Horses can smell fear, we underestimate the importance of smell to the horse. When alarmed by something they will sniff towards it with their nostrils flared. The horse can smell when you are scared and they will take advantage of that fear.
Be calm around the horse, we do produce smells when we are frightened!
It is unlikely that the horse can smell your nervous state, unless you are really terrified. The horse is likely to pick up the tension you are holding in your body. The horse detects tension in our body movements and this is what puts the horse on edge around you.
When you feel nervous around a horse it is a good idea to take notice on your breathing. We tend to hold our breathe when we are nervous and this causes the tension. You need to control your movements through breathing and to relax at the same time.
Horses greet each other by exchanging their breath and they receive information from each other's scent.
Horses use their taste to differentiate the good food from the poisonous food. They know what is good to eat and what is bad for them. If the horse is in a short supply of food and finding it hard to find food, then they will eat the poisonous plants. Most horses like to drink from fresh waters. My horses loved to drink from the lake and would leave the buckets of water I filled from the tap in the last field.
Some horses are very fussy when it come to drinking water. More so if it from a tap. It is the chlorinated taste that they do not like.
Pip and Ollie, would go for the buckets to play in. They would put their hooves in the water and their heads and thrash the water all over the place and the buckets would land up half way down the field!
I have used Apple Cider Vinegar in the water before, but when they were in the field they would not drink it. I used it on Paris mostly and got her used to it when she had to be stabled. But when back out in the field she would always go back to the lake for her intake of water.
Apple Cider Vinegar is very good to use if your horse will take it. I have used it in their food before. The benefits for the horse is massive.
Horses can see better in the dark then any of us can and means that you can ride at night time. Their eyes are very different to our eyes.
Their eyes are designed to maximize the available light. As in most animals that live outside at night. They detect the light by specialised receptors in the retina at the back of their eyes and the colour vision are called cones.
Where humans have 20/20 vision, horses have between 20/30 to 20/40. Meaning humans can identify details of an object from 20 feet, the horse can identify an object up to 30/40 feet away. The horse will start to lose focus if you or an object is 10 inches away from it. They have a blind spot in front and behind.
A horse can feel a fly land on them, they are very sensitive to touch. I know when any of the horses do not like me to touch a certain part of them, they will swish their tail as a warning to me. I have seen horses cow kick when they don't want to be groomed in a certain part that feels
sensitive to them. I have always used a soft brush to groom them with when I do their face or stomach area. The ears, eyes, noses and lips are very sensitive to the horse.
The horses upper part of the tail are not so sensitive and I have seen many horses rubbing that part of their tail on trees, gates and sharp objects also the chest of the neck is not sensitive to the horse.
You make notice that horses prefer to be stroked then patted, by stroking a horse it gives a calming effect making the horse more relaxed.
When one of the horses do as I ask, I give then a rub on their forehead, they know and understand this is as a thank you.
Many forget to thank the horse for doing good, but remember to punish the horse when doing something wrong with a hit. This will only bring
fear to the horse
Rugging a horse when there is no need to so can do no good for the horse. The rug stops the sunlight which stops the vitamin D getting to the skin plus it encourages the horse to lose its winter coat.
Again I have seen horses that are rugged on nice clear days and if the horse does not need that rug on, they will sweat, causing the rug to be wet.
Many people will run to rug a horse when it starts to rain thinking they are doing the horse good and in fact they are doing more harm then good.
If they are elderly or have ill health and your vet said to rug, then I would do so. If you clip your horse then a rug might be the best thing for him as they need the warmth.
Each and every hair on your horse as a small muscle attached to it. This way the horse can raise and lower the hairs to change the thickness of their coat. When the horse is cold they will raise the hairs and will trap the warm air. Also rolling in the mud will help to keep them warm. When the horse starts to get warm they will flatten the hairs to their body.
So when you put a rug onto your horse, the rug is forcing the hair to stay flat, so the horse has now lost all control over regulating its own
temperature.
I do not believe that a horse should be spotlessly clean, they like to roll in mud to keep them warm when it is cold. The mud protects them
from the rain and the cold. The mud is trapped by the natural grease in their coat keeping them warm. To many people brush this mud from them to keep them looking cleaning, not realising, it is natural for the horse to be kept warm.
