teaching non horsey OH

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Mosh

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So my OH has been spending some time down the horses with me and would like to learn how to do some basic horsey stuff. He can already poo pick and sort the waters. (had him doing that in less than 2 weeks!) but he knows to stay away from teeth and back feet!
The things I thought I could teach him are;
How to catch pony safely
How to put head collar on properly
How to lead safely
How to tie up properly
How to pick hooves out
How to adjust/put a rug on
How to turn out safely.

I was thinking basic grooming brushes eventually and parts of tack. I'm very lucky I know but I think the few points at above are essential but can anyone think of anything more? Pony is a very good old welshie who is very tolerant and a sweetie but he won't be left un-attended.
Thank you :)
 
For usefulness stuffing haynets and making feeds would he high on my list. For the sake of his interest, join up is great if the pony is easy to do it with and you have the right facilities, or otherwise lunging/ long reining. Unless you are really lucky teaching names of things is pointless. Mine still get fed food beads, and any tack beyond saddle and bridle and points of the horse beyond head and tail will be described rather than named despite OH actually looking after then more often than I do these days.
 
Horses live out 24/7 but if they were in he'd be mucking out by now 😝 I'll get him doing some long reining with her. He very luckily adores her 😊 and wants to learn. Don't think he'll ever ride but that's fine. Haynets would be useful, didn't think of that!
 
Get him on! lol. I think people genuinely get a better relationship with a horse if they know they wont kill them when riding.
 
My poor non horsey OH had a baptism of fire. The farrier had changed days at very short notice for some reason and in mid winter I somehow ended up with the job of getting 8 field kept nearly a mile from the yard horses in for trimming/shoeing for 8am. Typically the weather was like todays, blowing a gale and wet. Bless him, OH offered to help. So 7am, in the dark we're playing hide and seek on a 30 acre field and through the woods. Got the first 3 (the ones I reckoned could be left with the farrier). OH had only watched safely from a distance while doing manly things requiring muscle and ideally a tractor prior this. So I give him the ancient pony to lead in while I take another two. Unfortunately the two I had were sworn enemies so my hands were full with lots of threats muttered at the horses that were trying to take a chunk out of each other and in between the bad language the conversation went like this...

" Unwrap the rope from your hand please, it's dangerous. Open the gate IN not OUT. Ok, great, now come round behind me and shut the gate. Have you put the chain on? Yes you need to. Walk at the shoulder, the shoulder not ahead of the horse. Unwrap the rope from your hand FGS. Walk on the other side. Make him walk on. Don't let him eat (pony could spot a sucker) Don't LET him do that! Right walk ahead of me" - I didn't dare have him behind me, one of the horses I had kicked and I reckon the pony would have snacked until he burst and they wouldn't have got back on the yard until 10am. So 20 minutes later we're back on the yard and it's dawning on me how little he knows about horse handling...and we still have 5 more to get. So the farrier and his apprentice arrive 20 minutes early for the first and last time in the 20 years I've known them. At this point I'm a bit frazzled trying to get feet cleanish (we'd walked through about 6 inches of mud all the way)

The farrier offers the apprentice to help get the rest in. The apprentice who was very new looked horrified :) but off we went. The rest of the horses were youngsters some of whom were very big and all were silly with the wind. Silly me, I assumed (and we know what assuming does!) that a farrier apprentice was used to handling horses. Wrong, this young lad had near zero experience. I did have the sense to use the control halters and when I handed one to the apprentice and he looked at it blankly I got an inkling that we may be in trouble but since we had already walked to the field a second time and I was quite frankly cold wet and fed up I thought s0d it, they're all coming in now. Two for me, two of the littleys for the apprentice and OH got what I judged was the quietest youngster who was about 16hh.

You can see where this is going can't you? So we're walking back along the muddy lane, field gate left swinging cos I didn't care anymore, dog walkers jumping aside for their lives as horses acted like helium balloons on crack with OH thinking that he could use his strength - and he is strong, rugby player built like the proverbial - as ballast with a lit up youngster and the tiny teenage apprentice just being towed by two 11 handers who were determined not to left behind. My two were lively and a bit looky but under control with me just issuing instructions like a Sargent Major loudly over the wind. " Keep at the shoulder, shorten the leadrope, DON'T hold the head collar, DON'T wrap the ff;ing rope round your hand FFS, get behind me, not too close please, stop here, I said STOP here so we can cross the road, tell them to STAND, smack them on the neck if they bite you (that was to the apprentice who was getting savaged by nippy 2 year olds, he was nearly in tears at that point) and so on. By the time we get back to the yard I've aged 10 years, the farrier is crying laughing because he could hear me from miles away. My not so willing anymore helpers were sore, confused and in the case of the apprentice, rethinking their future career...

