How to Discipline a Horse Without Aggression

Horses are herd animals. All herd animals need a leader of the herd. Some horses are content to be a follower their whole life; others occasionally challenge you for leadership position. It is important that you always remain the leader of the herd. Therefore, there are times that discipline is necessary. To effectively discipline a horse you need to learn their language and use it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Take a deep breath and calm down before disciplining your horse. Heavy handed discipline or beating a horse is never effective. This only causes the horse to either be fearful or aggressive towards you. Get control of your anger.
2. Give your horse a time out. Take your attention away from the horse for a brief period when he is misbehaving. Shunning is normal horse herd behavior when a member of the herd is not acting appropriately. Horses want to be part of the group. After a period, give your attention back to the horse in a positive way. If he misbehaves again, shun him some more.
3. Follow bad behavior with consequences. If your horse refuses to do what you tell her to do, make her run laps around the pen until you tell her she can stop. Higher ranking horses use this form of consequence to discipline lower horses in the herd.
4. Face off your horse if he shows you signs of aggression, such as pinning back his ears or charging. Square your shoulders, put your face in the horse's and stare into his eyes. Raise your arms, wave them about and shout to get his attention. After you have his attention, make him run laps.

Tips & Warnings

• When shunning your horse it is important to take your attention from her, but do not completely turn your back. If she is acting aggressive and you turn your back, she could hurt you.
• You want your horse to respect you as pack leader, but not to fear you. It is the nature of horses to occasionally challenge your leadership to make sure that you are qualified for the job.
• Discipline must follow the bad behavior immediately for the horse to understand cause and effect.