Ride Every Stride | Horsemanship And Personal Growth With Van Hargis

This week’s episode was inspired by our podcast’s editor and producer, John Bukenas. John’s daughter and sister both spend a lot of time around horses, and his sister has been finding that many of the horses she works with like to bite. So naturally, this episode will tackle how to rein in your horses bites, nibbles, and nips. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell you that when a horse bits you, it hurts! They’re big, and when they bite they don’t really know how to release, which makes for very painful pinch. But most horses don’t bite out of aggression. If you look at biting from the horse’s perspective you can learn why they are displaying that behavior, and then teach them how to avoid it. Horses go through developmental stages, much like humans. One of these is equivalent to an “oral fixation” stage. A horse’s curiosity manifests through touching and feeling and tasting, and since they don’t have fingers they have to explore with their muzzle. It’s possible to foster this curiosity while also teach