Thursday, January 29, 2009

Zen Horse

Training Tip of the Week Blanketing Your Horse for the Winter
By Clinton Anderson

In the winter, we all need to blanket our horses occasionally. For spooky horses or horses that have not been blanketed, this can be a challenge! In this week’s tip, I will cover basic blanketing techniques. One of the first things to do when blanketing your horse is to remember to use passive body language and do not act like a predator. Forcing the blanket on the horse is not a good idea! Rather, use the following steps:

Desensitize the air around the horse. If you can’t move the blanket around the horse without him spooking, then you definitely can’t touch him with it. Use the approach and retreat method on both sides until the horse will consistently stand still and relax.

Rub all over the horse’s back with your hands and then your blanket. If you need to, you can use a saddle pad first and then move to your winter blanket. It’s important that you act calm and don’t make a big deal of this. If your horse gets nervous, just keep rubbing him with the blanket until he stands still and relaxes.

Put blanket on the horse.

Happy Trails,
Danna

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