Cedar Ridge Farm

In my 40 years of experience with horses I have learned quite a bit about their behavior.  One of the biggest problems that face people new to horses is the fact that way too often they come into horse ownership very ill equiped to deal with a 1000 pound or more animal. Horses are herd animals that have a pecking order. This order is worked out by the process of intimidation with the smartest and strongest horses ending up in the highest hierarchy of the herd. They get there by putting the other horses in their place either by kicking, biting, rearing, and charging at the other horses. Too often horses will also try to test their human owners in the same way to see what they can get by with and what they can't. Over and over again I have seen what was once a well trained horse turn into a unruly brat because their inexperienced owner did not know how to deal with a horse who was testing them. If you are a person who is easily intimidated you may want to think twice before buying a horse. A horse needs to know what is acceptable behavior and what is not when he is around you. If you allow a horse to shove you around with his head, nip at you, rear, kick, or drag you when you are trying to lead him from the ground, take his hoof away when you attempt to handle his feet, etc., chances are he is also going to test you when you attempt to ride him. If you are not comfortable correcting a horse who is displaying unsafe behavior then my advice is don't buy one unless you can become confident enough around one to do so. If you do not have the experience with horses to know how to do this then enlist the help of a knowledgable and reputable trainer. You can not treat an animal this big like a little dog or cat! Horses are not stupid and they can tell if you are easily intimidated and most will take advantage of that. As an example my lesson horses are all well trained and well behaved but once in awhile one will decide he doesn't want to let a lesson student pick up his hoof to clean it out. He will simply not pick up his hoof no matter how hard a lesson student trys to get him to do it. I can walk over there and the horse imediately picks it up for me without hesitation. He knows I will not allow him to get it away with it as I never walk away from a horse without him picking his feet up when I ask, I am always consistent with this. However, if I were to allow the horse to get away with it by ignoring this behavior and not make him pick his hoof up for me, I guarantee he will get worse about doing it. This is exactly what happens with new horse owners who get intimidated and don't make the horse do what they are asking him to do and they simply walk away and let him get away with it. Horse wins, owner loses! The battles continue to get worse and the horse owner continues to get more intimidated until they no longer want to handle the horse. Thus, this is how a once well trained horse becomes an unruly brat! It isn't the fault of the horse, he is only doing what comes naturally to him. What is sad is this once well trained horse gets a bad reputation if he isn't corrected by someone knowlegable who understands what has happened and he will have a hard time getting a good home. We have worked hard to train horses where they are well behaved on the ground and in the saddle, sold them to newbie horse owners with the strong advice to correct any undesirable behavior the first time it happens! Those who take lessons here with their new horses usually fare well as I can show them how to deal with anything that pops up. I have had those who bought horses from us, but didn't take lessons here, who decided to ignore our advice and babied their horses when they misbehaved instead of correcting any undesirable behaviors when they first were encountered, they call months later crying the blues to us that thier horses have turned into bullies. They did not heed our advice and they and their horses are now paying the price. Having gotten tired of trying to warn these people until I am blue in the face I will no longer sell horses to people that are inexperienced unless they take lessons here where we can work with them and their horses or they are under the supervision of a knowledgable trainer. The horses deserve this.

Sandy Dolan

Owner/Operater Cedar Ridge Farm