HORSE TRAINING, RIDING INSTRUCTIONS AND CONSULTANCY
Understanding Equine Psychology
While interacting with horses, whether for handling, training or riding purpose, it is of utmost importance that one understands the psychology of the horse before doing anything with them. Their needs and behavior are dependent on several factors and their world is very different from ours. This is why, if we can learn to ‘think’ like a horse, it would be easier to understand them, as well as to get them to do what you want, without the use of force.
Herd Animals
Horses are basically herd animals and feel secure to move in groups. They respect the ‘leader’ of the herd, but do not understand human concepts like ‘owner’ or ‘trainer’. They tend to learn a lot from each other and are easily influenced by individuals around them. To establish a connection with them, one must use body language to take up a leading position for the horse to respect.
Establishing Trust
In the herd, the leader who decides when to graze, when to run and when to rest is the dominant mare, whereas the safety and security of the herd is taken care of by the dominant stallion. Hence, by communicating effectively with the horse, we can provide safety and comfort, thus establishing a bond with the horse and getting him to trust us as an authority figure. And this is always the first step of horse training.
Understanding Horse Communication
Horses communicate in various ways, including vocalizations such as nickering, squealing, whinnying; touch through mutual grooming or nuzzling; smell and body language. Horses use a combination of ear position, neck and head movement, and foot stomping or tail swishing to communicate. Discipline is maintained in a herd first through these gestures, and then, if required, through physical contact such as biting, kicking, nudging, or other means of forcing a misbehaving herd member to move. In most cases, the animal that successfully causes another to move is dominant. These gestures help us to understand what they are feeling or trying to express, which eventually helps in knowing how to address individual needs and approach.
Foundation of Training
Horses are creatures of habit and have excellent long-term memory, which makes consistent training extremely important for them. The ability of humans to work in cooperation with the horse is based on both the natural curiosity of the horse and the strong social bonds that horses have with each other. Horse training principles are based on having the horse accept a human as the leading herd member. Ideally this is done by the horse developing trust in the ability of the human and confidence that the human will be a responsible leader.
Horse Riding Instructions
The instruction methods of Anish Gajjar, as a Riding Instructor, are focused on the individual needs of the rider. He advocates the british discipline of riding, which is followed by most of the developed countries of the world. The harmony between a rider and the horse must be established by comfort and trust in each other and not by force.
He provides Individual Coaching as well as Group Sessions to amateur riders and also experienced riders who want to improve their riding skills.
3-day Residential coaching camps can also be organized at private stables for groups of beginners.
Horse Training
The methodologies of Anish Gajjar as a horse trainer have developed over two decades with a combination of ‘natural horsemanship’ systems as well as some British and Spanish training techniques. Each horse is approached with customized tools to address individual needs based on the psychology of the horse, and a lot of improvisation depending on the body language expressed during the training sessions.
He specializes in equine ethology and behavioral correction of horses of all kinds.
Horse Handling
Saddle up
Horses can interpret the body language of humans as well as other animals, which they view as predators. If socialized to human contact, horses usually respond to humans as a non-threatening predator. All humans do not understand this, and may be using aggressive techniques, that resembles an attacking predator and triggers the horse's ‘fight-or-flight response’. On the other hand, some humans exhibit a fear of horses, and a horse may interpret this behavior as human submission to the horse, placing the human in a subordinate role in the horse's mind. This may lead the horse to behave in a more dominant and aggressive manner. Human handlers are more successful if they learn to properly interpret a horse's behavior and change their own body language to gain the horse’s trust while being assertive and not aggressive.
This is the initiation session for the young horse whose energy needs proper guidance to accept a saddle and a rider willingly and without any fear. Ground training and establishing trust aims to develop a disciplined horse. This phase especially requires a lot of patience and encouragement, while the trainer corrects some basic fears and encourages the horse towards being ridden.
Consultancy & Other Services
Consulting
Anish provides his professional assistance to set up and develop Breeding Farms, Private Stables, Riding Clubs and Rescue Shelters, and helps them with horse training and care.
Horse Procurement
Identification, Selection and Procurement of Marwaris, Kathiawaris and Thoroughbreds from across India delivered at the client's farm with guidance on how to select a horse, identifying the right horse for the right owner, construction of stables, feed and horse care.
Horse Imports
Identification, Certification, Documentation and Procurement of any horse breed can be arranged from reputed breeders of Europe and UK.
Equine Welfare
Veterinary Camps, Awareness Seminars, New Product Launches, Professionals from around the world for the benefit of horse owners.
Stud Facilities
Behavioral Correction in Horses
Even when trained, most horses will still test their boundaries, and some horses with dominant personalities will challenge a weak or inexperienced handler. If handled with incompetence or abuse, a horse may ignore its training and attempt to nip, bite, kick, refuse to be led, or try other ways to challenge human dominance. A horse is a large animal that retains some wild instincts, so can react unpredictably by running, biting, striking, or kicking. Thus we must always be alert around horses because they can accidentally and sometimes unintentionally harm people. These kinds of behavior issues can be corrected by proper handling and training.
Re-training
Without consistent handling, some horses, will revert to their untrained ways. However, due to their good memory, horses with proper training from qualified trainers often retain what they have learned, even after a long gap. Sometimes, this may need to be refreshed, or at times, ‘Re-training’ may also require horses trained for a specific purpose for most of their lives, to be re-trained for another purpose at a later stage. This is frequently seen in retired racehorses that eventually find their way to riding clubs, horse safaris, show-jumping, etc.
Premium quality stallions available at stud.
