horse will look at you when they ask a question. A common misunderstanding is when a horse is being lunged in a circle, and the horse is going around in boring, non-stimulating circles for several minutes, eventually the horse usually will turn and look at you as if to ask ‘can we do something more interesting now?’ – which is commonly misinterpreted as the horse being cheeky and trying to stop so the horse is often whipped or yelled at and told to get back out on the circle. The horse will ask questions in many other scenarios too, and when you ride the horse will often just flick their ears toward you to listen to your cues and ask for guidance.
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Building Better Partnerships with Natural Horsemanship:
3 Easy things to better your ride
By Lindsey Forkun, www.LFEquestrian.com
Working with horses can be fun and rewarding, but it can also be frustrating and challenging at times. Having a great partnership with your horse will help you to have fun and rewarding rides more often, leaving the frustration and challenging times to be forgotten.
Here are three easy things you can do to better your ride:
- Start with ground work – working with the horse from the ground is usually the safest place you can be. When you bring your horse into the ring try some ground work before you get on. Make sure your horse is respectful and listening as you ask them to back up, do a forehand turn, and/or complete transitions on a circle all from the ground. If the horse is responsive, listening, and respectful completing your cues from the ground, then you are more likely to have a good ride. If the horse is not working with you nicely from the ground, then continue to work with the horse until things improve. Taking the time to do some quick ground work will give you a chance to make sure your horse is safe to ride, but it also gives you a chance to teach something new to your horse.
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Building Better Partnerships with Natural Horsemanship:
Mounting Up – Won’t you please stand still!
By Lindsey Forkun
www.LFEquestrian.com
You head into the arena, all tacked up and ready to ride. You bring your horse over to the mounting block and get ready to mount up. Your horse decides to play tug of war and back away from the mounting block pulling you to the ground. You regroup, and decide to try from the ground, but this time the horse moves sideways away from you and then just walks forward and doesn’t let you near the stirrup. You are frustrated and left thinking ‘won’t you please stand still!’
Getting on your horse is an important step to a good ride. If your horse is anxious or disrespectful during your mount, the horse is likely not to be an angel for your ride either. The horse needs to stand still for you to get on to show confidence, readiness, respect, and safety.
When addressing mounting issues, we need to remember the natural horsemanship principles ‘encounter, wait, revisit’ and also ‘the reward is in the release’ (to learn more about natural horsemanship principles, read Natural Horsemanship Answering the What, Why, and How for ALL Disciplines).
Where people often go wrong when mounting horses is they punish the horse for standing still. This is because the reward is in the release, i.e. the horse feels the reward when you stop, relax, and do nothing. For example, you are getting ready to get on the horse, and the horse is moving about, but then the horse decides to stand still for a moment, so you quickly hop on the horse. What you have done is punished the horse for standing still because the moment the horse stood still you did exactly what the horse was nervous about. Instead you should have rubbed the horse and taken a step away from the horse to reward the behaviour of standing still. Then you can try again. In this way you encounter a problem, wait for the horse to be still, then start over and revisit the situation.
It is important not to have someone hold your horse when getting on because this creates a trapping like feeling to the horse and can actually make the problem worse. This is because the horse has natural fight or flight reactions and if you prevent the horse from walking away which is the flight response, then you may provoke the horse to try and fight away which could lead to biting or striking out.
It is important to be very consistent. If you choose to try the method below, then commit to the following steps all the way through. Be careful to reward the horse for standing still. If you are consistent in your approach then your horse can learn your intentions and learn that you won’t give up, but that you also won’t mount up before the horse is ready. This builds trust. If even just one time you lose your patience and decide to just try and quickly get on without the horse’s readiness, then you risk losing trust in your horse and making the problem worse.
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Natural Horsemanship in the Grand Prix Ring – is there a link?
 Natural horsemanship is a training phenomenon that has been gaining popularity all over the world. Primarily it seems that mostly Western riders and pleasure riders are the ones to pick up this new technique, but what about the English and Jumper riders? What about in the Grand Prix Show Jumping ring?
I went behind the scenes at the 2010 Royal Winter Fair to talk with some of the biggest names in Equestrian Sport to find out what they thought about natural horsemanship—whether it has a place in the Grand Prix arena.
When speaking with a number of Grand Prix riders it became quite clear that they didn’t really know what natural horsemanship meant. The term natural horsemanship was surprisingly unfamiliar to many of the riders.
Mac Cone, a top Canadian Show Jumper, was asked what do you think of natural horsemanship, and he responded with his own question – “huh, cowboy stuff?” When Brianne Goutal, a top upcoming American Show Jumper and Equitation medalist, was asked the same thing she said, “It's what we call positive reinforcement.”
Many of the riders thought natural horsemanship was the same thing as positive reinforcement. Before having conversations about natural horsemanship with many of the Grand Prix riders, it was clear that first they needed to understand what natural horsemanship really meant.
Natural horsemanship is different than positive reinforcement. It means using communication and leadership instead of intimidation and fear. Natural horsemanship is learning how to understand your horse, getting your horse to understand you, and learning about your horse so that you know how to motivate him, communicate with him, and get the best results from him.
