Horses are a lot like children. They can be raised with care, love, and attention, but still may be pushy and ornery. Dealing with a pushy horse can bring frustration to any equestrian, no matter the experience level. Whether your horse ignores cues, tries to do their own thing, or acts disrespectfully, effective horse training, is the ultimate solution.
A pushy horse often stems from a lack of clear boundaries or clear communication with its trainer, owner, or rider. Still, by taking the time to train, using available tools and the right approach, you can restore respect and harmony. In this blog, we will explore why horses may develop these odd pushy behaviors, how to set a training foundation, the importance of consistency, and when to call in a professional.
Understanding Why Horses Become Pushy
Horses, like many other species of herd animals, have an instinct to establish a hierarchy and operate within this predictable social structure to keep them safe. If your horse is being pushy, it may be because they are either testing your leadership or responding to an inconsistency with their handling.
For example, if you are always providing treats to your horse when they are begging, they may start to invade your space and act more disrespectfully than normal, to get more treats through begging. A horse might push to assert their dominance if it doesn’t see you as a leader. Anxiety and stress could cause a horse to barge or crowd as a coping mechanism.
Recognizing these triggers is the first step to tailored, effective horse training for a pushy horse.
Setting The Foundation For Respectful Horse Training
Before getting started with training exercises, establish your relationship with your horse as a calm but assertive leader. Horses thrive on clear boundaries because their herd mentality hardwires them to operate within a social hierarchy that has predictability to help keep them safe and secure.
In the wild, horses’ survival depends on them knowing who is in charge, as clear roles reduce conflict and chaos, which allows for their group to graze and rest without worry, yet also flee danger at a moment’s notice. Domesticated horses still crave that clarity, responding to consistent cues and rules, rather than guessing what the correct direction is.
Teach your horse to respect your personal space by maintaining distance during leading – use a longer lead rope and correct potential crowding behavior with gentle pressure. Exercises like stopping and starting on cue can also reinforce your leadership. The “hold and wait” technique, where you apply pressure until the horse yields, then releasing the pressure, can be highly effective in training.
Consistency & Patience: Keys to Success
Training a pushy horse does not happen overnight. Because of this, try to commit to daily training sessions, even if only for 10-15 minutes, and have patience. Horses are a lot like humans, and they learn through repetition, meaning consistent cues and rewards can be critical to success. Immediate praise or release of pressure, as mentioned previously, for good behavior can help reinforce learning, while punishment can potentially escalate your horse’s fear, and cause them to become more pushy than normal.
Progress may seem like it is going too slowly, but that should not be cause for concern. Some horses may need weeks to adjust, so persistence and patience are key to success. Desensitization to possible stimuli, like the waving of a flag, can also help to calm or eliminate potential anxious tendencies when experiencing unforeseen situations in the future. Steady effort and training can turn disrespectful behavior into respectful responses in your horse.
When to Seek Professional Help
Sometimes, no matter how much training and care you give to your pushy horse’s behavior, especially if it is aggressive behavior, you may still need expert intervention. If your horse has tendencies to charge, rear or pose any other safety risks in spite of consistent training and reinforcement, a professional trainer can help assess any potential underlying issues and offer you expertly crafted techniques to help address these behaviors.
Online resources can also be of great help in this endeavor. One excellent resource is Horse Journals, detailing expert-led methods for training pushy horses. Every horse is different, so make sure to do your research to find the perfect solution for your horse’s unique training needs.
