This month’s No Worries Club member exclusive dives into the topic of how to best handle a hot, nervous horse. Horses that tend to be hot and busy-minded are not bad horses; they just require a little extra training and patience. The biggest mistake people make with this type of horse is never teaching the horse to relax and use the thinking side of his brain. It’s not possible for a horse to relax when he’s nervous, anxious and using the reactive side of his brain. What happens, though, is the horse will power walk in the arena or jig down the trail and instead of the rider moving the horse’s feet to get him to use the thinking side of his brain, they ignore his behavior or try to slow him down with two reins. Then, at the end of the ride, they get off him and unsaddle him and put him away. They don’t even realize it, but they’re teaching the horse that his reactive, nervous behavior is acceptable and normal.
This training session is all about how to safely handle hot, nervous horses and how to get them to relax and use the thinking side of their brains. The fix is not to force the horse to calm down and relax – that’ll just result in the horse getting even more anxious – but to turn your idea to slow down into the horse’s idea. Watch the DVD now on the No Worries Club website.
