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Sample Our Newsletter
"Back Easily With Hip Shoulder Shoulder," from my FREE monthly newsletter
From the Quarter Horse Training Series:
"When you first begin backing, back your horse at an angle (or "crooked"). Don't ask him to back up straight because you'd be pulling evenly on both of the horse's shoulders; he'll be resisting and you'll lose "lightness." He'll push into your reins like a plow horse into his harness. Instead, back up crooked. It makes the horse raise his knees higher and stay lighter on his front end than he would otherwise. (Because his left front foot will step towards his right front foot or vice versa, as opposed to directly backwards. That causes him to bend his knees more. The more the knee bends, the more elevation he keeps in his front end which means more energy in your backup.) Do this by simply toying with the angle at which you hold the rein. Remember, you're only supposed to be using one.
The really cool part of this exercise is that once you've nailed it your horse will stop his shoulder (read: stop moving forward) and immediately assume a more collected posture the instant you pick up a rein: He'll stop on a dime and his back feet will come forward while his shoulders, back and abdomen raise. Congratulations! You've taken a big step toward collection (or "natural carriage") and you'll need that to perfect the back up, the spin, simple turns, rollbacks, etc."
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From John Lyons Trainer Keith Hosman |
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Trailer Training Horses
A Downloadable Book
A sample from Day 3:
"There are two schools of thought when it comes to teaching a horse to trailer. I've touched on them earlier. Both versions use some amount of the "Go Forward cue" as you've practiced it – but, specifically, they come down to this: In one version, (we'll call it "A") we primarily rely on the Go Forward cue – plus patience – to get the horse loaded. This is more often than not, the route I personally take (or a mix of both, frankly). The pro is, it takes less sweat on your part and does a better job of teaching the horse to unload, the con is, it can take much, much longer. When I trailer-train a horse I know it's going to take a large chunk of time and I resign myself to that. The alternate route ("B") is to motivate the horse using the exercises we practiced yesterday to teach him that life is a vacation in the trailer and nothing but hard work outside the trailer. In essence, the second method makes loading up the horse's idea. The pro is it can be much quicker. The con is, you've really gotta work." - Print out from home
- 5 Days, 5 chapters
- Learn at your own pace
Just $4.99
For more info:
this course | all courses
Available Downloads:
"Stop Bucking"
"Rein/Speed" (for Nervous Horse Owners)
"Round Pen First Steps"
"Trailer Training"
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GUEST AUTHOR ARTICLES
Using Horse Manure
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"Horse Manure – Does It Have Any Uses?"
By D Ruplinger
I grew up on a dairy farm and learned early in my life that cow manure is useful. That usefulness may have been born out of necessity, though. After all, the manure from a herd of 50 cows has to go somewhere right? That’s how I learned that cow manure makes a great fertilizer. But we never had horses on our farm so I started wondering if horse manure is useful as a fertilizer too.
Although there is a wide range of weights among horses depending on the breed, an average adult riding horse weighs approximately 900 – 1,100 pounds. A horse that size produces around 8 to 9 tons; or between 16,000 and 18,000 pounds of manure every year. That’s a lot of horse manure.
What is done with that manure? One option for disposal is to haul it to a landfill site, but that is not an eco-friendly option and some landfills will not accept horse manure. The best option is to spread the horse manure on land so it decomposes quickly, or to compost it and then use it to improve soil quality.
One problem with using horse manure to fertilize ground is that many people use sawdust or wood chips as bedding in horse stalls. When the stalls are cleaned, the dirty sawdust or wood chips as well as the manure are removed. While the horse manure itself is a good fertilizer, the sawdust and wood chips are not crop friendly. That’s because when wood breaks down in the soil a nitrogen deficiency occurs, which stunts the growth of crops. To combat this problem, a nitrogen fertilizer can be added to the soil after horse manure is spread on it; or a nitrogen fertilizer can be added to the horse manure and sawdust or wood shavings mixture before being added to the soil.
A great way to use horse manure is to add it to a compost pile. When adding the manure to a compost pile, any sawdust and wood chips present in the manure are okay. They are a good “brown” component to compost. It takes about six months for the manure, sawdust or wood chips, and any other materials added to the compost pile to completely break down and become what many people call “black gold.”
To make a compost pile with horse manure as one of the components, layer it with green compost items. Many experts suggest alternating layers of brown and green compost items because you need sources of both carbon (brown items) and nitrogen (green items) in your compost pile. Brown items such as horse manure, wood chips, and sawdust are great sources of carbon. A few good sources of nitrogen (the green items) for a compost pile include: green leaves, fresh grass clippings, the scraps from raw fruits and vegetables, and coffee grounds. Yes, coffee grounds are brown, but for the purposes of compost they are considered a green item because they provide the compost pile with nitrogen.
Because the compost pile is a living thing, it needs water and air to thrive. Your compost pile should be turned each week, adding water as needed to keep the compost pile damp. You’ll know the process of breaking down has completed when the compost material is dark and crumbly and fresh smelling.
Once the horse manure and other materials have turned into the “black gold” I mentioned a little earlier in this article, it’s finally time to put the black gold to good use. While compost isn’t officially considered a fertilizer, it contains nutrients that are great for plants and soil. Some good ways to use your horse manure compost are: as mulch for garden plants and around landscaping; as a soil improvement component for sandy soil; as a soil improvement for clay soil; and as a material to help control erosion.
Now you know that horse manure, that smelly waste product from a beloved animal, is a useful by product that is environmentally friendly.
About the Author: D Ruplinger is a featured writer for ManureFertilizer.com. To learn more about horse manure and horse manure compost, visit our site.
Source: www.isnare.com
Permanent Link:
http://www.isnare.com/?aid=36938&ca=Gardening
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Disclaimer: Equine training can be a hazardous activity which may subject the participants to possible serious injury. Keith Hosman, Josh Lyons, Patrick Benson, their associates and other trainers listed on this site will not assume any liability for your activities. Our newsletter, books and videos provide general information, instruction and techniques that may not be suitable for everyone. No warranty is given regarding the suitability of this information, the instructions, and techniques to you or other individuals acting under your instructions.
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No part of this website, including newsletter material and photos, may be reproduced without our express written permission.
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Horse Owning: Using Horse Manure, advice for the horse owner provided by John Lyons Certified Trainer Keith Hosman
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