Five Things to Do to Correct a Spooking Horse

You know the drill, a horse sees a dog barking and he spooks.  The wind blows a bag and the horse will spook.  A car drives up the driveway and there he goes again.  This is extremely common behavior and can be corrected.  Horses are prey, and their instinct is telling them that they are going to get eaten.  They also have instinct to trust the herd leader.  If you are the herd leader then they will not worry about the goblins in the mailbox because you the herd leader are always in control and make the herd feel safe.
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1)   Exude confidence. A horse can feel what you feel, if you feel nervous or scared your horse will feel that.  If your horse scares you every time you ride him that will create a snowball effect and the two of you will feed off of each other’s fears.
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2)   Go back to the basics of groundwork. If your horse is jumpy on the ground, he most definitely will be just as jumpy in the saddle.  Something is missing from your program, fill in the missing parts and then take it to the next level of riding.
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3)   Longe your horse. Longe him with a purpose, don’t just let him run around in a circle dragging you all over the place.  This type of behavior is counter-productive and will not allow your horse to feel confidence that you are not only the herd’s leader, but an excellent one.
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4)   Practice, practice and then some more practice. Don’t expect to go out to the barn once and a while and for your horse to have gotten better.  The only way for your horse to get better is by putting in lots of time on the ground and in the saddle.  Expose your horse to as many scenarios and things as possible.
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5)   ABT – Always be training.  If you are not training your horse you are un-training your horse.  Start being the leader from the moment you get your horse from the stall or pasture until the moment you put him away.
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If you do these five things, and do them correctly I guarantee you will no longer have a spooking horse, but a calm confident friend.

Improving Communication Between Horse and Rider | Horse Training Tips with Deanna Castro

Improving Communication Between Horse and Rider | Horse Training Tips with Deanna Castro

What's in a horse's Name?

Horse called Mischief gets stuck in pool

Maybe if they didn't name this horse "Mischief" he wouldn't have gotten himself into so much trouble. I am all for changing a horse's name to something positive.

Horse called Mischief gets stuck in pool

Product Review – Silver Lining Herbs – Natural Horse De-Wormer | Horse Training Tips with Deanna Castro

Product Review – Silver Lining Herbs – Natural Horse De-Wormer | Horse Training Tips with Deanna Castro

Keep A Horseback Riding Journal

Does your Riding Instructor tell you the same thing over and over?  Are you not correcting your mistakes? The best way to tackle these problems is to write it down in a Riding Journal.  Then, think of a way how you can make the correction and write about it.  The best students in school take notes.
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I'm a big planner, I like to pay attention to the details especially when training horses.  Even if you are not to the point of  training a horse, but you yourself are in training I would suggest you keep a training journal.
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If you don't want to bring a big journal to the barn, at least bring a pocket one and jot down some notes about your ride.  You may see some similarities that can give you some insight to become a better rider.  Another thing to add to your horse journal is vocabulary words.  As we all know, in the world of horses there is an entire language to learn.  Write down new words and their definitions in your journal.
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Types of Journals:

• Spiral Bound Notebook - this type of journal is cheap and easy.  You can pick one up anywhere, and start writing!
• Three Ring Binder - This is a great type of journal because you can rearrange it any way you would like.  You can add in training articles that you find online or in magazines.
• Pocket Notebook - a great little book to keep in your pocket when you ride so that you can jot down notes.
• Blog - You can blog your riding and training progress and have it as private or as public as you would like!
• Electronic - Using google docs or Microsoft word, you can make a great electronic journal

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Whatever type of journal that you chose doesn't really matter just as long as you choose one!

Free Leather CPR Sample

Remember my Leather CPR review? Well, now they are giving away a free sample. I love that stuff, it's definitely worth checking out. Just click on THIS link, and fill out the form. While you're there, be sure and tell them I sent you!

They also have a great "Tell A Friend" promotion going on:

Would your friends, family members, Twitter followers, blog readers or Facebook friends appreciate a free product sample too? Feel free to share the good news by simply providing this link:
www.leathercpr.com/
specialoffer
The five people who refer the most friends/family will be rewarded with a CPR Cleaning Products Prize Pack valued at $50.
Be sure your friends and family members mention your full name on the free sample form!

