Many new horse owners are not sure how to care for a horse and the main points as well as a few horse care tips are listed below. This article may not teach you how to take care of horses who live in a stable completely but it will certainly point you in the right directions for your equine care. Taking Care of Horses Twice Daily Horses kept in a stabled environment will need attending to at least twice a day. This is because they are confined to a small area, with no access to grazing and no opportunities to self exercise. The horse's digestive system is designed to take in small quantities of food at regular intervals therefore a stabled horse will need more feed, in particular roughage, to maintain weight because it will have no access to pasture. Another essential part of equine … [Read more...]
How to Take Care of Stabled Horses
The Reason Why People Have Horse Careers or a Horse Business
If you work with horses or a horse business, you already know the answer to this one! Horse careers and horse businesses have an extra ingredient that many traditional businesses do not have. Unless your equine business coach or equine business manager understands this extra ingredient, they will try to structure your horse business in the same way as a traditional business. The nature of business is to make a profit, however if you own a horse business or plan to have a career with horses then you may be looking for that profit in another form! Why work with horses? Are you like the majority of the people who own horse related businesses? If you are like most people, you would like to work with horses or have a business with horses, because of the enjoyment you will have from the … [Read more...]
How to Lunge a Horse
How to Lunge a Horse in Preparation for a Rider It is very important to warm a horse up on the lunge before mounting the rider ready for lungeing exercises. Lunging the horse before mounting the rider will allow the horse to warm up, provide an opportunity for you to check for any lameness (there is nothing more time consuming when lunging a horse than getting the rider settled on the horse only to realise the horse is lame). It is also important for the rider doing the lunging exercises to ensure the horse is not be fresh (excitable). The horse needs to be lunged in walk, trot and canter (even if the rider will not be cantering) by doing so you will make sure the horse will respond to your commands and be controllable in all three paces. If you are going to use lunge rein when … [Read more...]
Make Horse Safety a Priority
Your Safety Horse Checklist in Preparation for Safety Riding & Teaching Horse Safety – The Gear Check Checking the saddlery and equipment (a.k.a gear check) for horse safety and comfort as well as preparation for the rider for comfort and safety riding. This means physically checking the student (and horse if it is a mounted lesson) to ensure it is safe and appropriate for the lesson and of the correct fit and comfortable. It is essential that you are thorough in performing the gear check as a failure to recognise unsuitable or incorrect gear may result in you being liable should an incident occur as a result of unsuitable or incorrect gear being used. If you have saddled the horse then you should be checking these items as you put them on the horse and you should re-check the … [Read more...]
Do You Know This Person?
You may not have heard of the person who quoted this . . . “A teacher does not have the right to put a cap on the aspirations of his students - no matter how unreal those aspirations might be” It came from the school teacher who gave Monty Roberts an ‘F’ on his school paper describing his ambition to set up a horse training facility. The teacher said it was a ‘wild, unattainable dream’. Many years later he was happy to say that Monty had taught him possibly the most valuable lesson he had ever learned! Are you the type of instructor who supports their students to achieve their dreams? If you don’t teach, are you the type of friend who supports their friends to achieve their dreams? What dreams do you have? Will you ride at the Olympics? Work in the horse industry all over the … [Read more...]
Does Your Horse Riding Instructor Use Double Negatives?
As a Coach Educator, when I am training horse riding instructors I like to encourage them to use positives (look up) as opposed to double negatives (don’t look down). This teaches students what to do, not what not to do There are many qualities that make a good horse riding instructor, but there is yet to be a perfect one that is perfect for every student in every situation. If you have a great instructor who uses double negatives regularly then a technique that is commonly adopted by many non-English speaking background students may come in handy. When they hear a word, it is ‘filtered’ and translated into their native tongue before they react. Initially their reaction time is a little slow but as they pick up the new word/s and they become familiar with the word/s their reaction … [Read more...]
