Teach Your Horse To Politely Perform Leg Stretches
Teaching your horse to be polite while you are performing leg stretches is crucial to keeping YOU safe! A horse that paws or continually takes its leg away while you are trying to perform a stretch can injure you.
The most common problem faced by equine massage therapists is a horse that is unfamiliar with the stretching techniques and/or handling their legs in various positions. The massage therapist is then faced with taking time away from the therapy session to step the horse through the learning process which can take multiple sessions before getting to the point that the actual stretch can be performed.
Teaching your horse these handling techniques beforehand can save you and your therapist a lot of valuable therapy time.
If presented correctly, most horses are happy to please and respond appropriately when given a cue. The key is to build on whatever you are trying to teach in baby steps. Don’t always go for the end product when teaching something new to your horse.
When teaching a stretch to your horse, start at the beginning. You must be able to simply pick up the leg first in order to move to the next step. Once you can get that consistently, add the next step…hold the leg for a few seconds without the horse taking it away, and so on. Always remember to release on what you want! It’s the release that teaches.
Watch the video below for some equine massage tips to help keep you safe while teaching your horse leg stretches and to be polite while handling their legs. When you are done watching the video, hop over to my Facebook page and tell me what you think: http://www.facebook.com/HeavenlyGaitsEquineMassage.
Lisa Carter is a Certified Equine Massage Therapist (CEMT), with multiple certifications from several different equine bodywork schools. She incorporates her knowledge and experience with Parelli Natural Horsemanship, equine bodywork and as a veterinary technician to provide her clients with the resources they need to make informed decisions for their horses. She encourages and facilitates network building between equine health care professionals, working together to find the best combination of therapies to meet the needs of the “whole horse”.
Are you ready to get better results with your horse? Put your equine health care team to work so you and your horse can be doing what you were meant to. Click here to get started!
Horses have been actually really polite! The only thing that should matter is how well we should teach them, especially those that belong to such activities as equine therapies. Horses have to be calm, sound, healthy, temperament and “bombproof.” – I assume you already know that term.
Absolutely! I have found in my years of dealing with horses though that there is no such thing as a “bombproof” horse:) Anything can and will happen when it comes to horses. Never take anything for granted when it comes to your safety.
Hi, Lisa! I think you have misunderstood my term, “bombproof.” It’s just a term used in the horse industry referring to a horse that will stay very calm whenever a certain situation, like bombing, happens. The term is more like a personification or an exaggeration. 🙂 For you to learn more about it, refer to this link: http://www.pal-o-mine.org/blog/bid/65285/What-Makes-a-Horse-a-Good-Candidate-for-a-Therapeutic-Riding-Program I hope that helps you.
Hi Harla, thank you for your clarification and I do appreciate your link. I did understand what you meant and am very familiar with the term and its usage:) I find that it is an extremely overused and misleading term, as I have found that no horse, no matter how prepared you think it may be, is ever 100% certain to be despooked to all things. All we can do is prepare them as best we possibly can to many different types of stimuli and make sure we are providing good leadership so they know they can count on us not to put them in harms way. Several years ago, there was a local girl, only 8 years old, out with her family on a trail ride on her 20-something year old horse that the family had been riding forever. They stopped for a break and while on the horse’s back, she opened a soda can. The noise from popping the soda can scared the horse and it took off with her. She hung a foot in the stirrup as she fell off and was dragged to her death. The family thought the horse was “bomb proof” and never had any indication that the horse was bothered by anything. It was a horrible tragedy. Be prepared for anything and never take anything for granted. That is simply the point I was making.
I am truly sorry about that story. It must have been really tragic and I now understand what you were meaning to say. I must agree and also say thank you for the clarifications and realizations that you gave me. Take care, Lisa! 🙂
Thanks, enjoyed the conversation. Look forward to connecting with you again!