Horse Training Success

Welcome back. Today we have a mixed bag of tips, tricks and treats for you sent in by readers. From saving money to saving your arm from being pulled out of it's socket... Read on and enjoy. And if you like a tip, please let us know by leaving a message in the comment section.



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To cut costs on vet supplies. My horse got a bad sore right underneath his stomach a few years ago. I took him to my vet. The vet looked at this sore and neither of us knew how this sore came about. It started out small and ended up about the size of a baseball. Anyway, I had to put new dressing on the sore every few day`s and had to keep it covered --- for a couple of weeks.

To cut down on cost, I covered the sore with maxi pads. To hold the pads in place, I put DUCT TAPE around the stomach and the back of my horse. This may have looked funny, but maxi pads and duct tape costs a lot less than the stuff I would have had to buy from the vets office --- and it worked great !!!!

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My horse hated having his brushing boots put on. I would spend in excess of 10 min just to get one boot on! He would trot around his paddock or strike out with his forelegs when I tried to put them on. It wasted my time& energy & got me quite frustrated.

I then started giving him a piece of carrot after I did get a boot on. It took some patience, but he soon got the idea that boot on = carrot. Now he stands & lets me put on all 4 boots without any hassle

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I have a horse who is a wind sucker, This drove me crazy some days so I put hoof grease around the top of his stable. It worked to a degree as he could not stand the smell or taste.

But it backfired when it came to putting hoof grease on his hooves. He wouldn't let the stuff anywhere near him, and if I did get it on he would smell his hooves and get the sulks quite badly.

I overcame this problem by putting cooking oil on his hooves for a while, until he became used to having his hooves oiled.

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My horse, a large thoroughbred, is generally a very loving, kind and well behaved horse, but he had learnt a rather nasty habit from his paddock mate. When leading him into the paddock, as I would reach up to remove his head collar, he would suddenly and with great force tear away from me. He would then be careening around the paddock with his lead rein hanging down between his legs (not a great idea), and if I had tried to hang on, Parelli lead rein or not, I would be left with, at best, a little less skin on my hands, and, at worst, a few grazes and bruising on the front part of my body from hitting the deck.

To try to solve this I tried lateral longeing outside the paddock, then again inside, making sure he was responding obediently before reaching up to untie the knot. He would still tear away, so I would fetch him again (no problem with being caught again by the way), take him outside the paddock and repeat the process until eventually he would stand quietly. This improved the situation, but he would still tear away again as soon as he felt the halter fall from him.

The problem was solved with a lot of rubbing and loving before, during and after the halter removal. This made him want to be with me more than he wanted to do his ‘tearing away from me’ game.

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Just a handy horse leading tip. Bought a 2 year old filly. She was a nightmare to lead, and was truly so intimidating at times I had to get my husband to lead her. As I was going to have her professionally broken, I didn't want to bit her. Tried taking the lead rope from the bottom ring over the the cavesson of her headcollar and back through the bottom ring. She became a reformed character for leading. Hope this of help to someone.

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