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Horse Illustrated Magazine Subscription for $5

Amazon.com has a great deal going on right now, you can buy a Horse Illustrated Magazine one year subscription for only $5!  Hurry this offer expires February 28, 2010.  They also are offering a year of Young Rider Magazine for $7.99.  Be sure and check it out HERE.

Horse Quote of The Day - Fredi Castro

“Each time you ride your horse, he’s a different horse, ride it that way.” - Fredi Castro

I thought that was a brilliant statement. What he means is, every day is different. Don’t get on your horse today thinking he is going to be the way he was yesterday. Always start with a fresh mind. a light hand and light leg, you can always build from there. Don’t start out with heavy cues, because where do you go from there?

FeedDealer.Com - Info-Service and Support for Feed Businesses - HOW Webinar Schedule

FeedDealer.Com - Info-Service and Support for Feed Businesses - HOW Webinar Schedule

Register for a free HOW webinar. HOW is a Horse Owner Webinar. Check it out!

Horse Training Tips with Deanna Castro

Horse Training Tips with Deanna Castro

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Merry Christmas & New Blog Reminder

Merry Christmas!  I can't believe that Christmas is already here.  My how time flies.   Cristino, our little cowboy is six months old already. This is our Christmas card for the Riding Academy this year.  He is wearing his "trophy buckle" fringed pants.  I didn't have a hat for him, but thought it might be a bit too much.  He can't upstage Santa right?

I also wanted to remind my readers that the blog has moved.  You can access it at deannacastro.com and subscribe to the feed HERE.  I am posting on My new Professional Horse Blogazine on a daily basis.  I'm still learning the whole wordpress thing, but I'm learning more every day.  I will try and post over here on the "old blog" once and awhile so that my subscribers to only this blog don't forget about me.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy (Belated) Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year!

Deanna

The Site Is Moving - Please Update Your Bookmarks!

This post today will be the last post here on this site, the site is moving to deannacastro.com please update your bookmarks!

It will be the same information, just with a new location.  I hope you all enjoy the new look and site :)

Deanna

Clip Of The Week - Men Doing Dressage

I thought I was the only one who did this kind of stuff...

October Blog Contest - Winners

Congratulations to blog readers Zahi and Kenley the winners of the October Blog Contest!  

They will each receive a copy  the book Wild Horses by million selling author - Jenny Oldfield.

I am currently working on my next book review to be followed by another contest so stay tuned for more details...

Deanna

Stable Scoop Episode 13 - Horse Photography

This episode of Stable Scoop is definitely for me!  I don't know about the rest of ya'll but I take the worlds worst horse photo's.  I can make the best looking horse look squatty.   Hopefully now I will have some better looking pictures ;)

Enjoy this weeks episode,

Deanna

This episode of the Stable Scoop Radio Show is brought to you by the Horse Radio Network.
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Everyone is a photographer at heart. Listen in as we speak with the world's leading horse photographers to find out their secrets. Glenn the Geek and Helena B. learn the top 12 tricks to taking a better horse photo and we take a look at the best cameras for Holiday Gifts. What a fun show this is!

Stable Scoop Episode 13 - Show Notes and Links:

• Hosts: Glenn the Geek and Helena B.


• Co-Host: Carien Schippers is one of the leading horse photographers in the county and founder of the Equine Photographers Network. Carien lives in upstate New York and her websites are imagequine.com & horsedrivephotos.com.


• Guest: Scott K. Trees from Trees Media is one of the world's best equine photographers. He is in demand around the world but took a minute to share some of his secrets with us.


• Guest: Tom Mahan of Porters Cameras give us some great camera gift recommendations for this Holiday Season.


• Here are the top 12 things that the guests agree make a better horse photo. To get more detail on each of the items, take a listen to the show.
  
  
  
  • Read the manual and understand your camera.
  
  
  • Take the camera out of automatic mode.
  
  
  • Best lens for good horse photos is 80/200 or 70/200.
  
  
  • Shoot at the end of the lens, further away from the subject zoomed in.
  
  
  • Timing is critical for action horse shots. Learn when to snap the picture.
  
  
  • Patience, patience and patience.
  
  
  • Learn how horses move.
  
