Before we start learning about behavior problems and colt starting we need to understand why they act like unruly monkeys when all we do is try to love them. Why?

 

Horses are (we all know this) herd bound prey animals. They live in a community with rules, boundaries, and rank. The alpha mare is the leader and the stallion is there to protect his mating rights. He is also a disciplinarian but the alpha mare is the horse that keeps the herd in order and directs them where to go. The only way she can keep order is through body language. She may give out a warning to a young colt trying to move his way up in the herd by pinning her ears back. If he persists, she may bite him or kick at him. If he continues his bad behavior she will shove him out of the herd and then he has to communicate to her(through body language) that he is sorry and will behave and please let him back in. She gives him options when disciplining. She gives that colt 2 chances to straighten up or he gets booted out. Maybe not kicked out for good but enough to know that he'd€™d rather be in the herd than out of it, therefore, has a new found respect for her authority.

 

Even though we need to communicate to our horses it is important to recognize the communications that come from horses. They only know how to communicate one way and they are always very clear about what bugs them, what makes them happy, and if they are in pain. We have to be just as clear to our horses in order for them to understand us. Without understanding, fairness, and discipline we have a horse that cannot respect us or form a partnership with us. How do we recognize what our horses are telling us? How do we answer back?

 

We need to establish rank. Horses are either leaders or followers. There is no in between. If we do not communicate to our horse that we are the leaders then guess who slides into that position? It is the horse. We have to know how to properly establish this position clearly and in fairness. We cannot be afraid to discipline our horses but we have to give them options. The option is the amount of pressure a horse wants to respond to. We discipline our horses through pressure and we reward them with the release of pressure.

 

So with this in mind we can venture on to the art of Natural Horsemanship and forming a lasting bond and friendship based on respect and mutual understanding.

 

In the upcoming articles I'll list methods that have worked for me. I have a number of methods I can choose from to teach a horse a technique because we have to keep mind that each horse is an individual just as we are and they do not all learn the same. However, I do have my favorites that I will share and if you need a different solution then hopefully I can help.

-Tracy Zadow (Galloop)
naturalequines@yahoo.com

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See Tracy's Bio here