Horse Training Success

A question posed on the Facebook fan page :
"My horse will not let me put a bridle on him- he accepts the bit. It is getting the bridle over his head. Any suggestions?"






















Sure.
One sound way to get a horse to overcome a fear of having his ears touched is to only allow him to eat if he allows his ears to be touched.

Hold a bucket of feed in one hand and rub his face or neck with the other. ALWAYS begin rubbing a spot he already allows you to touch. Then do a quick and light and FAST sweep over the ears and back down to an allowed spot. The speed means by the time the horse has realised you have touched his ears, you are back rubbing a place he thinks is ok, and nothing bad happened. Through much repetition, he'll get the idea that having his ears rubbed is ok too.

You can gradually slow down your movements as the horse accepts that your touching his ears doesn’t hurt. Remember to rub his ears backwards and forwards, just like a bridle would going on and off.

And if he's really not letting you near his ears, turn your back and walk away with the food. Come back in 10-30 minutes and try again. At some point (the first time will take the longest) the desire for food will win out.

And I'd like to point out that there are two ways of bridling your horse. See the pictures above and note the position of the right arm. If you're having trouble using one method, try the other.