  
  • Framing - eliminate horizontal line in your image.
  
  
  • Take picture of a horse from heart level.
  
  
  • The best light for horse photography is early morning or late afternoon.
  
  
  • Shadows are your friend.
  
  
  • When the horse is done - it's done!
  
  
  
  


• Porter's camera pick's for this holiday season. Follow the links and get those gifts today:

Lower Price Point:

Canon PowerShot SX110 IS Digital Camera - $279.00

Medium Price Point:

Nikon D60 Digital SLR w/18-55mm f3.5-5.6G
Vibration Reduction Lens - $599.00

The Really Nice One: (This baby will get you brownie points!)

Nikon D700 Digital SLR - $2,999.00

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This Week In Horse Blogs

What a week we've had.  We have been up, down, on the edge of our seats, and now we know who our next president will be.  I have high hopes for President Elect Obama as does the rest of the country.  In the beginning I wasn't so sure of this mans capability, after all what did we know about him? But I am starting to firmly believe he can do a great job.

As I made my way with Cristino and the Pug to the polls to vote I kept thinking "You might be a redneck if  you take your dog along to babysit as you vote".  I put the baby in the stroller, the pug in the basket of the stroller and headed off to church to cast my vote.  No lines, no waiting,  and no baby sitter except for the dog who stayed with the baby just outside the curtain (they were both in arms reach of course) just hours before one of the most historic moments of our time.  

I really was the only person there voting.  The pastor was there and so were the other church folk who run the polling place, so bringing down the baby and Pugsly made their day I'm sure.  The only thing that may have been more redneck of me would have been if the three of us rode in on a horse.

Anyway, here are some really cool blog posts I read this week.

Enjoy!

Welcome Home, Brego - The Eventing Percheron

I Am The Goldilocks Of The Horse World - Adventures of A Horse Crazed Mind 

Skywatch Friday - Two Opposing Views - The 7MSN Ranch

Blind Horses Trust Makes Anything Possible - Behind The Bit

It's November, and the Pasture Party's Over - Juli Thorson's Horse Talk

Reader Question - Teaching A Horse To Tie

Recently I had a reader question about tying a horse, and I think it's a great question so here it is complete with my answer.

Hello, Deanna:
My daughter and I are in the position of selling our horse we've spent a lot of love on. But, I am finding that we have allowed an important part of her training to go unattended. Our mare doesn't tie. She was abused nearly to death (as a filly) by attempting teaching her to tie with a stud chain under her chin and one over her poll at the same time. In large part because of her history we have not forced her to tie. We have been at boarding facilities that discourage tying and offer cross ties instead which just allowed us to overlook this issue. We have just never required that she tie solid, she cross ties quite comfortably, but sets back in a panic when tied. She is very well trained with precise showmanship skills and is VERY easy to handle and show and quite respectful with soft responsiveness in every other area of her training.
I really hate the thought of allowing her to hurt herself through thrashing and pulling back with that much force. But I am feeling the pressure to tackle this now. We have lost at least 1 sale because the prospective buyer wouldn't have a horse that couldn't tie. If you have any tips that might help us overcome her very real fear of being tied we are open to suggestions.
Thank you for your help.
Jeanette

Hello Jeanette,

Thanks for the question!  What a shame your mare was abused so badly when she was learning to tie.  I would never ever tie a horse with a stud chain, how awful for her.  I completely understand your concern for her injuring herself that is really dangerous behavior for herself, which you already are aware of.

Even if a horse never experienced anything negative they still can have a problem when tying.  The reason for this, is even though our horses are domesticated the wild instinct is still there.  If a horse was trapped (which is basically what they are when tied) they would become easy prey for a predator.  So when a normally docile well trained horse feels that their life is in danger they can absolutely lose their mind and fear for their life.  Your mare is also experiencing fear but for other reasons.

For me a horse that won't tie will not make or break the sale because I know the horse can learn to accept it.  But not everyone feels the same way, so here's what you should try:

• Work in an enclosed arena.
• Invest in a blocker tie ring.  The tie ring is $24.99 but well worth it.
  
