“I scratch or stroke a horse instead of patting or slapping. I don’t touch the horse’s head until I’ve scratched or stroked his neck or shoulders. If the horse has particular spots on his head he likes rubbed then I rub his head there.
I was taught that the order in which the aids are to be applied always started with the seat, then legs with reins last. I’ve ridden with a bit, a halter, bosal, rope around the neck, and nothing at all and because the horse has learned to respond to my seat it requires little else so it doesn’t make a lot of difference what I put on his head. Anything in the horse’s mouth or on his head that has to be used with much strength probably causes pain.
Ray”
“Watch horses ‘nibble’ each other along their maines, it’s a good feeling, so I do it with my hand, easy when you’re riding and want to parise them, gently grip some maine in your hand and ‘massage’ like the mare would do to her colt, my one loves the reassurance it gives him !
Annete”
“The very first thing I learned was 1.Spend as much time with your horse as possible, if this can’t be done maybe one should not own a horse or just go to a riding stable and ride when one has the time..2.form “trust” first. Without the trust factor nothing will work out for U@you @ your Horse OR any Horse U ride. The more your Horse trusts U the easier the time spend will be more rewarding a better the Training Sessions will be….
Eve”
“When i was about 12 yrs old i bought a green mare sweet as could be but out on the trail she didn’t like other horses near her .if they came up behind she would kick,one day at a slow trot a jumped off n kicked her back…pretty hard,for a 12 yr old.she never did it again.we still had trouble with the biting,ok,the kicking thing worked,so the next time she aimed her teeth at an approaching horse i stood up in my stirrups grabbed the end of her ear in my teeth and bit as hard as i could.she pinned that ear the rest of our ride that day and guess what,she never bit again.good luck
Lisa”
“I got my horse one month ago. She is only a year and four months old. I think everyone can decide for themselves whether they are comfortable with such practices. Some of the readers are able to spend a lot of time with their animals,which is great,wish I could too. Thus they know their animals. I think we all have instincts that tells us when we are not certain. Trust them. It’s usually best.
Nats”
“Often a lazy horse is just a bored horse. It’s usually the ones who act up that are simply bored. If you do something different from the usual routine the problem is often solved.In that case all you have to do is rotate activities to keep the horse interested.
Lee”
“I read on your site about slow feeders.I sent away for a large one to go over a full bale. we love how it has changed her from a horse you could not touch at feed time to a loving horse who doesnt mind you hugging, brushing, cleaning feet. The only trouble is the slow feeder doesnt work. She will eat a whole bale in less than 24hrs. she is putting on weight. what can i do as i dont want to take her off the slow feeder.
Lorraine”
“Diatamaceous earh is wondetful stuff. Not only does it kill fly larva in the poop, but it also keep horses free from intestinal parasites.
Plant lavender, romary and basil. natural fly repellants. Kaban used to love eating lemon grass. Also helped.
How about using Khakibos (Tagetes minuta) to rub the horses down with. No mozzys, flies, fleas or ticks on my dog. Ever.
Chrysanthenum cinirrarifolium contains natural pyrethrum. Only poisonous to cold blooded life forms. Use 50 grams of dried pwdered flowers and mix with 150 ml of methelated spirits. Let stand for about a week. Strain and mix with 50 L of water. kills all insects. Poisonous to fish and bees as well. Should be safe to use on horses as it is not poisonous to ANYTHING warm blooded, including kids and babys.
Diatomaceous earth? Brilliant! Kills the flies in their larval stage.
Stan”
“Many years ago, I rescued an abandoned horse left on a beach to fend for herself. She was in a terrible state. Two split hooves and a terrible cough. I fixed the hooves using a drill, wire and a pair of pliers. I treated the cough with wild dagga (Leonotis nepetafolia)and a bit of molasses to get her to eat it. All four her hooves smelled like something that died. Tea tree oil, swedish bitters and salt did the trick.
Nobody could touch her or even get close to her but me. Kicking and biting like nobodys bussiness. I figured a way to clean her hooves every day. Just went and picked them up and scraped them clean with a piece of bamboo. I sat under her to pull the ticks from between her teats. We used to play hide and seek in the forest. When the owner arrived one day, he was amazed at what I could do with Kaban. Obviously Kaban did not go with him when he left.
Aparantly, Kaban was bad tempered. I wouldn’t know. I just loved her and cared for her. I was thirtyish at that stage and Kaban was the first horse I got that close to. I don’t own a horse now. I wish I did. If you are scared to climb under your horse, ask yourself what you are doing wrong. It’s not your horses fault, it’s yours.”
