Thanks

Hi can someone advise me on rugging a horse for the first time, he is 4yrs old and never been rugged. I have had a tarp on his back and even an old quilt, but today I put the his new rug on, which went really well, until I took his halter of and he decided to move after a few seconds then just bolted around his yard, I let him go for about a minute or so then went in with his halter and called him to get his attention, he came over so I put his halter back on and when he calmed down I took the rug off, I’ll do it again tomorrow, am I doing the right thing?

Hi Debbie
Whenever I have had a horse like this the first thing I do is NOT RIDE IT!! Instead I put on a halter and we go for a walk side by side. Long, long walks and find every possible scary horse eating tree stump, laneway, building, car, truck, motorbike, trailer and whatever else there is out there that could possible pose itself as a remotely possible predator… There are so many according to so many horses! Lol. Your reactions will control your horses reactions. Your heart rate will control your horses heart rate. Make sure you have a nice long lead rope attached to your horse so you are able to approach and touch, sit on or move around the potential horse eating object in a very relaxed manner and still have control of your horse. Spend the time with the potential threat until your horse understand that maybe it’s judgement of the situation was a little hastey. You need to do this in the environment where it is ridden. Not a round yard. All horses know that the horse eating things aren’t really going to eat them in a round yard but will out on a trail!!!
I have been laughed at forever as I spend a lot of time talking to horses, especially in these situations. The tone of my voice, the calmness in my voice and my relaxed body language can control the outcome very quickly. If I tense up or quicken my voice, use a higher pitch even, my horse will think it was right and we both must escape immediately. Try humming a tune. It will lower your heart rate immediately and that of your horse. Try it seriously. If you focus on it you will feel your heart slow down and then watch your horses reaction. I always get a laugh out of it myself as it is immediate for both. I love doing it!
We all love to ride but if you take just a little time to do the important ground work first not only will your horse be safer to ride, more likely than not you will build a bond that will blow your mind away!

My husband and I live in Saudi Arabia and I wanted a horse. My idea was having a well-trained, docile horse who would be happy to ride with me around the Project (read – large farm) in the morning, let me do some grooming (which I would love as I enjoy physical labour and want to develop a solid, close relationship), and enjoy our friendship without too much stress. I knew a lot of work would be needed, but that’s no problem. My husband has a lot of experience with training young horses, but he always had a herd of trained horses to provide a lot of the education for the young foals. He thought it would be nice to get me a young horse whom I could train from the beginning myself. I wasn’t keen on the idea since I don’t have a lot of horse experience, but he felt he’d be able to guide me.

He got Bokkie from one of his work colleagues. The colleague doesn’t speak much English, so we have no clue what the history of this horse is. We suspect he was about 2 1/2 years old when we got him (which makes him around 3 years old now). I was living elsewhere at the time, so I only saw Bokkie once for 10 days before I moved here last month. During that first visit, I was able to put a halter on Bokkie, lead him with a rope (though that wasn’t very fluid), and I put a fly-net on him after only 15 minutes of introducing it to him. He seemed quite calm. While I was back home, I don’t think my husband really had time to do anything with Bokkie. When I showed up last month, I found that Bokkie bites now, hates being moved with a halter (I can slowly get one on him, but he balks when you try to direct him with it), and doesn’t let me put his fly-net on. As a matter of fact, he tries to bite me (that’s what it seems like and he has nipped me to good bruising a couple times when I haven’t moved away quickly enough – no amount of correcting seems to help) all the time UNLESS I give him a rope to chew on. When he’s chewing on the rope, I can suddenly (not always, but usually) rub him, groom him, touch his legs, etc. Only when he’s chewing on the rope.

I’m able to let him walk on his own from the stall to the exercise area with some guidance from me verbally and physically but without a halter or rope. In the exercise area, he usually plays by himself because he’s too excited to listen to me. I’ve given him an empty 6gal water jug to play with which he loves and with which gets a good workout. He rolls it around with his head and occasionally kicks it with a front hoof, especially when it’s trapped against the wall in order to move it away and get it rolling again. But as for getting him under control to use a halter and do groundwork, I’m at a loss. I’ve watched a Monty video to learn what to do, but the horse in the video isn’t putting up a fight as it’s brought into the training area. I understand what the video says about how to join up, I just need help BEFORE that point to lead him safely with a halter and rope.

I’ve told my husband that the situation isn’t fair to Bokkie and he really should go to a new home where the folks are more experienced in working with such a spirited horse. But he’s hesitant to do that because we’re afraid the next owner will abuse him since he’s not easy to work with. I’m trying to read up on how to be the Alpha in the herd, but I’m obviously not doing it right because Bokkie hasn’t gotten the fax yet! When I try to act dominant, he just stands and looks at me with his ears forward. Then he raises his head much higher than me and keeps standing there. The message seems to be, “I know I’m still dominant over you, whatever you say or do.” Argh!!! Can someone please give me some advice? Telling me I was stupid for getting into this situation is kind of a moot point as I already know that. 😳

Look forward to good advice from all your readers!

Sandy in Saudi