Do you know the feeling of frustration when your horse is in the washing place and constantly scrapes the ground with his front legs? It is dangerous for your feet and simply irritating. Behaviorist expert and animal scientist Marlies Brunings is specialized in horse behavior and the interaction between people and horses. In this article she explains where you can find the roots of the problem and how you can fix it.
Hitting with the front legs can have many different causes. Most often it is a context related problem. Some problems may be that the horse wants to avoid pain, experience that scraping leads to a treat, the need for more exercise, unpleasant past experiences, your own state of mind and behavior or being removed from the herd.
Find the problem first
As you can see, there are many different reasons that can cause your horse to scrape and kick with the front legs in the grooming area. Make sure you know what the cause is before you start looking for solutions. Then you are more likely to solve the problem faster. Your own assumptions usually do not match the explanation for the horse's own behavior. It happens too often that people fill in all kinds of things for the horse and therefore miss a lot of important information.
What do you want to teach your horse?
Marlies Brunings also recommends avoiding the use of a whip to 'unlearn' your horse something. You only achieve that his trust in you goes down. Think about what you want to teach your horse, not what you want to 'unlearn' him. By rewarding consistently and at the right moment you build a safe relationship with your horse!
Source: Bitmagazine.nl
Photo: Pinterest