THE ANSWER: Horses that are constantly snacking as I
is my horse doing WHY THAT?
EXPLAINING EQUINE BEHAVIOR By Jennifer Williams, PhD • Photos by Bobbie Jo Weber
R
ecently Trail Blazer posted a request for behavior questions on the magazine’s Facebook® page. Many of you have posted
great questions. If you don’t already “like” Trail Blazer Magazine and T e Equine Behaviorist on Facebook be sure to visit our pages and continue posting questions.
You can also submit your behavior questions to
editor@trailblazermagazine.us.
THE QUESTION: Why does my horse have to eat grass each and every time, all the time, we trail
ride? If I try to hold him back, boy does he get annoyed and act up! 22 | November 2012 •
WWW.TRAILBLAZERMAGAZINE.US
ride or lead them are one of my pet peeves. My horses, like most pleasure and trail horses, don’t work long or hard. We spend a handful of hours each week riding, and then we spend another few hours together on the ground. T e rest of the time is their time to act like horses and eat, play, sleep, explore, etc. But when they’re with me, I like them to focus on me and the job we are doing, whether that’s leading into the barn to get tacked up, stand- ing for grooming or riding down the trail. A horse cannot be paying at ention to you while he’s also focused on snatching mouthfuls of grass, and ignoring you in favor of grass is disrespectful. Although you didn’t mention him snacking
while you were leading him, I bet he does. I see a lot of owners trying to tug their horses along aſt er them as the horse is snacking, and some owners are so used to this behavior that they don’t even notice anymore. I believe a good relationship with your horse starts with respect, and that respect starts on the ground. So when I’m leading my horses, I like them to lead next to me, and I want them to start walk- ing when I start moving and stop moving their feet when I stop moving mine. In the beginning, your horse won’t know
your expectations, so you’ll have to teach him. And he may be surprised at the change in your behavior and test you a few times to see if you really mean what you say. Be consistent with him, and he’ll catch on quickly. Walk off with him next to you. You’ll need to be relaxed so he stays relaxed, too. If you stop moving and he doesn’t, pick up on your lead rope, stop him, and back him up several steps. T en lead him off again. Practice walking off and then stop- ping several times. You might also include turns in your leading practice sessions. T e goal is to have your horse listening to
you instead of thinking about where he can get his next snack, and it shouldn’t take much of this lead-line work for him to get in tune with you. I know that your question was about him snacking as you ride, but we tend to ignore the importance of good leading behavior. We think of it as only a way to get from point A to point B, but good leading manners are a foundation for respect and good behavior
Photo by Marilyn Schiele©
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