Horses are herd animals and it’s normal for them to be wary when asked to leave the heard. Those of us who use various “natural” horsemanship techniques have learned that the best way to do this is to persuade the horse that you and they can be a herd together, you will be the herd leader, and you will keep your horse safe from all those things that could harm a prey animal out there. This means getting the horse to have a great deal of trust in you. But once he believes it, he won’t be nearly so reluctant to leave the rest of the herd.
I have found a good way to do this is to do ground work with the sort of obstacles found in horse agility. Once they are used to following you on a loose lead rope through curtains, scary corners, etc., that trust will be well on the way to developing

I learned to ride when I went to the family farm when i was 13.

I used horses just to check cattle at first since there went on same quarter as the house.

but the guy that taught me to ride did all his own farrier work with his horses and taught me to use the tools too. though back then I was not nearly strong enough to use the clips for the hoof. he did not use shoes either.

Thnxs to him I learned so much and got to participate in gymkhanna

Make the right thing easy, and the wrong thing difficult. Try riding alone and as soon as your horse starts acting up, make him move his feet! Do this by making him go in circles, go left, go right, go backwards. Then try again to continue on away from the other horses/barn. Every time he acts up, do this again. Eventually he’ll realize that when he acts up, he has to work harder. If he is uncontrollable, get off of him and do this…make him work! Then get back on and try again.

I read this blog and subsequently re-read trying to pay attention to details that affect each of the bloggers’ horses, ie: surroundings day to day, history both purchase and health, climate, regions, rainfall excessive or excessive snowfall, desertous terrain, detailed information regarding each horse’s diet, forage intake, pasture grazing, crimson clover or other high carb pasture content, colic, founder history, lamenites, riding terrain, sporting, stall kept or pasture kept and of course there is the ultimate question, were they always shod or always barefoot? Although a few stuck to the topic so we can learn different points of view, this forum provides readers and horse owners interested in appropriate effective health care for our horse family members, but instead insulted each other like cat fighting teenagers do in high school. Save your time if you have the impulse to say you don’t or didn’t have a cat fighting teenager, it matters far beyond that idiom to allow the really open minded owners the opportunity to see real situations and process information that could be very useful in the present or future to our wallet and/or the well being of our horses. I am disappointed to find that the participants of this blog, for the majority, are only interested in being right. This type of immature behavior and wrecklessly mud slinging is only a caution flag for that specific entry. How narrow minded must we appear in the horse world or otherwise, to express that our discipline is the only method that works straight across the board print it in a textbook right? No discussion for the most part. Instead of firing off a letter in your reply that makes you feel good about yourself, try listening and providing actual information and let’s get back to thinking about things. Who knows. You may Lear something that one of your multiple horses can benefit from and hey it might be cheaper or not. Just because we haven’t heard of something or we do things differently doesn’t mean you are one hundred percent effective one hundred percent of the time. I believe we are still priveledged to invoke. Social awkwardness and scrappy behavior makes even the best turn and walk away. Whether you are in school or never have you attended school is irrelevant. Perhaps one of these bloggers is one of your instructors. There is no pride nor justification for bad behavior when owning a horse. Anyone can, and unfortunately as we see on the news a lot of ignorance is reflected there. I’m not saying ignorance exists in this conversation, quite contrary. Make an effort to make this enjoyable so the new horse riders can ask and learn, not ask and get bullied or ruined about caring and learning. Let public opinions expressed on a forum be just that and take something out of it. There is more ignorance in the horse world that proves detrimental. Why teach it by being rude and high and mighty. We all need to learn more and every horse is different. They typically come from different backgrounds and live in different surrounds than others. It’s not black or white. Be good to your horse and learn something new about horsemanship every day. Then you can stand proud and pass information along that actually makes a difference. Who knows, you may find yourself looking for the answers one day and possibly you will be in crisis without a lot of time to make decisions. These blogs help is become well rounded if we participate or dictate. Look into the eyes of your horse today. Be still and communicate in total silence. It is very inspiring.

try some rice brand on her hay or with her grain

i am the very proud owner of a wild mustang that was abused and she was not at all into trusting her human. but let me tell you after two years of working with her i have gone from not being able to touch her to doing anything i want to her including triming and filing her hooves and i use a hack on her as well after many different bits in her mouth that she would not respond to so i think its all about trial and error and what works for your horse !!!! And your right in the fact that they are the healthiest horses. i have ownwed a few in my time!!! i do not give her all kinds of supplements as i did with others i have owned and the reason is that she was a wild horse and didnt have all that stuff before she became domestic and as long as she is healthy and happy i feel no need to mess with what nature has made. which leads to natural is not a bad thing i think messing with mother nature is not a wise move!!! in my experience it has cost my horse as well as my wallet!!!! thats not to say if my horse needs something i will by all means provide it for her but i do say if its not broke dont fix it!!!!!and for all those out there that think they know everything there is to know then your just showing how much you really dont know because you will learn somthing new with every horse and every new horse person you deal with so keep yourself in check and your mouth as well because inevitably you will sound….um, not so good! HAPPY TRAILS TO ALL
p.s.a little natural horsemanship tip tobacco is good for keeping your horse worm free.