For the safety of both you and your horse, it can be essential to teach your horse to stay still. If a horse can’t stay still, it may become a big annoyance whether it’s being tethered to a tree, standing to be mounted, or simply remaining still for the veterinarian or farrier. Fortunately, it’s not too difficult to teach your horse to stand still. Continue reading to know how to get a horse to stand still while saddling.
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Table of Contents
Horse Nature
Saddling goes against a horse’s natural inclinations because, as a prey animal, placing anything on her back is equivalent to discomfort and should be avoided. Before a saddle ever touches a horse’s back, it must be properly sacked out of the animal. This entails stroking things against her body: Common tools include hands, ropes, sacks, tarps, and blankets.
You ask her to move differently when she does so, such as backing up if she moves ahead. Despite her anxiety about something on her back, she learns to pay attention to you. Whenever she stops moving, take the item away. Remember to massage the area where the cinch will go, her girth. Your horse might still move intuitively if she hasn’t had this experience.
Pain
Make sure your saddle is properly fitted for your horse if you haven’t already. Long-term physical issues can result from discomfort from an uncomfortable saddle. Moving while you are saddling her is her way of communicating with you if she associates the saddle with pain. Never pull a cinch too tightly or too quickly.
Doesn’t Like Being Mount
Tense hands or tugging the reins too firmly, banging her back at the sitting trot or canter, and pressing your knees against her sides are a few frequent riding technique problems. Maybe she doesn’t enjoy her job. Maybe she’d prefer jumping to dressage. It can sometimes be enough variety to keep a horse from becoming irritable to simply take her out of the ring and onto the path.
How To Get A Horse To Stand Still While Saddling
Simply tie the horse up and leave it there for a while to educate an eager horse to stand still. Typically, you should restrain them for an hour each day until you observe a change in their behavior and they begin to stand quietly.
When a horse is tethered and becomes impatient and begins to paw the ground, the handler will frequently approach the animal and make an effort to correct it. However, the horse actually wants that. The horse is controlling you if it knows that every time it paws, you’ll approach it. You shouldn’t go over and correct the horse if it paws. In fact, leave the horse tethered for an hour and don’t approach it. The horse must overcome its impatience by itself.
Make sure you are always in a position where you can keep an eye on the horse whenever you are doing this. Never tie your horse and leave it in an area where you can’t be seen or heard.
Final Thoughts On How To Get A Horse To Stand Still While Saddling
A horse can be trained to stand still using repetition and the lesson that refusing to do so would result in additional effort for them. Since horses are flying creatures, remaining motionless might make them feel extremely exposed. When working with them, keep this in mind and start off by not expecting too much of the horse. You and your horse will just feel frustrated as a result.