“Hi all. We had an ex race horse which had very soft hooves and had been shod for several years. We noticed that she was getting “sore feet” every time she went out and were desperate for a solution besides steel shoes. An old man then told me to try old engine oil and paint the oil onto the outside of the hoof twice a day. It seemed a bit radical but in desperation I tried it. It took about two weeks before I saw the diferance. The horse’s hooves were no longer cracking and she seemed to take to a ride without sore feet. I will always be grateful to the old man.
Grae”
A big thanks to Stan – and thanks to everyone for sharing and making this site what it is.
Not so sure about engine oil one, but we’re all here to share.
Really appreciate the comments and emails. Keep ’em coming!
Horse Whisperer ebook here if you haven’t already taken the plunge.
Best
Al
Loved the tips in this letter. going to mention the old engine oil one to a friend who has problems with her horse hooves cracking.
Used engine oil is an old horseman’s trick. It was used long before hooflex came on the scene.
😀 Thanks for finally fixing the gremlins. Been missing all the amazing info.
Hi Stan,
Thanks for all the great tips! I have a few questions: 1) The dry, powdered flowers that you use- did you buy the powder somewhere or did you dry & crush the flowers yourself. I live in Ontario, Canada, and I know they sell either a liquid or powder form of pyrethrin at TSC stores, but I believe it is HIGHLY concentrated and I would worry about getting the mixture wrong.
2) Are “methelated spirits” the same as methyl hydrate? Or, do you know anything else it might be called. I’m a woodworker and don’t recall seeing anything called ‘Methelated Spirits” here before…but I could be totally wrong!
3)About the “Khakibos (Tagetes minuta)”….can you tell me a little more about it? Where can you find it?
I’m always looking for alternatives to chemicals to use on my horses as I won’t let them suffer with flies and other bugs. The only problem is that most home made recipes I have tried haven’t worked, and in fact, the only thing that I HAVE found that works is Absorbine’s Ultrashield EX. When the directions tell you not to get it on your hands or skin it makes me wonder….how can this be safe to put on my horses???
Also- just thought I would share this…
One of my Canadians, Mitsou, came up lame one day last April. I think she may have slipped on ice, but I don’t really know for sure. I had 4 very experienced horse people look at her, including my vet, my farrier,a thoroughbred horse owner/trainer, and another long time horse owner. The problem was that every time someone looked at her, the pain trigger and symptoms (heat, some swelling etc.) seemed to be somewhere else in her leg. It appeared to move around and even my vet who only does horses was baffled. Sometimes it was in her hip, sometimes in her hock, sometimes near her hoof, sometimes in her stifle etc. Some things we ‘thought’ it might be was a fractured splint bone, an injured hock, windpuffs, or deep tissue bruising from a fall. I am a relatively new horse owner so I was researching everything I could think of and it was challenging to try and find a treatment when it presented like this! For months, I tried everything I could think of: clay poultices twice daily to draw heat out, epsom salts/warm water soaking, heat gels, ice gels, ice packs, wrapping, but nothing was working. Then, I remembered reading a discussion on this website about a homeopathic product called ‘TRAUMEEL’ that many people had used on their lame horses with great success. When I initially read the article I looked for Traumeel, but it wasn’t in any stores in Canada, but when Mitsou became lame, I remembered the article, went searching again, and found it!
Without a word of a lie- I put it on Mitsou and THE NEXT DAY was the first day in FOUR MONTHS that she walked without a limp!! I couldn’t believe it- and just put it down to ‘coincidence’. But, I stopped all the other therapies I was trying and used only the Traumeel cream on her entire leg every day. I found out there were also pills available (and ampoules for injection as well!) and I spoke to the company’s Animal Health Advisor who suggested I give the pills as well, as they would be more effective at detecting where the pain was originating from. Because of their weight, and the fact that the products are marketed for humans, she suggested I give Mitsou 6 pills, 3x a day. It was pricey to buy them at stores (versus online) so I gave her 12 a day to see if they would help. She continued to improve every day. My farrier came back one month after he had seen her and he couldn’t believe she was able to walk so well. I was thrilled!! I kept her on the pills (slowly decreased down to 6 a day) and cream until November this year (so about 5 months total). It was too cold for the cream and I had run out of the pills, so I thought I would see how she would be. She has been fine all winter (and it was a BRUTALLY COLD winter here!). She seems a little tight the last week or so- maybe due to the dampness) but I plan to start using it again on her shortly. I’m not saying this would work for everyone, but for me (and Mitsou!), it was a Godsend, so thought I would share this with others who might be searching for something to help their horse! Patti
😀 happy to read all of the above! hope to read lots more!!