Then I started ringing round to get more help to get them back to the field. My mistake was assuming that non horse people had the basic understanding of how to lead a horse - I learnt very quickly that all that we do around horses without even thinking about it is learnt. 10 years after that incident I still have to remind OH to be careful with his feet, he doesn't think about where the horses hooves are so he's forever getting stood on. I still shout at him not to wind a leadrope round his hand (FFS!:)) and that it's ok to let go rather than be dragged and while he's a brave rider he'll never really understand why horses behave as they do ie he takes it very personally if a horse plants while he's leading it and much to my amusement, on more than one occasion he's lost a tug of war with a Shetland :) However he is absolutely superb with muck heaps, hay stacking, fencing and anything involving tractors. He will also spend hours levelling the school but then gets the hump when you use it...

So OP, enjoy teaching your OH but try not to kill them and don't be surprised if you end up shouting a fair bit :)
 
Good luck with that! My OH can now catch, bring in, change a rug, make feeds, etc, but he will not be told how to do it! I still have to nag him for letting the lead rope trail...and for petting the youngster too much thus inviting a bite...grrr.
 
at least your non horsey oh hasnt bought his own horse yet.my ex thought horses were like john wayne films.he couldnt ride,put a headcollar on nothing.one day in 2005 whilst i was at livery yard a lorry turned up with my other complete with riding attire and a 16.3 cob.apparantly it was a surprise...certainly was.6 months later the horse bug left him and he went back to football.yes i was left to care for his horse.
 
ha ha, sounds familiar. My OH tries really hard but still has to stare really hard at a head collar to get it on the right way round.
My old horse was amazing on the ground and so he could deal with him usually but there was one day when I went down to the field to see where they had got to, to find said horse trotting round OH in 10m circles and I swear, laughing his head off. OH unfortunately got head butted by the youngster last year when trying to catch him in a gale (I'd not asked him to ftr!) and lost some confidence (he thought he couldn't get hurt on the ground!) but he still helps bless him.

oh, and the lead rope thing-always have to remind him to not trail it or loop it-whats up with that! As well as always shutting gates, not to let the 21yo 12h pony jog about like a TB colt and not to leave stable doors open while filing up buckets at the tap because they mostly will wander out and try and get into the feed room.
 
How to groom? You're lucky yours will poo pick mine will come and watch my lessons as long as the weather is ok and will now brush H and feed him a treat but it started to rain before I'd mucked out the other day so I said stand in the stable so he's dry - his answer - nope I'd rather stand outside in the rain as it smells - my reply- does it?! 😂i think in the summer I might manage to get him on one of the rs ponies as he says he never will but I think he is slightly intrigued
I'm a bit limited as H is scared of men and while ok with OH he still wouldn't let him do certain things.
 
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Mine just empties the wheelbarrow - I have a long walk to the muck heap and 4 stables. I fill a narrow, he empties whilst I fill another. He is also a dab hand at catching them when it is throwing it down and also carting 5 feed buckets at a time to the field when they are out...

He likes to feel manly doing the jobs I struggle with ;)
 
My OH will go nowhere near the horses! He said Myself and he kids need to be sick in bed before he will attend to them! Luckily they live out so he can throw feed/hay at them if push comes to shove.
 
Mosh said:
How to catch pony safely
How to put head collar on properly
How to lead safely
How to tie up properly
How to pick hooves out
How to adjust/put a rug on
How to turn out safely.

I was thinking basic grooming brushes eventually and parts of tack)
Click to expand...

I would say push the grooming up sooner rather than later. It's a good way for him to spend a quieter bit of time with the horse with simple task which is quite hands on, but is also fairly simple. I think if you throw too much "work" related ideas at him he might lose the bug before he's caught it.

I think its also a good way for a non-horsey person to start to get some contact and feel for a horse. It also starts to get them watching the horses body language and you can start to get him more aware. I find something like leading one can end up focused so much on the task that the horse itself - or rather its body language - gets ignored (unless its at the extreme end of course).

There's also subtle things to teach too - such as the difference between annoyed/angry/warning ears and relaxed/bored ear angles.

I've found that learning horse body language is a hard thing if one isn't horsey, it requires time and its very easy, when given a task, to focus on the task not the horse.


