Training a horse isn't easy, no matter how good the relationship is between your horse and yourself, he will still have his days he will test you and push your patience to the limit - simply because he can.

A horse can be a wonderful companion and they can also be a one-thousand pound or better bag of mischief. Never let your horse get away with being disrespectful or downright rude to you. How you handle training and discipline of your horse will draw the line on whether you use good or bad training techniques.

First understand how your horse's brain works. Simply put, a horse is wired in his brain at the most primal level as a prey animal. He will consider almost any object or person a potential threat until he has a chance to taste, smell, and touch it and ascertain for himself that the object or person will do him no harm.

Yelling is a bad training technique. It spooks your horse and makes him unsure of you. Unless he is in immediate danger and need to move quickly; avoid yelling at your horse.

Hitting and slapping are another bad training technique that unfortunately many horse owners resort to get their horse's attention. You get his attention and you also teach him to be wary of human hands - they hurt!

Never starve your horse to get him to submit to your will. This is cruel punishment and although many owners equate it with sending a naughty child to bed without dinner - it often turns into days without adequate food and that can be life threatening to a horse.

Use positive training techniques when you work with your horse. You may force him to do something through yelling or slapping - but he'll never respect you and you'll completely miss out on having a horse/human companion relationship that can be fostered strongly through good training methods.

Labels: exercise, horse-training