Teach Your Horse To Hobble:
At Next Level HorsemanshipTM we teach our horses to hobble because it is an extremely valuable technique for teaching patience, to give to pressure around their feet which could save them from injury, and to stand and ground tie quietly. But more importantly, hobbling horses can increase the efficiency of your training program, and effectively save your horse’s life and you from the potential for serious injury.
Aside from the obvious fact that hobbling will teach a horse to submit to pressure and restraint about his legs, hobbling is also an effective way to teach them to think before they react. Restraint is not a bad thing for horses; much like we teach dogs to submit to pressure around their neck by way of collar and leash training, so to we can teach horses to accept restraint about their legs. In doing so, we teach them patience and submissiveness, attributes which ultimately translate into confidence and maturity in their training and overall persona. But for horses that are highly reactive and perhaps carry emotional baggage, hobbling can be a lifesaver for both the horse and rider.
When we gentle wild mustangs, train pushy or over anxious horses, or work with ‘problem’ horses we include hobbling routinely because it is a means by which we can teach them to think before they react. Once hobbled, horses can effectively ‘face’ their fears head on and begin to sort out real danger from perceived danger and subsequently make better decisions on how they will behave to things in their environment. For example, a highly reactive horse can be hobbled and desensitized to new objects in a logical and systematic fashion and will come to realize that he doesn’t have to react to every little thing.
Sometimes we will hobble a horse prior to his first ride so that we can desensitize him to our presence above him by petting him while mounted on another horse next to him, and to our weight in the saddle by mounting him while hobbled.
Hobble training is a systematic process and always comes after the horse has had his Foundation training first. Hobbling is a great way to enhance your horse’s training thereafter. We have routinely helped horses and continue to change peoples lives by affecting their relationship with their horses by using hobbling to help solve behavioral issues and other problems that many horses have. And it’s a great way to build your horse’s confidence and trust in you as their handler.