Horse Tidbits

Horse's Body Language
Paying attention to your horse's body language will tell you what is going on in that brain of his. He usually thinks before he reacts & you can tell where his attention is focused.

Blinking eyes means he is thinking, licking his lips means he is thinking also. Sighing and nickering are signs of contentment and acceptance, a cocked leg is a sign of relaxation ( or a kick that is about to come.

• Watch his eyes and ears, will tell you when the horse's feet are about to move.
When his ears s are flicking back and forth, he's trying to take in more than one thing. He may be confused or trying to sort out what's happening around him.

• Pinned back flat ears means be careful. He's showing aggression and dominance.

• If the little darling swings his hindquarters towards you, he's telling you one of three things: he's either dismissing you, threatening you, or he's afraid. None of these are good.
• A high head and a stiff tight neck suggests that he may be frightened or wary, or showing resistance or aggression.

• A horse that is swishing his tail while you are riding or asking him to do something specific indicates that he is trying to tell you he is pretty aggravated and has had about as much he is going to take.

Swishing the tail can also mean the horse is uncomfortable or in pain.

• Grinding the teeth can signal different things. They may be nervous or are resisting the bit or you have too heavy a hand or the bit is too strong or properly adjusted or your horse's mouth/teeth are bothering him,

A horse in the wild will travel ten to fifteen miles a day, foraging, looking for water, keeping ahead of predators.

This is how they were genetically designed to live.

The movement keeps their hooves flexing and pumping blood (not to mention that wild horses have the best, soundest hooves on the planet) and the movement keeps their bodies tuned and toned.

This site uses Active X and is a SAFE website
BOOKMARK this page
RideNYS.com under FAVORITES
since it doesn't always
show up on the search engines!!!

Adventure Horse Riding in NYS
Learn to Ride in 4 Days ! No Kidding & No Fooling !

Located close to Old Forge, Rome, Utica, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester,Watertown, Boonville,
& Westernville, NY.
The Outback Ranch
ADULTS ONLY
Lodging Included- No Charge

Horses have minds and can use them to make choices.

It's a wonder horses as a whole don't just kill us all and be done with their misery.

There's nothing you can't do when the horse becomes a part of you.
Parelli

Horses know what happens before what happens happens.

Horses, like people, have different tolerance levels. The pressure will affect some horses much sooner than others.

A horse cannot distinguish between a correct lesson and a wrong lesson. The horse only knows he was taught something.

It is up to you to decide which one he learns." - Scot Hansen

Keep learning, especially from your horse.

Don’t make excuses for your horse’s behaviour.

Don’t let your emotions get in the way

Put in the effort to understand how your horse thinks. Anderson

People have personalities ande horses have horseanalities .
Some darlings are very reactive and some of the darlings don't want to react or do anything at all.

When the Almighty put hoofs on the wind and
a bridle on the lightening, he called it a horse.

The greatest gift you can give to a
horse is to give him confidence.

A lot of horses have a past but not don't have a future.

Be a horse in disguise.

Allow him to do something - don’t make him do it.

The more you know and learn about horses, the more you know how much you don’t know!

Better a little lazy than a little crazy. (Cameron)

Curiosity is the opposite of fear.

Horses are so perceptive of intention that they can read you like a book.

Watch what your friends do , then do the opposite.

If it's light,
then it's polite.

Don’t pick up the reins unless there is a meaning, purpose or a reason for it.

Horses don't fake it.

Learners have responsibilities.

Nothing means nothing and everything means something.

Everything starts the moment he sees you.

As soon as I see my horse,
I know he sees me.

When he doesn’t do what you have asked of him, and you are gertting frustrated - just try to say to yourself, “Oh, how interesting !” in that he is doing something else.

Take advantage of what is going on and it will change., ie.
He won’t go in a direction that you want him to, then, instead just do things in the direction he is going - instead of fighting with him and/or getting into a rodeo. and it stops the fight.

Independent seat - don’t grip with legs or hang onto the reins.

The more you use your reins, the less they use their reins.

If you can get the little darling’s mind, then his body will follow.

Too much clucking, arm waving, or talking is NOISE to a horse.

The dignity comes when the horse is given a choice.

Humans are autocratic by nature and anthropomorphise the darlings by putting human thoughts and values into animals actions . Prey animals think totally differently than their predators.

The little darlings are full faculty learners otherwise within hours of their birth - they would simply be appetizers .

Dogs and horses need exercise.: mental, emotional and physical.

Horses are nature in its finest form.

Pressure motivates, the release teaches.

Consistency is a great teacher - variety is the spice of life.

When a horse looks at you means he usually has a question.

It’s the horses job "to do" - it is our job to stay still.

If he won’t move his front end, he is usually a dominant, left-brained horse. If he won’t move his hindquarters, he is generally a scared horse.

He has the brain size of a Georgia peach and a heart the size of a watermelon. Parelli

Horses stay alive by being smart. People are intelligent. Smart and intelligent are two different things.

If he rears up on the ground, he is trying to get taller.

One rein for control, two reins for communication.

Do you know what an idiot does right before he gets hurt? He puts down his beer and says “watch this” !

Trust he will respond - be ready to correct.

The Pecking Order - who here is strong enough to take care of me?