|
Another Girthy Horse Tip
I rode a school horse for many years, and part of the deal was that students had to get to the lesson early and saddle the horses themselves. Consequently this poor horse got so fed up with awful people that he became really nasty to do up the girth. After he almost bit my arm off one day, I decided to tell the instructor/owner and my employer. She was mortified and so between us we set about trying to help him get over it.
One of the first things we did was to ban anyone from saddling/bridling the horses, except for staff.
We tried all sorts of things but found the best way to keep him relaxed and happy was to occupy his mind and tummy with other things. While I did up the girth slowly and gently, I would pat him on the neck, standing side on so that he couldn't see me do up the girth. At the same time another helper would put his head in a bucket of his all time favourite food and stroke his forelock.
Within a few months the horse was happier and far less grumpy about being girthed. Although he was never cured completely it certainly helped.
Cheers!
|
Linear Mode
