Bombproof and mannerly horses

A horse doesn’t care how much you know until he knows how much you care.
– Pat Parelli

It’s always interesting to see which page on our website attracts the most visitors and for the month of January 2012 it was ‘Bombproof and Mannerly Horses’. We asked readers to give tips on what they thought would be a help to anyone attempting to train their horse to be easier to manage. The page also includes two videos, one on bombproofing and the other on clicker training.

Plastic bags are often terrifying for horses. We have one who is fearless about most things but hates having to pass the black plastic used in silage bales. Often these are left lying around the fields when the silage has been eaten by cattle and eventually get tossed onto fences and trees where they flap like demented crows when we have to ride past. There are ways, however, to get your horse used to plastic, such as:

Your horse will get used to plastic bags if you start gradually introducing them. Feed him treats from one. Wrap one around the end of a long stick or broom handle. Rub up and down horse’s legs and sides until unafraid. Then just tie one end of bag to the stick and start again.
Gradually rub a colourful plastic bag over their coat when grooming to show that the bag will not hurt them. It will help them not to be afraid of colourful things and rustling plastic. Plastic bags, balloons and strips of plastic tape can be tied to water buckets or to doors.
Another good idea is to feed your horse from a plastic bag. While this may be terrifying to start with, he or she will soon get interested in the food inside and, with a bit of perseverance, should soon be happy to eat it.