Quarter Horse
America's Horse Weekly Newsletter
By
Apr 14, 2008, 15:12

HORSIN' AROUND AT THE HALL OF FAME

New and exciting things are happening in the education department at the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum. From mop-pony trail rides to horse movement demonstrations in the arena, Texas Panhandle kids are getting much more than they bargained for from the facility, and you can, too.

Boys and girls visiting the museum learn the basics about American Quarter Horses and the role they have played in American history.

Summer will bring the Camp It Up! program, which includes the basic horse camp for kids ages 8-11. The program’s materials are free for others to use in their area and can be accessed from the Hall of Fame’s Web site.

The Hall of Fame also offers teachers’ lesson plans to use in the classroom as part of the Two Bits for Your Brain program. Check it out to see how you can have a great time learning from the Hall of Fame, either in Amarillo or your hometown.

EGG-XACTLY WHAT YOU NEED!
This deviled-egg serving tray is from Arthur Court Designs. Price is $59, plus shipping.

SHOP QUARTER HORSE OUTFITTERS

WHAT THE HAY?
The American Quarter Horse Journal wants to know what you’re paying for hay. Tell us the price, type (alfalfa, grass, blend, etc.) and how many baling strands (2 or 3) or weight of the bale. E-mail the information to us by April 30.

MIND YOUR MANNERS!
Is your horse cranky at feed time? Does he pin his ears, bare his teeth and stomp his feet? Or worse, does he grab the hay out of your arms and shove you aside?

If your horse has bad manners at feed time, he may be displaying aggressive and dominant behavior because he actually thinks his actions are making you feed him. While this kind of behavior can be dangerous, it can also erode your authority with the horse and make him difficult to handle in other situations.

Horses establish dominance in the herd, in part, by controlling the feed – the dominant horse can take away the feed of a more subordinate horse. If your horse comes to believe his antics are making you surrender the feed to him, in his mind, that means he’s dominant. If your horse has bad feed-time manners, take a training flag with you and wave it at him; once he backs up and looks at you with his ears forward, throw him the feed and walk away.

In the wild, horses eat small amounts all day long, constantly roaming in order to find suitable forage. In domestication, we have confined horses and generally feed them in two rations of very concentrated feed, leaving them to go for long periods without eating. For this reason, horses can have a lot of anxiety around feed time.

In acting out his anxiety, your horse one day arbitrarily displayed some emotional behavior, like pinning his ears or stomping his feet. Then someone came along and fed him and he made an association, right or wrong, between his bad behavior and getting fed. So the next day, he tried it again and lo and behold, he got fed again! Remember, he doesn’t understand the human world and your plans and routine. He not only believes his antics are causing you to feed him, but he also thinks he’s taking away the food from you. In his world, that means he’s dominant.

Whatever your horse is doing at the moment you release him (or reward him) is what you are training him to do. That’s why timing is such a critical part of horse training. If you just take a few moments to back the horse up and wait for him to display respectful behavior before giving him the feed, his bad manners will disappear and he will become more respectful of you as his leader.

– BY JULIE GOODNIGHT

Julie Goodnight is a trainer from Salida, Colorado. This and other behavioral problems are thoroughly explained in articles and instructional videos on her Web site.

www.bridleandbit.com