I was mucking in the barn this morning and thinking about ways I could improve my relationship with my horses. I came up with some questions that I decided to ask myself to just keep tabs on how we are doing. I’d like to share them with you.
A QUIZ FOR HORSE OWNERS:
1. When you want to put a halter on your horse, does the horse come to you willingly? If your horse is in the pasture and you want to catch it, how do you do that?
2. Can you touch your horse anywhere on its body without getting a negative reaction from the horse?
3. What kind of food does your horse eat and why do you feed it that specific type of food? What does your vet recommend that you feed your horse?
4. Does your horse have a safe, comfortable place to sleep at night? Does the horse like to lie down? Is the surface it stands and sleeps on healthy for the horses’ legs and hooves?
5. How often does someone muck the area where the horse lives? Is there a consistent place where the horse poops and a certain number of piles each day? Do you notice if the piles look different?
6. Have you checked recently to be certain that the saddle you use still fits the horse?
7. What does your horse do when you tighten the cinch?
8. Why do you ride with the bit that you use on your horse?
9. Does your horse stand still when you mount and not move until you ask it to?
10. When you are riding your horse, if you stop and ask the horse to back up, taking several steps, how does the horse react?
11. Is there anything that you do while you are riding that annoys your horse?
12. Does your horse enjoy being ridden?
13. After you ride, do you do anything to let the horse know that you are glad it has allowed you to ride it?
14. What could you do to make your horse happier? How do you know your horse is happy?
15. If you were your horse, is there anything that anyone does that would upset you? If so, why?
16. What is one thing you can do each day to let your horse know that you appreciate it?
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