Good manners are wonderful attribute to have in a horse; it makes them far more pleasant and much safer to be around.  So how do you encourage good manners and what actually counts as good manners anyway?

Horses are herd animals, and this means that in a natural setting they live in a hierarchy.  So they are either dominant over or subordinate to other horses that they are with.  If you spend some time watching a herd you will notice that one horse will be the boss of the herd and there will be a pecking order for all the rest.  This is why when a new horse is introduced to a herd there will be some fighting or pushing and shoving as the herd works out where the new horse fits in the pecking order.

This will also extend to the horses relationship with humans – in the partnership with a rider, either the rider will be the boss or the horse will.  It’s important in your relationship with your horse that you are the boss.  This means that when you ask for something, what you say goes and your horse respects this.  In no way should you being the boss be a negative thing at all – a good relationship with your horse will involve trust and respect and will be beneficial to both rider and horse.

So how do horses determine who is the boss?  It comes down to a simple case of whoever can move the feet of the other is the boss of them.  When you watch a herd of horses together from time to time you will notice horses approaching other horses with some form of aggressive body language.  This may be anything from ears back to teeth bared to simply moving in close.  Whichever horse is able to cause the other to move away is the dominant horse.  This is often easy to observe when feeding out to horses in a paddock together.  A dominant horse will get the feed first and will often only need to give others a look to get them to move away.

When it comes to horses with people it is much the same – if your horse either believes that they are the boss of you, or wants to work out who is the boss, they will attempt to move your feet.   You will notice this with horses that move into your space in a way that causes you to move away from them or with horses that display aggressive behaviour towards you.  It is worth being aware that a horse that you may have regarded as just over friendly and a bit pushy is actually bossing you and moving your feet.  Ultimately this is not a good thing and this counts as bad manners.

So how do you encourage good manners in your horse or pony?  Be consistent in making sure that your horse respects your space and that you are the one to move your horse’s feet rather than the other way around.  If your horse moves into your personal space then ask them to back up – hold pressure on the lead until they back up and release the pressure once they are at an acceptable distance from you.  Repeat this until they stay back out of your space.  It also helps if you routinely work with your horse on the ground, getting them to move their hind quarters away from you as you add pressure, or back up as you ask them to.  By working regularly with them in this way you can gently but firmly keep them reminded of who is the boss.

If you are working with a horse that has been used to getting away with bossing people around, it is good to remember that it will probably take time to fix this issue.  It is important to be consistent and patient.  Ultimately you will build a much better relationship with your horse when you build one based on respect and trust where your horse accepts you as the boss and has a rider who will look out for their best interests.