markoequine's posterous http://markoequine.posterous.com Most recent posts at markoequine's posterous posterous.com Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:23:23 -0700 Personal Space http://markoequine.posterous.com/personal-space-0 http://markoequine.posterous.com/personal-space-0

Desensitizing

  1. Stand at a 45 degree angle to your horse's shoulder.
  2. Toss the tail of your lead rope towards your horse 
    • Toss the rope over the withers
    • Over the rump
    • Around the front legs
    • Around the hind legs
    • Over the neck
  3. Continue flicking the rope until your horse relaxes, or stands for 15 seconds, which ever comes first.
  • What are the signs of relaxation?
    • lowering the head
    • cocking a hind leg
    • licking and chewing
    • sighing
    • blinking the eyes 

Troubleshooting:

  • If your horse moves off while you are tossing the lead rope, get two eyes and keep flicking the rope until he stands still for fifteen seconds. 
  • Doing too much too soon.  You're goal isn't to create a wreck, it's to prevent one.  Start far enough away that you don't terrify your horse; you want to gradually get closer, and progressively use bigger, scarier stimuli. 

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Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:22:13 -0700 Personal Space http://markoequine.posterous.com/personal-space http://markoequine.posterous.com/personal-space

Personal Space

  1. Start by standing about 7 feet from your horse's nose; draw an imaginary circle around you. 
  2. Any time your horse steps within the circle, back him out with energy.  
    • Wiggle the lead rope back and fort with energy until your horse steps back.  

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