Exploring Different Methods of Horse Training
The cowboy climbed aboard and gave a wild yell. The men holding the head of the horse let go and jumped back. Almost immediately the horse began bucking. The cowboy stayed with him though. The horse bucked around the pen slamming into the fence and off the post that was set in the middle of the pen. Finally the horse began to slow down and the cowboy got him under control. It would take another week of this before the horse would allow himself to be handled without blowing up.(Rashid 102)
This is the way horses used to be broken to ride, but is that the best method to use? This is the oldest method used for breaking horses, but it is also the roughest.
The first method researched is the old ranch method used. This method was used mostly on the big ranches in the west. The main reason this method was used was because they had to be able to use the horses immediately. The horses on these big ranches were usually started at four to five years of age. They were started at this age because that is when a horse is usually physically mature enough to handle the rough work on a ranch.(Campbell 55)
To start a horse in this method, a cowboy would bring a horse into a pen. The horse would then be roped and snubbed up to a large post that was set in the middle of the pen. Two other men would hold the horse down while the cowboy threw his saddle on the horses back and cinched it down. The horse was then fitted with a rope Bosal. The cowboy climbed aboard and the horse was turned lose. The cowboy was then supposed to stay with the horse until he quit bucking. It was a rare thing for a horse not to buck when started this way. (Miller 25)
Times have changed though people no longer have to have their horses trained in such a hurry. Very few horses are used very hard today. Not all horses were started in such a rough manner then either. The Spanish vaqueros of the 1800's used the bosal to start their horses, and they took their time in doing so.
The Bosal
The California Bosal or Hackamore is an oval nose band made of rawhide. The top piece of the bosal is called the nose button.
It’s 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Jake and I are headed down the longest stretch of road in Texas. We have just pulled out of El Paso and are on the way to Fredericksburg to participate in the Frontier Days Rodeo. We were fortunate to have put together a decent run on our last draw and win enough day-money to keep us going for a while. Jake and I are rodeo-bums, to be specific, calf ropers. I am the one who tries to throw the loop of a rope around a calf’s neck and Jake is my partner, the best roping horse a cowboy ever mounted. By the way, how many understand the art of calf roping? I thought so. Let me walk through the steps of what it takes to put together that perfect run, not that I can do it that often.
A thing you always have to train your horse with is to be patient, get a halter on them and tie them on a post, make sure the horse can get free if they pull, or have a quick release latch. I say this because if your horse is totally tied up to a wooden post that’s only stuck in the ground, no matter how far in, or how sturdy it is, if your horse gets spooked, it will, pull the post out of the ground because if he pulls, and it won’t release, they will pull and pull as hard as they can until they feel no pressure, then they will stop, and calm themselves down. When you tie a horse, don’t just leave them there, but do hands on things, brush them, talk to them, pet them, pick their front and back hooves, and get them used to people going behind them and touching their rump and playing with their tail, patting their rump, back, side, etc., you never know when someone will do that and they’re not used to it. Then...
his leg a number of times. The horse was tested and passed, but what the
“God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good” Genesis 1:25. When God created the earth he uniquely formed each animal with different characteristics, yet each special in their own way. Not one animal possess the same construction like another. Referring to the majestic species of horses, many owners find a multitude of issues they face within the care of horses. Specifically, the ongoing debate of placing shoes on a horse verses leaving them barefoot. Frankly, the decision comes down to the expense of the shoes, the discipline in which the horse engages, and consideration of the advantages and disadvantages to both sides of the argument.
Taste has been divided into 5 different categories. Humans are able to taste sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. The ability to taste PTC has been viewed as a dominant and recessive trait that varies amongst the human population. The gene for the PTC taste receptor, which is TAS2R38, was discovered in 2003. In 1931 a hypothesis was formulated stating that out of the bitter receptors at least one is sensitive to PTC but is inactive in some people [Newcomb R.D, 2012]. The ability to taste PTC was discovered by Arthur Fox. While working...
Making sure your horse is thoroughly groomed is the first step to making him comfortable. Assuring the feet are picked and free of pebbles or stones are imperative to prevent any injuries to your horse’s feet. Next, comb out any tangles or debris from the forelock, (the horses bangs) mane, and tail. Keeping in mind the horse uses his tail as a deterrent for insects we want this to be free flowing and free to swat with. Now let’s brush our horse. Using a curry comb, first and in circular motions work your way down the horse’s neck, across his body and around his rump. This will loosen any built up and ground in dirt. Using a hard course brush, brush out your horses coat to bring up and out all that loosened dirt. Taking a medium course brush you may now brush off any loosened dirt that may still be in the hairs. Finalize you...
Solomon, Andrew. "A Reading of the Tempest." In Shakespeare's Late Plays. Ed. Richard C. Tobias and Paul G. Zolbrod. Athens: Ohio UP, 1974. 232.
Very few men in that period had enough time to learn and ride horses. All
Training a horse to ride is hard work, it involves ground work, riding, and in both patience is very important. In the next few paragraphs I will be explaining the steps needed to train a horse.
Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Greenblatt, Stephen. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1997.
Nesbit, E.. "The Tempest." The Best of Shakespeare: Retellings of 10 Classic Plays. Oxford University Press, 1997. n.pag. eLibrary. Web.
Over the years, the opinions of many people have started to change about horses in America. It has started from the idea, the Native Americans had of using the whole animal when it was hunted, to nowadays Americans do not even want to use a horse unless it is alive. This has to lead one to wonder how exactly this change occurred.
One of these practices is called soring. Soring is a painful procedure for the purpose of showing off a horse’s gait. One sores by applying or injecting chemical or mechanical irritants on a horse’s foreleg (“Horse Soring”). The book Black Beauty placed a negative connotation on this practice and through this many people discovered the horrible lengths that people would go through in order for a horse’s gait to look presentable.
Ever since their taming in 2000 B.C., the horse has had a multitude of purposes. It was originally captured because, “it was much larger and stronger than the donkey,” and provided a new source of energy and free labor to help get work done (Asimov 54). Horses brought about a whole new idea of helping to aid farmers in their work in the fields and, also, to bear the many heavy loads that had previously been carried by donkeys or men. Once people realized the incredible help it could give, the horse began, “slowly replacing the ox as a much faster means of pulling a cart,” as well as other heavy farm machinery (Clutton-Brock 58). This idea of having another object, living or non-living, b...