Love these tips. I have picked up so many good ideas. Horses are all so different it is great to hear other riders/owners experiences.
I have heard of the motor oil treatment for hooves, a lot of the old timers just used what ever was available. I would suggest against it, especially coating the entire hoof. Vegetable oil rubbed into the band at the top of the hoof and at the hair line can be very effective and does not contain petroleum products that can have an undesirable effect in some instances.
I know a great older whisperer and his initial greeting to see what frame of mind a horse/ or your horse is in on first contact for the day is to gently touch its muzzle with soft cupped fingers.I do this with all my 8 horses and only 15 month gelding I bred slightly tries to get his teeth on your fingers( that is just being young ).I got a 14 year old arab mare a few years back and initially she was VERY tight upper lip until she started to trust each other .Now she likes the muzzle massage and licks my hand as I massage her lip.
S .S .T .T . This is what I always remember when I meet a new horse and to a lesser extent when greeting one of my own.
SIGHT :firstly a horse makes visual contact with you ( and hopefully will maintain that eye contact all the way through the greeting process . You don’t want that disrespectful horse presenting is bum to you – now that presents another training lesson I’ll mention later ).
SMELL : secondly the horse will smell to get more confident
TOUCH : then if the horse is ready or accepting a slight touch of the muzzle or lower head area.This can be simultaneous with the SMELL.
TRUST : this is the milestone when the horse allows you to touch / stratch on the neck etc.This is a zone outside the horses field of vision so it is trusting you to touch where he can’t see, though he still sees your body.
In 2008 I bought a VERY frightened 12 y.o. QH mare for $150 to save her from the knackery as she is so well muscled.I have learnt so much about nervous ,explosive , almost dangerous horse from her.She has given me 3 Qarab horses which all have kind natures.
If you you imagine a straight line across the shoulders with an arc around in front of the head.This zone is where a horse will initially accept you.Behind that straight line is where the challenge starts with trust and acceptance.
With that bum facing issue when you are trying to remedy that in the yard always remember the level of respect the horse is showing towards you by its eyes i.e., NO EYES , ONE EYE , TWO EYES.
This is how much a horse is paying attention to you, if from where you are standing in the yard you can’t see any eye ( no respect ), if you can see one eye he is starting to accept you , then two eyes he is coming around to you and thinking about facing up.
🙂 many thanks for a great website.
Glad to be reconnected. Wondered where you’d gone.
Good tips
Dear Al, I am in need of thoughts about weaning. I have a 7 month old colt who is still with mama. The barn where I board them wanted me to wean him awhile ago. They separated colt and mom at night and turned them out to pasture together during the day. However, mom could not see or touch her baby while separated and was terribly distraught. After a few days I put them back together and pulled the plug on weaning…for now. I’d like to let the weaning take place as nature intended and not stress out mom and son. Any input is welcome!
Thank you! Shaun, Diamond (mama) and Rebel (son).
Useful stuff Thanks
Hi. I am in much distress, and urgently require advice. I live in South Africa. I am paying for my horses to graze on someone’s land. The Owner’s Father, kicked my 2 year old stallion of the land cause he kicked 2 bokkies 2 death. I had a name of a woman who said ef i ever need land i am most welcome to bring my horses for free to graze, as long as i provide the food, meds and vet bill’s. All of which i did.
Unfortunately as i was told, when he arrived there apparantlly my stallion also killed 2 bokkies. My friend informed me that i must castrate him, which i did straight away. Now one year later i informed her i am fetching my horse, she refuses to give him back to me stating i must pay them R8 500.00 for damaged caused by him and another stallion i had grazing there as well for about 3 months. Apparantly the other stallion ripped her minitior horse by here maine, resulting in stiches. She asked me removed him and i sold him. In the e mean time she had 2 foals born from my first stallion wich is castrated. I went to the farm to see my horse and her husband and herself nearly attacked me and said he would rather shoot my horse before i remove him. Her horses are in terrible condition. Please give me advice as what to to. police or Spca? My horse is tjipped under my name. I have been very frightened to go back there on my own, and the threat of him being shot frightens me terribly. I cant bear to leave him there and he is my horse. I raised him…..i want him closer to me. I need help urgently.