Category Archives: Horseback Riding

Horse Idioms


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Horse Idioms

Over time I have gathered a list of horse idioms I’ve read or heard people use.  So, I keep adding to list as I come across them.

Get the updated Horse Idioms and Sayings list on our site.

 Here’s my list:

You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.

Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Straight from the horse’s mouth.

A charlie horse

A horse of another different color

Every horse thinks its own pack heaviest

A one-horse race

A Trojan horse

Straight from the horse’s mouth

I could eat a horse

He eats like a horse

Don’t back the wrong horse

Don’t beat a dead horse

Don’t change horses in midstream

Don’t put the cart before the horse

Don’t spare the horses

He/she eats like a horse

For want of a nail the shoe is lost,
for want of a shoe the horse is lost,
for want of a horse the rider is lost.

Get off your high horse

Get it straight from the horse’s mouth

Hold your horses!

Stop horsing around

That’s a horse of another color

A dark horse

Horse sense

Horses for courses

If two ride on a horse, one must ride behind

If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride

A nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse

This is a one-horse town

Play the ponies

Put a horse out to pasture

Don’t put the cart before the horse

Shut the stable door after the horse has bolted

He’s strong as a horse

Wild horses couldn’t drag him away

That’s horseplay

Get on one’s hobby horse

 We’re constantly adding to the list of  Horse
Idioms and Sayings list on our site.

 


Horse Training Methods – Is Your Horse Half-Brained?


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Horse and rider“Is Your Horse Half-Brained?”

I remember being called ‘half brain’ when I was younger.

The reason for that was my ‘not so smart moments’ in life like when I forgot to shut the front door as I left the house or a dozen other things.

[With my kids in the 12 - 18 year old range I call  it the “teenage minds of mush” syndrome.  Relate?]

Believe it or not, horses are half brained much of the time and it can work against you if you’re not aware of it.

Here’s what I mean.

As you know, horses have an eye on each side of their head.

The right eye can see what’s going on towards the front of him, to his right, and behind him on the right.

His left eye takes care of the other side.

Thus, one eye can see what’s happening on one side of his body ‘independently’ of the other eye.

Us humans do not have that ability.

Do you know what that means?

That means ‘half’ of his attention is assigned to one eye.  The other half of his attention is assigned to the other eye.

That means half of his brain is with one eye and the other half is with the other eye.

Why is that important?

Because when you’re working with your horse and you’ve only got one of his eyes on you…

You Only Have
Half Of His Attention!

If you don’t have his attention, you don’t have the horse.

What’s curious to me is a lot of people don’t understand this.  Or if they do, they don’t seem to mind the horse doesn’t give them full attention.

But it’s crucial to have it if you’re going to teach your horse something.

Not only that, I find it totally disrespectful to NOT have someone’s attention when I’m talking – and that goes for horses too!

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and as you talk they look away, or act uninterested, or keep looking at their watch?

That’s rude!

Although I can’t do much about a person being rude, I certainly can with a horse.

And when a horse isn’t giving me his attention, it’s rude.

After all, I’m not asking them to give it to me all day.

They have 23 hours a day to eat, meander, run, etc….but when it’s my time – I want ‘em giving me attention.

And if I only get one eye, then I’m not getting ALL their attention.

Now there are many times you won’t always get both eyes.

After all, if you’re lungeing a horse you’ll only get one eye because he’s circling around you.

BUT!!!

He can still focus most of his attention on you while lungeing.

And he should.

But remember, a horse’s attention span isn’t all that long and they have to be reminded to give it to you.

The younger the horse, the shorter the attention span. (Generally speaking)

How do you get your horse’s attention back on you if you lose it?
Make ‘em move.

Create a little pressure.

Now why is this important?

Well, a horse ignoring you is bad manners for the horse.

A horse, like kids, must have good manners. Giving you attention is part of good manners.

But also, to train a horse you must have his attention.

If he’s going to be responsive to what you ask him to do, you have to have his attention.

What I just told you about how the horse’s brain works and how getting both eyes gives you both sides of his brain…which gives you his attention… is a significant part of understanding the horse.

If you have ever wondered to yourself, ‘Why does my horse do X ? ‘, then it may be there’s something about his nature you don’t know…but should.

In all my encounters with horse trainers, there’s one thing (among others) that we consistently agree on.
And that is…

‘To be successful with horses,  you must understand their nature.’

Makes sense, really.

After all, if you’re going to be a surgeon, you must know how the body works so you can repair damage and keep it working.

If you’re going to be an auto mechanic, you must know how engines work to fix them.

If you make engine repairs that are inconsistent with how an engine works, you will fail.

Training your horse is much the same way.

You MUST know how it works, thinks, acts, reacts, and so on.

There are lots of books on the subject if you want to read and study up on it.

Jesse Beery figured this our real early when he was learning horse training and developing his training methods.  You can see more about his training course here:

http://horsetrainingresources.com/beery.html

Or, you can take advantage of many of our excellent training videos by one of our professional trainers here:

http://horsetrainingresources.com/DVD.html

Remember…

The more you know about your horse, the better you’ll be.

That’s the big difference between people who are mildly successful versus those who can get their horses doing amazing things.

Knowledge.

It begins with understanding the nature of your horse.

Ok… that’s it.

Stay safe out there with your horses.

Charlie


Horse Training Methods: Would Your Horse Stop If….?


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Woman training horse In rodeo competitions, the rider chases a calf.   The horse zooms up next to the calf, and at the right moment, the cowboy slides off his horse, onto the calf, and the wrestling match begins.The horse is trained to do run up to and along side the calf so the cowboy can do his thing.

But what if you’re not as good at riding a horse as these guys?

What if you have a son or daughter who you worry about falling off the horse and the horse doesn’t stop?

That would be especially bad if a foot was caught in the stirrup.

Ouch.

Would you rather have a horse taught to stop or slow down if you’re falling off?

Why would you want that?

Well, if you’re not a rodeo-er or into Dressage, etc., then chances are you’re more into trail ridin’ and easy goin’ stuff.

T’ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.  In fact, that’s a very big portion of the horse industry today.

So if you’re not an experienced rider, break easier ‘n you used to, and want your horse to stop if you fall off or maybe even  slow down if he feels you slipping, that can be done.

Diana Quintana, one of our featured trainers, teaches that very thing to horses.

See Diana Quintana’s DVD

She’ll take a ‘deflated innertube’ (with the stem removed) and put it on a horse.

She’ll start by having the horse walk around with it on. Not trot or lope…walk. (I might add the horse may need to get used to it being on his back first.  You can’t always throw it on and go.)

Anyway, once the tube is on, have the horse walk a calm, steady pace.

As he does, watch for the inner tube to come off… because it will.

As it starts to slip, the horse will notice it.  That’s the horse’s cue…when it starts to slip.  That mimics a rider starting to slip off.

Then when the tube hits the ground, stop the horse.

And once it’s on the ground around the horses feet, you want him to accept it and not freak out about it.

You want him calm and cool about it.

Why?

Because you always want your horse to remain calm and cool regardless of the situation.  That way, you don’t have to fight a thousand pounds of out-of-control muscle.

Instead, it’s taught self control.

When you get him doing this well at the walk then you can go to the trot – but not until then.

Now there’s a little more to it than what I told you because words don’t do it justice, some things ought to be seen for clarity.

But you get the gist.

And if you haven’t yet seen Diana’s video, take a look at it.  To read about it, click the following:

See Diana Quintana’s DVD