How to train a horse is something that will begin from birth. Most horses might not be handled at birth or even until they are ready to be trained to saddle but from birth they will learn all about the world around them. But once the horse becomes yours and of training age it will be your job to train it properly. For some, training properly means that you will shell out the money to have someone else do it. But there is so much that you can do yourself that you will be surprised.
I thought that I would give my suggestions on how to train a horse to accept a saddle. Keep in mind that this is after you should have already gotten familiar with your horse and established an understanding of who is “herd boss” and in charge. If you and the horse are both still thinking that the horse is in charge then you might want to work on some other stuff before you ever begin to work on how to train a horse to accept a saddle.
How to train a horse to accept a saddle will first require that you work on letting it know what one even is. Setting the saddle on a gate and letting the horse sniff it is a good way to establish that. After they are familiar with the smell of the odd looking thing you will need to tie your horse with a slip knot. A slip knot is great because that way if they get too scared or try to fall over backwards or something you can quickly release them before they do any real damage. So with your horse tied to a sturdy post, take the blanket and let them sniff it. Some horses might blow out and snort while others will just look at you as if you are showing them the most boring thing there is and make no deal of it. How to train a horse to do anything with a horse like that is wonderful as they just seem to take everything in stride. The ones that blow out are generally filled with a little more vim and vinegar than the others making training sometimes a little more fun.
How to train a horse to accept a blanket is the necessary step before training them to accept the saddle. After they have sniffed the blanket, rub it on them so they get the feel of it and then set it on their back where it goes. If they stand for that then you can take the step to work on how to train a horse to wear the saddle. To do that you take the saddle from the gate and let them sniff it. They should be familiar with it from them getting to sniff it earlier. Once they have shown you that they aren’t afraid you easily set it up onto their back and gauge their reaction. If they completely freak out then remove the saddle and let them sniff it again and then repeat the last process. By the way, this is a task that I suggest doing with a lightweight saddle so that you don’t wear out your arms completely.
With the saddle now in place you will gently let the girth down and work to cinch up the saddle. I suggest only getting it tight enough that you can lead the horse without it falling off and really causing a mess. Now that the saddle is just tight enough to hold it in place and the horse is standing calm, untie your horse and begin to lead him around so that he can get the feel for it. If you have a small arena that you can lunge them in that would be great or if you don’t think they will roll, turn them lose in there with the saddle so that they can move in whatever way they chose. A few days like this and you will have learned how to train a horse to accept saddle easily.
Article source: Expert Articles
