Training Tip: Personal Space and Safety

The safety category of respect refers to your personal hula hoop space. This space is a 4-foot circle that surrounds you and serves as your safety zone. Whenever you are working with a horse, always imagine that there’s a four foot circle drawn around you—almost like an invisible electric fence. Unless you invite the horse into your personal hula hoop space, he should keep a respectful, safe distance from you. The horse should never come into the circle unless you invite him in. Most injuries people suffer while working with horses occur because the horse was too close to them. Think about all the times people get hurt by horses. The horse bites them, kicks them, strikes at them, runs over the top of them, etc. Each time, the horse was in the person’s personal hula hoop space. You can’t be injured if the horse is kept outside of that circle. A horse can’t bite you if he is 4 feet away from you; He can’t kick you if his hind legs don’t get any closer to you than 4 feet; and he can’t run over you if his chest is outside of your hula hoop space.