Safety Around Horses: Controlling a horses head

Controlling a horses head can be a daunting task and possibly quite intimidating as horses are very big and can move fast when they feel the need to. There are quite a few things to do with a horse on a day to day basis that it’s vital to be able to control their head position. A couple of examples would be putting a halter on and taking it off and flymasks of course. The only way this can be done safely for the human is if they feel safe and comfortable with you and the environment and with that you having awareness and alertness of what can happen in certain situations, and how to deal with it to keep yourself safe.

Here is the related video to this for fly masks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qr_tyOf8K4

With that, in this video I talk about the very important topic of safety with horses in regards to controlling their head and things to think about with it. Patience and consideration of the horse is very important here without judgement of that the horse is being “cheeky” or “rude” kind of thing. 99% of cases where a horse isn’t cooperating is because they’re afraid of one thing or another. You’ll always have the most success if they feel safe.

In this case I discuss how to safely put a fly mask on a horse that is nervous about having a fly mask put on. Sometimes. It’s the “sometimes” portion that needs to addressed and considered when dealing with him. The most important part of this procedure is having the ability to control the horse’s head so that there aren’t any accidents. To be able to do that, the horse has to feel calm and safe so that they’ll listen to what is being asked of them.

Some horses will not be comfortable putting their head down and further won’t be comfortable or feel safe when you put your hand or arm around their neck or head. An interesting item to note in this video is how compliant the horse is once a halter is put on. For this I note that sometimes having a tool on hand to assist in having the horse in the right frame of mind, can be the stepping stone to getting there without that tool in place. In the end, the fly mask is put on very successfully without stress or trouble.

Graeme