Please walk on your own shoes!

QUESTION:  I have a two year old gelding that when I am leading him he will try to push into me and walk on top of me. I am afraid that he will hurt me or other people who try to lead him. What can I do to correct this behavior and get him to behave better?

  ANSWER: One of the most disrespectful things a horse can do to you is crowd your space. Whether it is putting their rear end towards you or just “walking all over you”. Not only is it disrespectful, it is very unsafe. The biggest reason horses crowd our space is that we allow the horse to invade our comfort zone. Many horse owners want to hug and love all over their horses and treat them like kids or dogs. This only causes the horse to become pushy and disrespectful. I’ve heard it said many times, “If I love my horse, it will love me back”. This is the human way of thinking not the horses’ way of thinking.

  To communicate best with our horses we first need to learn their language, body language. This is how horses communicate with one another. They don’t speak, wave, or make a scene to communicate to each other. Horses watch the body language of one another to read what the other is thinking. If we learn how to communicate using the horses’ language, our relationship with the horse will be a partnership and not a dictatorship.

  Lets use the example of the horse that is pushy and stepping all over us when we are holding or leading them. The way most people deal with this situation is to jerk on the lead rope or to hit the horse with their hand. This does nothing but get our horses to resent the halter and lead and they can become head shy. The horse has only learned to keep out of reach of your hand. What I like to do is correct the horse like another horse would. Now think about this for a minute and envision two horses that are walking down the trail and the horse in the back is crowding the one in front. What happens?

  Yes, you guessed it the horse in the front kicks back and tells the horse behind it “Back Off”! Nine times out of ten the horse in back will keep a more respectful distance and if it doesn’t, the process will be repeated over again. Simple isn’t it. Now put yourself in the horses’ shoes. If you are leading a horse and it is crowding your space and walking all over you, just kick back like a horse would. Now be ready for a few things to happen. One, the horse may want to leave you and get away. I like to only have about 4’ of lead rope between myself the horse and I so it can’t bolt and get away. If it is a horse that feels it is more dominant than you it may nip at you. So be prepared for the unexpected.

  I compare this to checking your trailer brakes before you try to stop a loaded horse trailer at 60 mph. If your brakes were checked before they were needed, you are confident the brakes will work. If the brakes weren’t, good luck. The same goes with the horse. If you are consistent and don’t allow your horse to walk on you by kicking back at them when they are too close you can confidently know your horse is more respectful of you. One thing to be sure to do is when you do kick back at the horse, go and pet it where your kicked it. This will keep your horse from being afraid of your foot.

  By learning to communicate with our horses in a manner that they more easily understand, we will develop a relationship that is more willing and respectful. Keep building on the partnership between you and your horse.
See you down the horsemanship trail