by Kellea Croft

Created on: July 25, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2009

The aptitude for training a horse is due to his memory. It has a very long memory and will remember rewards and punishments for certain behaviours useful in training. You must be consistent at all times in your instruction for they will remember the wrong with the right. A well trained horse never forgets, and neither does a badly trained horse.

Decided on what you want from your horse and insist on getting git. Take care to know the difference between fear and stubborn on the part of the horse. When it is fearful, reassure them to get past it. When they are being wilful, punish them. Once you have asked them to start a discipline, finish the job and don't stop until they have yielded to the job at hand.

Horses cannot rationalise, but learn from experience. They repeat behaviour that brings a favourable response, and avoid that in which receives unfavourable. They learn from repetition, reward and correction. You must reward quickly for encouragement because they will not remember why that action was received.

It should also be remembered that they have a relatively short attention span and work should be restricted to set periods to their education and age. The average span of attention is about 11.8 seconds. It is better to take a short time working on something new followed by a short break to build their confidence and associate it with what you are teaching.

Rewards can be verbal, tactile, edible and loving. Make it easy for rewards and difficult for the undesirable.

All handlers should learn as much as they can about a horse's psychology. This will help you gain greater understanding as to why they behave in each manner. There are many books, videos and instructors that can assure your knowledge in psychology and handling. Firm but kind handling is the key to success in management of training.

There are inherited traits that influence how a horse reacts to its environments. They are within the anatomical, physiological and behavioural characteristics and all are linked. When you understand these traits, training will become much easier for you both.

Flight is a survival stimulus whether it is real or imagined. You must appreciate their fear and assure them. It is a natural response, keep him still and calm him. He will remember that this new item in the environment is not harm in the future. A horse can be desensitized to frightening stimuli more than any other animal. They learn to ignore harmless items.

Horses have a great sense of perceptivity being able to

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>