Finally don't forget to repeat things - as far as your horse allows try not to just let him put the head collar on once. Make him do it a few times on his own - and of course as often as you can regularly. Same as the rest; the more he does the more he leans. Try to avoid long gaps between otherwise what is learned gets quickly forgotten.
 
I reminded OH about 'that' day earlier. He advised your OH to run, run, far away :) and under no circumstances willingly go within 20 feet of the beasts as they're dangerous at both ends and even the middle isn't that safe. He also said that he would never agree to help to that extent now - it was only that he was still at the stage of trying to impress me .I asked would he really leave me to do 8 two mile round trips (there and back with 2 horses each time) on my own :( Of course not says he looking hurt and wounded, I'd drive you back up on the tractor each time and anyway after the first two pairs were down, you would take the first pair back when you got the third pair... Did I mention that he's supremely practical? :)
 
My OH told me very clearly that if I was getting ponies it was my own choice and he was doing NOTHING to help me. No feeding, sweeping or ramping. When I asked him what ramping was he said it was when a horse ran around you in circles on a rope. He's a good help with the ponies now but never lived down the ramping thing.
 
Funnily enough cbmcts I've not told my OH your story. Think I'll keep that quiet...ha.
Thanks overread, some useful ideas there. Going to pick a quiet day in the week if the wind ever stops!
Princess16, that's something I'm working on! He's pretty good really, will maybe get him on a horse soon. Mine is only 14.3 so need a bigger one for him. I feel there maybe a day we stumble upon a local riding school that happens to have a slot available right at that second with his name on it....hehe.
 
Loved these replies!

Makes me realise how lucky I am with my other half - he was an amateur jockey and then had his own yard of 14 in training so he can do pretty much whatever I need him to do.

The only thing he struggles with is technical terms for movements/aids etc when riding and fitting schooling aids like a pessoa for example. But only needs showing/telling once and then is happy to crack on!

Your list seems like a great start OP, hope he enjoys it :)
 
Mine is very non-horsey, really doesn't like to be involved at all.
In 16 yrs, he has popped into the yard on around a twice or thrice a year basis, pushed the barrow a couple of times for me whilst was poo-picking (because my back was so bad i couldn't do it). He's tied in haynets (in his own odd way) for my big mare when on box rest 10 yrs ago.

I have taught him how to damp feeds, place in paddock for them or put into stables and open gate to let them in. (came in useful once)
He can also throw a rope round a neck (headcollar too difficult) and tow a fuzzy to where it needs to be.
He can also operate the hose to fill tanks, remove TF's muzzle if she comes in (1 famous occasion when he DID have to get them in for me & I popped back about 10pm to find TF in her stable, still with grazing muzzle on - and a VERY hurt expression!).
He can use a screwdriver (I just hammer things!) and has driven the box with me a couple of times.....
Finally, he has taken TF 'walkies' a couple of times & held her at a local show (he thinks that as she is tiny, she is safer, I wont disabuse him of it, as she seems to be happy to please him & not go tanking off!)
He has sat on once - the 1st year we got together - on a re-habbed TB I had in, and pronounced it had: dodgy brakes & dodgy steering - all in a 500 yd walk! (horse was a saint!)
 
my oh still can't put a head collar on and I have had them at home for over 3 years lol! on the odd occasion he has had to get them in he opens the gate with a carrot in hand and they follow him to the stable bless them not ideal but it works.
 
Mosh said:
So my OH has been spending some time down the horses with me and would like to learn how to do some basic horsey stuff. He can already poo pick and sort the waters. (had him doing that in less than 2 weeks!) but he knows to stay away from teeth and back feet!
The things I thought I could teach him are;
How to catch pony safely
How to put head collar on properly
How to lead safely
How to tie up properly
How to pick hooves out
How to adjust/put a rug on
How to turn out safely.

I was thinking basic grooming brushes eventually and parts of tack. I'm very lucky I know but I think the few points at above are essential but can anyone think of anything more? Pony is a very good old welshie who is very tolerant and a sweetie but he won't be left un-attended.
Thank you :)
Click to expand...
I used to teach other half to ride when I was employed by riding school ( he was only ever interested in getting on and galloping and leaping.

He helps me now muck out and feed and make up feeds. He also knows how to put rugs and headcollar, pick out feet, brush off but that is as far as he goes or interested in going.


He has helped me with a cast horse too so teaching your man can be useful and rewarding
 
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