• Use a smooth and long lead rope and tie the mare to the ring.  The reason it should be smooth, is so that the horse can pull through the ring and not feel trapped.  A long lead rope will help with that too.  The horse will pull the lead out long, but not completely become untied.
• Practice sacking your horse out while tied.  The horse will soon see that she can move her feet and that there is nothing to fear.  

This will need to be done over and over again until she has confidence that nothing bad is going to happen to her.  Your mare will begin to relax and realize there is nothing to fear and she is not going to have pain inflicted on her while trapped.

In my barn I use the blocker ties but in the spots where I don't have them I use bailing twine.  I tie bailing twine to my eye hooks that are attached to the post and then I tie the horse's lead rope to the bailing twine.  This way, if the horse freaks out he or she can break free without getting injured.  There is a never ending supply of bailing twine so I just tie a new piece when an old one gets broken.  I just continue to replace the twine as needed.  If the horse just keeps breaking the twine right away and does not stop the pulling back, it's time to take the horse to the tie ring.  But that doesn't usually happen.  It may break the twine every now and again, but the times become very far and few between.

I hope this helps, and you are able to find a buyer for your mare.  Let me know how it works out!

Deanna  

Book Tag - The Job A Horse Was Born To Do

I was Book Tagged by Karen at Karen’s Musings & Endurance Ride Stuff

I have been wanting to write a post titled, "The Job A Horse Was Born to Do" or something like that.  It just so happened the book nearest me gave me a good suegway into that post.

Here's the rules:

1. Grab the nearest HORSE book.  
2. Open the book to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next two to five sentences.
5. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the intellectual one. Pick the Closest.
6. Tag five people to do the same.

Here's mine, it's from "How To Be Your Own Veterinarian Sometimes" by Ruth B. James, DMV

The chances of producing a winning cutting horse are much greater when both parents are proven cutting horses.  A foal with stakes winners on both sides of his pedigree has a far greater probability of winning races than one from a casual, guesswork mating.

  If you are breeding for type, start with a broodmare who is as close as possible to your desired goal.  If you want stretchy, tall Quarter Horses, start with that type. Don't buy a bulldog mare and breed from there.

Amen to that!  Just as people can be miserable in the wrong job so can a horse.  If you force a reining horse to do western pleasure you will always be slowing him down.  He will get bored riding around on the rail, but once you introduce that horse to some patterns, spins and stops it will be like penguin in water.  On land a penguin lumbers around, but in the water you can see that he is a bird that flies, and he flies beautifully. 

So in essence, if you are breeding, breed your horse with the correct bloodlines.  If you are buying a horse, let him to do what he was bred for!

With that, I have five people to tag so here goes: 

Theresa at A Bumpy Path

Beckz at I Will Jump Sweet Jumps

Jessie at Jessie and Remington

Equine Spirit at Education With Equines

Mikael at Mikael's Mania -  Arabian Horses

Clip Of The Week - Slide Stop!

I can watch this clip over and over...

A Flame Faced Pony

I was at the horse sale, and they had 200 ponies come through.  I don't know if I was allowed to take pictures or not, so I snapped only one with my phone.  I really like the black pony with the white face.  His markings looked like flames on his face.  Whether that meant he was a demon or he was born to be a tiny barrel racer, I don't know but he sure was cute. 

There were also about 15 pony foals.  Fredi already said that when Cristino gets older he's getting two of them.  I read about a five year old boy who's father is a horse trainer and the kid has his own pony training business.  This kid trains them and then runs them through a sale. There are a lot of people that want to buy the kid's ponies and they come from far and wide to buy them because he does such a great job training.  How cute is that?

They say ponies are much harder to train than horses.  Is that because they are untrained, or are they really mostly pigs?  Most of my experience with ponies was when I was very young so I thought they were great.  I started riding the big horses exclusively at the age of ten so I don't really remember.  I guess I will find out, because I am taking a young un-broke pony into training for a client on Thursday.  I have been wanting a pony for about two years so this should be interesting.  The last pony we were training got the boot after a few weeks, we decided he wasn't worth it.  The pony tried to scrape Fredi off on the fence, he was downright nasty.  He belonged to an eight year old girl, and he wasn't suitable for her so he was promptly sold. 

Maybe in a few years the flame faced pony and I will cross paths again and this time we will take him home for our little cowboy.