Seeing Red... Ribbons (Horses That Kick On The Trail)
July 10, 2014
Written by: Josh Lyons & Keith Hosman
Written by: Josh Lyons & Keith Hosman
Here's how to make an improvement every time you climb in that saddle or touch that rein. Have you ever seen a red ribbon tied to a horse's tail? What does that ribbon mean? It means "Stay away from me. My horse will kick your horse."
Does that make you mad? Maybe it should. You've gone to a lot of time and trouble to train your horse, to teach it that it is never okay to act up or kick somebody else's horse - but the guy next to you with the ribbon skipped the whole process. The days you worked on gaining control over your horse, he spent going to the movies. You put in the hard work it takes to build a safe horse; they skipped the process entirely. How about I take a rope and throw it at that red ribbon? Their horse might kick and it might buck. And it might make the rider turn around and say "What the devil did you do that for?" And I might just answer "I'm telling your horse's butt to stay away from the end of my rope."
But here's the bottom line: While the guy with the ribbon should have trained his horse better before hitting the trail, you should train your own horse to deal with other, poorly trained horses. If their horse can run backwards kicking at your horse, then you need the control it takes to duck out of the way. Teach your horse to focus on you, to stay out of fights and to behave itself by being steadfast in your training. It is our responsibility to train our horses and make them safe under all circumstances. If your horse jumps at the sight of a tractor, don't get mad at the farmer. Spend more time training your horse. Print this article (backed with "Hip-Shoulder-Shoulder, Part 1: Solve Every Problem"
Get your horse to stop now, not later. If it takes 2 seconds to go from a walk to a stop - multiply that by 8 when he's excited. Click here to read the "Hip-Shoulder-Shoulder" 3-part series of article - and get that stop the easy way!
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