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[RC] more general training questions - k s swigartJackie said: For those of you who start green horses, what is your first approach? What are you looking for and why? Just how "green" are we talking about here (e.g. is the horse halter broken, if not, I start there)? And how old is the horse? However, assuming the horse IS halter broken, my first approach is to give the horse a bath, or a good grooming (if the weather is not suitable for a bath). The purpose is to run my hands all over the horse's body for at least a couple of hours so the horse can get to know me, and I can get to know the horse and how it responds to being communicated with (which is what you are doing every time you touch a horse). You can find out the horse's sensitivity to pressure, you can find out where to touch the horse to get it to move different parts of its body, you can learn to what extent it may have already been taught any of these things, it can help you find out the general attidude and disposition of the horse (e.g. does it stand quietly while you do this, does it fidgit, does it resist, does it try to bite or kick) There is a LOT you can learn about a horse by spending a couple of hours rubbing your hands all over its body. If you do it with a hose and/or a bunch of grooming tools in your hands while you do it, you also end up with a clean horse. kat Orange County, Calif. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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