Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine May 2018 Vol 3 Issue 2

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

This Months Shooting Tips....... Shooting Off a New Horse by Matthew Jobe

1. Prior to shooting off a new horse I like to have them as trained and desensitized as possible. 2. Stay off of the horses face. Often times we will have our horse wear a halter and/ or reach forward and grab a handful of mane to avoid pulling on the horse’s mouth. Even if the horse does not jump a nervous rider may startle and pull the reins causing the horse to jump instead of the horse actually being scared of the gun fire. Which in turn the rider teaches the horse to associate gun fire with pain and therefore scared of gun fire.

3.In the beginning I do not shoot while my horse is standing still, trotting or loping. I always make sure they are moving forward at a walk. While my horse is walking I stay out of their mouth, perhaps by reaching up and grabbing mane, shoot behind the cantle, and for the next few seconds I let my horse go forward as fast as he needs to without correction. Then I will ask him to come back to a walk. When he is

Everything Horses and Livestock® | May 2018 | EHALmagazine.com 34