By teaching your horse to stand hobbled, you prepare yourself, and your horse, for possible awkward circumstances where there is nowhere to tie the pony. This can regularly occur on ranches, where hobbling is very generally used as it eliminates the risks of tying a horse by the reins or the bridle.

You teach your horse to remain still hobbled by teaching him the right responses to pressure. One of the most helpful lessons you can teach your horse is to yield to pressure. You achieve this by taking your pony to a round pen or an arena. Curl a rope round his ankle and permit him to drag it for some time.

Once he is fairly used to the rope, you can start lifting his leg utilizing the rope. Different horses react in a different way to this move. Some horses show a reaction while others stay indifferent.

Try also to pick up each of your horse’s 4 feet using the rope, obviously one at a time. This way, you are teaching him to stay calm if he ever gets tangled up in fencing or wiring. He shouldn’t be panicking if he’s received proper lessons in yielding to pressure. The basic concept is to get him to yield to whatever position he could find himself in when pressure is applied. Once yielding is just about automatic for him, you can hobble him without causing him to panic.

During the initial few attempts at hobbling him, he is certain to fumble around and trip up a bit. He could even take a tumble. Don’t let this upset you. It is a part of the process of getting him used to hobbles that constrain his capability to move. If he does fall, just undo the hobble with care and help him back to his feet. A pony well used to pressure won’t show much of an inclination to panic as he learns to accept pressure on the legs.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers click here