Like human beings, animals too have emotions . If you’ve ever owned a pet say a horse, odds are you might have seen them getting scared of something out of the blue! Well, this is something usual in animals and there’s not to worry about. Pets, especially horses get easily fired up when introduced to new things, which includes new objects, situation, certain sounds, unknown places and other animals, to name a few.
If you’ve noticed your foal getting anxious time and again, then we must say that you’ve landed on the right place. In this article, we’ve mentioned certain ways to help you calm down your horse. Let’s get started…
1. Talk to him
It’s said that a conversation can break the ice between two people and guess what… it’s the same when it comes to you and your horse! Simply give it a try when you your equine is all worded up. But before approach him, take a deep breath and calm yourself down. At first, he might be angry at you, but be careful and have patience. Talk to him in a soft, low and soothing tone, make him understand in a friendly manner and try to persuade him until he gets easy with you.
2. Slowly walk towards him
If you are on the ground and your horse is getting anxious, then do not immediately go to him. One wrong step and it can make the matter even worse. So, just calm down and as mentioned above move towards him at a normal pace and also try not to let him overreact to the situation.
If you are already on its back when the foal is angry, then adjust yourself in a safe position and try to maintain it, as horses are skilled enough to pick up the tension quickly and can harm you badly. And if you still feel that the situation is unsafe for you, then don’t be afraid to jump off the horse.
3. Get his head lower
A spooky horse is like a small kid and can be calmed down only with love and affection. So ask him to lower his head and when he does so, stroke your hand on his head and back. This way you can not only reduce his stress, but also be able to bring back his focus on you.
To deal with such situations, it’s better to teach the horse a cue to bend down his head at an early age or as soon as you get him in your farm. Not to mention, regular practice of the same is equally important. This way you can easily calm him down whenever he becomes nervous.
4. Let him fix the issue
There are certain situations in which a horse gets scared like when brought to a new place, on seeing certain objects like shadow, balloon, mud puddles, etc. on listening to weird sounds for example the sound of horse clipper when you are grooming him, rustling of leaves etc. If such is the case, give him some time to figure out the issue, as he might slowly discover that a particular object is not harmful to him. And if the trick doesn’t work, then don’t do it forcibly and take him away from the thing he is scared of.
5. Don’t panic
When we see our pet friend in tension, we too get tensed and freak out so as to focus on him thoroughly and settle him down. But do not panic, as this can make your friend feel more uneasy and unsafe. So, just keep breathing and behave normally making him feel that everything is okay.
6. Give good training on time
Proper training given at the right time can really help you relax your excited horse. As we all know that once the equine gets ‘reactive’, they do not think about anything. So, to escape this bad situation, why not train them on time for certain things that can really help in settling them down?
As mentioned above, just like training them to lower their head, teach them every small detail like listening to you, to think, to not overreact in a situation and to let you get on his back. This way you can partly put their anger off and get control over them.
We hope the tips mentioned above will help you easily calm down your equine and have good ride!
