Wont stand Still

It can be so frustrating when your horse can’t stand still. He circles, invades, pulls, even rears up. Sometimes it can even be a bit frightening, after all, humans are small in comparison to the size of a horse!

There are two things that can help your horse want to stand still and it’s probably the opposite of what most people do.

Instead of holding him tight and jerking on the halter, give him more rope and get him to move more! It’s called reverse psychology and it works.

Give your horse at least four feet of rope, put your back against a wall or fence and then play the Driving Game, sending your horse quickly from one side of the fence to the other. When a horse is full of adrenaline, holding him close makes him feel claustrophobic and panicky. By giving him more rope you stop aggravating this feeling.

When a horse needs to move his feet, the more you try to stop it the worse it gets. So do the opposite… get him to move his feet faster than he wants and pretty soon the adrenaline comes down and all he wants to do is stand still. This can take a little time if it’s an extreme horse, but even though a few minutes might feel like an eternity to you it’s a drop in the bucket of time where a horse is concerned. Take the time it takes.

Oh… and don’t let him go in circles. The fact that he has to go back and forth, faster than he wants is the secret.