Understanding the Nature of the Horse By Jo Thompson At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

By nature the horse was intended to live in grassy fields with natural protection through trees and the landscape from the elements. The horse lived in herds and most herds were groups of mares with one stallion for protection. As technology advanced and we began to rely on the horse more and more, we began to change the way the horse lives. The horse was stabled and shod and moved away from the grassy fields to barns and stables in cities. This was a drastic change for the horse and he has had to overcome many of his natural instincts for this new way of life.

To compensate for changing the horse’s natural way of life we have to do everything that we can to make it easier and more comfortable on our horses. There are certain procedures that we must do to ensure that our horses remain healthy and live happy lives. Horses are all day grazers and we must remember this when it comes to our feeding schedules. Horses were intended to walk and run on hard ground, so this too must be remembered when we stable our horses and bed our stalls. Racehorses actually have more of a healthier life than many stabled horses. Their stalls are not heavily bedded and they have access to hay twenty-four hours a day. When it comes to stabling our horses we need to remember that they were intended for small meals, so multiple small meals per day is actually much better than one large meal. If the horse is not able to feel some concussion in his bones from the ground, then the bones will become brittle and can even break.

If you own a number of horses, it is important that you understand herd mentality. Herd mentality applies to solitude horses as well, because you are now a part of that horse’s herd. A herd of horses is similar to a group of children on the playground. When the horses are together they will run and play together. If one does something to make his friends mad, then they will ignore him and keep him away from the herd. This is similar to the child that makes his friends angry and they don’t want to have anything to do with him. They will play and ignore him. In order to get back into the herd, the horse has to show remorse and the alpha horse will allow him to come back to the herd. The same is true with the child. If the child apologizes and shows remorse, then his friends will let him come back and play.

The horse lives off very basic principles, but they know that they cannot live alone. They depend on the herd for protection. When you have only one horse, your horse depends on you for leadership and protection. To gain your horse’s trust then you must show that you are a worthy leader.

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