Be calm around the horse, we do produce smells when we are frightened!
It is unlikely that the horse can smell your nervous state, unless you are really terrified. The horse is likely to pick up the tension you are holding in your body. The horse detects tension in our body movements and this is what puts the horse on edge around you.
When you feel nervous around a horse it is a good idea to take notice on your breathing. We tend to hold our breathe when we are nervous and this causes the tension. You need to control your movements through breathing and to relax at the same time.
Horses greet each other by exchanging their breath and they receive information from each other's scent.
Horses use their taste to differentiate the good food from the poisonous food. They know what is good to eat and what is bad for them. If the horse is in a short supply of food and finding it hard to find food, then they will eat the poisonous plants. Most horses like to drink from fresh waters. My horses loved to drink from the lake and would leave the buckets of water I filled from the tap in the last field.
Some horses are very fussy when it come to drinking water. More so if it from a tap. It is the chlorinated taste that they do not like.
Pip and Ollie, would go for the buckets to play in. They would put their hooves in the water and their heads and thrash the water all over the place and the buckets would land up half way down the field!
I have used Apple Cider Vinegar in the water before, but when they were in the field they would not drink it. I used it on Paris mostly and got her used to it when she had to be stabled. But when back out in the field she would always go back to the lake for her intake of water.
Apple Cider Vinegar is very good to use if your horse will take it. I have used it in their food before. The benefits for the horse is massive.
Horses can see better in the dark then any of us can and means that you can ride at night time. Their eyes are very different to our eyes.
Their eyes are designed to maximize the available light. As in most animals that live outside at night. They detect the light by specialised receptors in the retina at the back of their eyes and the colour vision are called cones.
Where humans have 20/20 vision, horses have between 20/30 to 20/40. Meaning humans can identify details of an object from 20 feet, the horse can identify an object up to 30/40 feet away. The horse will start to lose focus if you or an object is 10 inches away from it. They have a blind spot in front and behind.
A horse can feel a fly land on them, they are very sensitive to touch. I know when any of the horses do not like me to touch a certain part of them, they will swish their tail as a warning to me. I have seen horses cow kick when they don't want to be groomed in a certain part that feels
sensitive to them. I have always used a soft brush to groom them with when I do their face or stomach area. The ears, eyes, noses and lips are very sensitive to the horse.
The horses upper part of the tail are not so sensitive and I have seen many horses rubbing that part of their tail on trees, gates and sharp objects also the chest of the neck is not sensitive to the horse.
You make notice that horses prefer to be stroked then patted, by stroking a horse it gives a calming effect making the horse more relaxed.
When one of the horses do as I ask, I give then a rub on their forehead, they know and understand this is as a thank you.
Many forget to thank the horse for doing good, but remember to punish the horse when doing something wrong with a hit. This will only bring
fear to the horse
Rugging a horse when there is no need to so can do no good for the horse. The rug stops the sunlight which stops the vitamin D getting to the skin plus it encourages the horse to lose its winter coat.
Again I have seen horses that are rugged on nice clear days and if the horse does not need that rug on, they will sweat, causing the rug to be wet.
Many people will run to rug a horse when it starts to rain thinking they are doing the horse good and in fact they are doing more harm then good.
If they are elderly or have ill health and your vet said to rug, then I would do so. If you clip your horse then a rug might be the best thing for him as they need the warmth.
Each and every hair on your horse as a small muscle attached to it. This way the horse can raise and lower the hairs to change the thickness of their coat. When the horse is cold they will raise the hairs and will trap the warm air. Also rolling in the mud will help to keep them warm. When the horse starts to get warm they will flatten the hairs to their body.
So when you put a rug onto your horse, the rug is forcing the hair to stay flat, so the horse has now lost all control over regulating its own
temperature.
I do not believe that a horse should be spotlessly clean, they like to roll in mud to keep them warm when it is cold. The mud protects them
from the rain and the cold. The mud is trapped by the natural grease in their coat keeping them warm. To many people brush this mud from them to keep them looking cleaning, not realising, it is natural for the horse to be kept warm.