Neil Davies
Recently I watched a famous trainer harassing a horse with a tarp. The horse was snorting and ‘taking fright’ of the tarp and was obviously very worried. ‘I’ve been doing this for a few months now,’ the trainer said. ‘I’ll keep at him until he gives up. I may wear out a few tarps but … Read more
Every time I pick up a horse magazine, I read that horses are prey animals and humans are predators. Many articles say horses are ‘naturally’ afraid of humans because humans are predators. Others say it’s ‘natural’ for a horse to buck when the saddle is introduced, because a ‘dead animal’ is being strapped onto their … Read more
Review Fear-Free Horse Training Every Step of the Way By Joan Klenger We live in a Hurry Up Quick world, moving a million miles a minute. We are inundated with information, a constant barrage of data, so much detail, in fact, that there isn’t really enough time to stop and think about what we’re … Read more
My wife Christine always spent lots of time rubbing and scratching her horses. Our grey horse ‘Kip’ soon learned to come to her and present the spot that he wanted rubbed or scratched. Sometimes it was his rump, sometimes his ribs, withers, neck or head. He’d back up to Chris to have his tail scratched. … Read more
I recently watched a video of a trainer trying to handle a horse’s legs. The horse was seven years old and kicked quite badly when anyone attempted to pick up his hind legs. The trainer was obviously frightened of being kicked, so he flapped a rope around the horse’s legs to ‘desensitise him’. Though the horse kicked … Read more
Fear is the biggest factor to overcome when you train horses. It’s very difficult to teach any horse anything at all when he’s frightened. When a horse is frightened and confused, he’ll do whatever it takes to try and escape. This may include kicking, striking, biting, pulling back, rushing away or bucking. These behaviours are … Read more
How Smart is Your Horse? How intelligent is your horse? Are some horses smarter than others? Are humans smarter than horses, or are horses smarter than humans? Horses think all the time and maybe we should take a hint from that. Yes, horses do think differently to humans. Not less, just differently. If a horse … Read more
Most people feel apprehensive when they start a horse under saddle. The last thing they want to do is actually get on the horse’s back, because they’re worried he might buck. So they spend days and sometimes weeks chasing horses with waving flags and flapping tarps. They saddle horses and drive them in long reins … Read more
I watched a TV show the other night where a film crew followed rodeo contestants through a season of competition. The programme featured bull riders, saddle bronc riders, bareback riders and two barrel racing ladies. One of these ladies had a problem. About half way through the season, her horse started knocking over the second … Read more
A fellow rang the other day to buy a copy of my book. ‘I need it straight away because I’m breaking-in my horse and tomorrow I have to tie him up and put the bit on for the first time. Everyone says I have to tie him up before I ride him. Is the book … Read more
