“My horse sleeps better at night in a barn because he feels safe, my horse comes to me in the field because he loves me, my horse won't take its medicine just to spite me.” We can’t help but love our equine friends because of their social nature, but can we be accused of the dangerous behavior of Anthropomorphism?

The term anthropomorphism refers to the attribution of human characteristics--such as complex human emotions, thoughts, intentions, motives, language, and cognitive abilities--to animals or objects. With horses, people show anthropomorphism at all levels.

Humans seem to have an innate capacity to project human characteristics in this way. We also tend to romanticize about horses’ interactions with us. Since they are always in a state of learning and adjusting to each rider, it is important to remember not to apply anthropomorphic thinking to horses since they do not think anything like we do. Therefore, punishing them for errors is not clearly understood by them. Horses think in terms of self-preservation with a social hierarchy to govern them. It is our job to think like a horse not theirs to think like us.

So what is the danger in anthropomorphic thinking? To properly gain long-term respect and trust requires a proper balance of training, discipline, and rewarding the horse’s willingness to try. Knowing how to do this is the key to transforming a problem horse into a dream horse. To get good results, a horseman needs to know what methods to employ and how to apply them properly. This process is not immensely complicated or too difficult to learn.

Imagine being in a foreign country, simple things like getting a drink of water or finding the bathroom is a major undertaking. It is not the responsibility of the local people to understand you and what you want. You need to understand that language before you undertake the task. If you cannot communicate, how are you to…

I have a 12 year old paint that was trained as a barrel racer. I didn't buy her to barrel race, nor was she advertised as a barrel racer. When I tried her out, her owner told me she was very light in the mouth. I tried her out in the arena only and she was fine, but I also rode on a very loose rein, in fear of the "her mouth is sensitive" statement. When I got her home and went out on the trail, I realized she didn't know how to do a slow lope, just run. She DOES NOT LIKE THE BIT and is distracted by it and can't concentrate at what you’re asking her to do, because she is so busy jawing at it. In the arena she will trot and canter mellow on a loose rein, she can be collected, but then we get back to the bit issue. I don't know if she's actually collecting or bending her neck down to jaw at the bit. On the trail, she is like riding a rocket at anything faster than a walk. I've been working on going from a trot to a canter on the trail, and reward her when she finally canters mellow.

How do I get her to slow down, collect, and accept the bit and stop being so neurotic about whenever the reins are gathered and the bit makes contact with her mouth?

This is a great question and you have given me lots of detail to help in forming a response. I like to define a ‘broke horse’ by saying that you have full control of direction and impulsion. This is not just one question but three separate questions, with three separate answers. They have to do with (1) attention span, (2) contact, and (3) speed control. These questions don’t surprise me with ex-barrel horses. In this discipline it is about time and speed, there is no need for collection. I appreciate your question about collection. To many people, collection is unnecessary and they do not feel it is important.

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My name is Briana, I’m training a 2 year old mare and she does not know her ground manners what do I do and how do I train her to learn ground manners?

Thank you for asking these questions; this is a very widely researched topic. There are many books, videos, DVDs, and other educational products that focus on ground manners.

There are two reasons why you want good ground manners: One, you want to be an effective leader and gain respect from your horse. Two, you are developing transitional cues to help your introduction to saddle work in the near future. In order to gain respect you need to gain control of her feet. That is the short answer to the first part of your question, “…what do I do?” If you get control of their feet you automatically establish yourself as the leader and achieve respect from your horse.

In answer to the second part of your question “..how do I train her to learn ground manners?” You will need to learn, know, and execute how to gain control of your horse’s feet by using detailed exercises and maneuvers…you also will need to know how she thinks and you need to think like her.

It is critical that you define your view and daily lesson plan on what is acceptable for ground manners. Before one begins training of any kind, they need to define the objective. Clear communication is a key component of any training program.

“Horse’s thinking” Most horse think the same regardless of their age. She has already been born with good ground manners. All horses at birth have all their instinctive behaviors and are fully…