Help! I have questions about my horse! (Baths, tricks, etc)

Question

I have a few questions I could use answers to. Less is more in my book. If you answer just one but it's really REALLY good, I'd rather have that then run through and give short answers to all. Thank you so much for all your help!

1. How can I get my horse more used to baths? He dances around and seems distressed. He's fine with just water on his legs but when it gets to his shoulders he dances and acts worried. I use warm water, and he's in cross-ties. But he's also just as bad when I tie him outside. Any ideas?!

2. How can I get him to allow me to put water on his face without just spraying it with the hose? How can I get him to be used to even just a sponge being squeezed over his face?

3. How can I teach him to follow me around? He won't come up to me in pasture, and once I have him he won't follow me for long before he gets distracted and stops following me. I don't know if I kept walking if he'd catch up, but I don't want to risk it. Any ideas on how to get him to follow me and come up to me in pasture? I take him treats every time I get him.

4. I'm trying to teach him tricks, what are some of the easiest and/or funnest tricks to teach him and how do I do it? Please help with this one, I don't want to buy the book and its hard to find them online.

That's about it! Thank you so much for anyone who contributes

Answer 1

1. just keep doing it and make it fun like scrub him really nice and just kinda of play, but be very gentle.

2.use a soft. towel and wet it and rub him gently, then you should use the sponge. all over him. but first show the horse the even you will use it and that it will not hurt him/her.

3.show him that you care about him. and play with every, once in a while because it is really hard if it is a new horse. because if it is new to you. you have to show that the horse is a part of your family by playing. feeding. loving. caring.

4. start out first by rubbing the horse. then if you more horses than just that one. use the other horse first if it is already trained. and then you should rub the horse. get a treat and just play around with it and horses arent like dogs. they are not really into to tricks.

try using this websites.

to teach it to bow

http://www.ehow.com/how_2058719_teach-ho...

to teach it to hug

http://www.wikihow.com/Teach-a-Horse-to-...

to teach it to kiss

http://www.wikihow.com/Teach-a-Horse-to-...

HOPE MY ADVICE HELPS!! =)

Answer 2

1) Start slowly spraying your horse's foot. Talk to your horse in a calm voice, and you or someone else can pet your horse. start spraying the water up higher on your horse's leg slowly, still talking to your horse in a calm voice. When you see your horse tense up, continue to spray the spot that your horse tensed up at. dont spray anywere else, just that one spot. When your horse relaxes, reward him by stopping the water. Give your horse about a five minute break from the water (keep him crosstied). Then start spraying your horse's other leg. Slowly rise the water up his leg. When you see him tense, keep the water at its height, and continue spraying till he calms down. do this with all the legs, while talking to him in a calm deep voice. Make sure to reward your horse with breaks in between each leg. That will be all you do on the first day. The next day, do the same thing but even if your horse gets tense, go up higher on the shoulder with water than you did the other day. Wait till your horse stops dancing or relaxes till you stop the water, do this with all the other legs, and give your horse a break in between each leg to reward him for relaxing. continue each day, spraying a different spot till the horse relaxes, and he should start to realize that if he relaxes sooner, the water will stop sooner.

3)It sounds like you and your horse have a bad relationship. Heres what to do to make your relationship stronger:

Dont ride your horse every time you visit him. Take him out of his pasture and let him graze while you have him on a lead rope. pet him and groom him while he's grazing. Try some round pen exercises. Free lunge your horse. Does your horse turn in towards you when you ask him to change directions? if he turns toward the fence it means he's scared of you. Does your horse stop trotting when you put your hand out? these are things you need to work on when free lunging. do you ever just play with your horse? my horse and I after bath time will run around the arena playing tag. Dont bribe your horse into following you with treats, he should do it out of respect and love. Does your horse have a spot he likes you to itch? itch it while he's grazing. do stuff besides riding. And if your relationship gets better, it will probably make bath time easier with him too.

Hope this helps!!!!! Good Luck with your horse!!!!  

Answer 3

all i can say is when giving your horse a bath, dont tie her to a moveable basketball goal, that was a huge mistake.

Answer 4

1&2 my horse was jumpy when bathing him until we got a bathing brush it looks like a brush and at the end it has an openig to put the hose in and that worked he doesnt jump around or you could just work him

3. your horse has to trust you

hope i helped  

Answer 5

I think I can only answer two of them...

1) My horse does the same thing....when I bath him he loves water on his legs...even drinks out of the hose! But when we get to his back he doesn't like it. Recently he has started to behave better. We were at a local fair and they had "L" shaped wash racks. He was tied to the horizontal bar of the "L"  and had the vertical bar of it on his left, and me on his right. He had space, but nowhere to go! He calmed down a bit after that. Maybe find an "L" shaped area you can tie to him to to bath him?

2) I like to put large apple pieces on even larger sponges so he learns that the sponge is good. After he eats the treat I rub the sponge on his throatlatch and slowly work my way up. After I can get the sponge rubbed all over his face dry, I'll repeat the process when its damp, starting from the throatlatch again.

Sorry I couldn't help with the others.

Answer 6

Question 4 - you can think of pretty much anything to teach a horse! try to sand a way from your horse then look at him and cluck at him and gesture with your hands to have i'm come over by you. if he starts to come by you immediately give him a treat and praise him!!! also teach him to bow. you can do this anyway you want but its easiest to start with just the head. make sure you use the same cue every time.

Also stepping to the side is fun to teach to. and if your horse learns to step to the side you can then teach it to him under the saddle. it will be easier if he knows how to do it on the ground first!

there are many thing you can teach a horse...all you have to do is put the effort into teaching it to your horse! have fun!

and remember to always praise your horse for every little improvement he makes. it let him know that he is doing it right! the more you praise the better and faster he will learn!  

Answer 7

Baths take time to get used to. The more you do it the more he will get used to it!