Natural horsemanship is a method where you learn horse psychology and exercises to help each different horse personality type. It’s not a single method, but instead a process of understanding and interacting with your horse that you adapt to fit your needs and circumstance. The principles stay the same with all horses, disciplines, and handlers when using natural horsemanship – but it doesn’t mean always positive reinforcement or always following one pathway of exercises.
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Is Your Horse a Partner?
 By Lindsey Forkun, www.LFEquestrian.com
There are many different styles of training and working with horses. Some people fawn over their horses with praise and affection, others take a more military style approach with defined boundaries and little affection, and most people fall somewhere in between.
Natural horsemanship professes a balance of boundaries and praise. Horses that are allowed to do as they please can become pushy or anxious, while horses that are always under strict instruction can end up disliking humans leading to dangerous misbehaviours, or just a general lack of motivation, which can be frustrating and limiting.
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 Using a crop in the show ringAdvantage – or disadvantage?
by Ariadne Brown
Many people carry a crop in the show ring. But does it give you an advantage? Are the riders who use their crops in competitions winning more than people who don’t? And if they aren’t, why not?
At the Royal Horse Show in Toronto, I decided to study several of the Grand Prix jumper competitions and find out not only what the riders at that level thought about it, but what they were doing in the ring.
American Brianne Goutal, a former Maclay champion, won the $100,000 World Cup FEI class. It’s the most prestigious class at the Royal and for a 22-year-old rider, it was quite an accomplishment to beat established competitors such as McLain Ward, Ian Millar and John Whitaker, to name just a few.
Interestingly, she didn’t carry a crop or have a flash noseband to keep her horse’s mouth shut. When asked about that, she said, “You know, ever since I was little I really don't like using strong aids. I don't carry a crop or a whip very often because I think that happy, relaxed horses jump better. I'm very aware of not making them rattled and honestly making sure they’re happy.”
In another class, a young Canadian rider whose horse was going beautifully over the first jump of a triple combination held his crop directly out at his side for his horse to see. The horse seemed immediately distracted. The result? As soon as the crop came out, he knocked several rails down at the second jump of the triple.
There were more instances of crops being used when a horse was going well. Another Canadian rider smacked her horse three times when he landed cleanly from a jump. Her mount—who has won prestigious international awards and medals—then twice refused a fence several jumps after being hit—she wound up being eliminated.
Another rider started hitting his horse as they were in the air, sailing cleanly over an obstacle. The horse went on to knock several rails down a few fences later. It appeared that by using a crop, these three riders had rattled their horses, causing them to lose focus.
It made me wonder why they’d done it. Had they thought their horses weren’t going to jump an obstacle that was coming up? If a rider feels their horse isn’t going to jump something, is punishing him before they’ve even arrived at the fence a method that will make him more eager to jump the upcoming fences? From what I witnessed, it didn’t appear to be working.
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Curbing Poor Stall Behaviour
 A client asks 'my horse is pawing in his stall and banging on the door, it has been getting worse and is really disrupting the barn.' The horse is worked a couple times a week and generally is quite good but has a tendancy to move around in the aisle and not want to stand still. This horse has a very active mind... you can see that when he starts to paw and want to move around when you are grooming/in the aisle, the way he moves his lips if he is standing still, etc.
My response:
Standing inside a stall for 12+hrs a day is very difficult for every horse, but even more so for a horse with a very active mind. Remember horses only sleep about 4hrs each night (I wish I could live on 4hrs sleep!) so after sleeping for 4hrs he spends about 10hrs each night bored out of his mind.... and rightly so - can you imagine standing in a 10x10 area with nothing to do?
Then remember that a horse is a very social animal that was meant by nature to be in a herd of other horses socializing and grazing for many hours of the day. When we deny horses of their basic needs to socialize, graze, and move, we then see vices develop such as pawing, weaving, and stall walking, but also other problems like insecurity, lack of confidence, and aggression. Some horses are more subtle in their vices, and some horses make it very clear they are unhappy - This horse is an expressive horse and he is trying to tell you he is not happy.
Horses pick up many vices - walking around the barn late at night you can see that horses hate being in stalls for the most part... unless they have food. Browse the farm in the middle of the night when the food has run out... most of the horses are just itching to get out of their prison cells... I mean stalls.
Why do we have this fascination with stalls? Why do we feel so much better when our horse is in a stall when really they would be happier outside... even when it is raining or snowing I often see my horses choosing not to use their shelter. They continue to play and socialize to their hearts content. (I am not picking on you - this is something that really fascinates me... that people love to stick their horses in stalls even though it is a really boring place for a horse. I even remember when I was 12 years old that I would help do barn chores, and I'd often want to bring the horses in around 3pm even on a sunny beautiful day... just because I felt better if every horse was in their stall... it wasn't until years later that I realized how much horses prefer to be outside (provided the paddock is properly set up with shelter and suitable herd mates)).
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