This is basic ground manners explained. In it's simplest form, good manners means your horse doing as he is told. However simple or routine a task may seem, it's important that your horse knows how to move safely. He needs to be taught not to push you, step on you or in any way put you in danger of injury whether or not this is intentional. These may seem like simple annoyances, perhaps, but you can see that there is definitely potential for someone to be seriously hurt. Since horses outweigh you by a ton, literally, a misplaced hoof can break your foot. Better not to find out the hard way whether your equine insurance will cover you for this! Your very own personal space bubble can be established and then maintained to best avoid this problem.
Allowing your horse to nuzzle into your pockets in the search for crunchy treats could land you with a nibble in a rather inconvenient place. A horse's love nibbles are painful when applied to mere human skin. Horses in a herd treat each other differently than they must treat us. They may well nip, bite and crowd each other, but this type of behaviour cannot be tolerated towards humans.
Many people have unfortunately learned the space bubble lesson the hard way. My first, and subsequently the last, experience with the concept of crowding occurred when I bought my first horse years ago. My wonderful new four-legged friend liked to “help” me with the paddock cleaning. As I shovelled and filled the manure cart, he would come and put his nose into it. Then one day he actually lifted his front hoof and put it into the cart when I put a rake full of manure in. He knocked the cart over, which spooked him, which in turn spooked the other three horses in the paddock. There were hooves and tails flying about every which way with me right in the middle of it all. Thankfully I was not hurt, but this could have been a mild or even a serious disaster – and may have even necessitated a claim on my horse insurance.
This was in the basic learning curve time period for both of us. I was so amused at his trying to help me with my chores that I didn’t think about the potential consequences. On that day I learned the importance of manners. From that point forward he was taught to respect my space when I was in and around the paddock and the other horses taking care of business. He had plenty of time to be cute and interact with me when we were training and learning cues together.
You can use the three Ps of horse training to instil basic safety manners into your horse. The three Ps of horse training - patience, persistence and positive reinforcement - are crucial to the developing relationship between you and any horse you ride or are training for someone else.
Patience. Your horse doesn't instinctively know what you want. You will go a long way in building trust by showing patience with your horse when showing him what to do, and letting him try and try again until he gets it. Enter the training session with a clear and stress free mind. Take a deep breath and relax. It is part of the natural learning process for your horse to test the waters. He needs to check and see if what he thinks you want is correct. This can occur several times before the horse has confirmed his correct assessment of the task.
Persistence. Don’t give up after just a few tries. At first it is hard to communicate. After all, you don’t speak the same language yet! Stay with it and be consistent in your cues. Horses are very perceptive to even the slightest cue. It will not usually take long for a horse to learn what a cue means - then you will have cooperation.
Positive reinforcement. Give your horse the signal when he’s done something correctly. The best reward for a horse may not be those tasty treats. Horse love to be released when they have done a job correctly. Imagine the “whoa!” or “stop” cue. It’s a pull on the bit within the horse’s mouth. When the horse exhibits the signs that he understands that you want him to stop, release the bit immediately. This will tell him that he;s doing things correctly.
Horses need to know their limits. How close can he stand to you before you feel crowded? Can he pull on the lead rope if he doesn’t want to go the way you are leading him? Can he refuse to pick up his foot if he doesn’t feel like it? What may to us seem like common sense are not necessarily things which come naturally to a horse. A correctly and carefully trained horse will forever be both a most pleasing companion and could also represent a lower liability when it comes to renewing your horse insurance policy.