Safety around a horse takes place on the ground and in the saddle. On the ground, horses can be extremely dangerous simply because they’re big and fast animals. A horse can injure you even when there was no intention to do so. To build safety with your equine, start on the ground.

The foremost concern on the ground is maintaining personal space. A horse must respect your personal space and not enter it. You can go in his personal space, but he can’t come into yours. A good way to teach this is with leading exercises and backing up. Follow the leading exercises shown in this video clip to begin teaching about personal space:

Establishing leadership can help owners involve other problems on the ground with horse safety. One of the most dangerous things a horse can do is kick. Its important to know why the horse kicks. Is it out of fear or disrespect? In either case, the first thing you should do is make sure your horse knows how to disengage the hindquarter on the ground. Don’t go around a kicking horse without your tools (lead rope, carrot stick/riding crop). Keep the hind end away from you by disengaging the hind. This will move the hind end away from you. That’s the basics. Beyond this, dealing with kicking means establishing your leadership and gaining respect and trust from the horse. Round-pen training and groundwork will do this for you. If he kicks, you need to double the time invested in your ground training.

Here are some tips on round-pen training for respect:

Here are some tips on groundwork and disengaging the hind:

Biting is the third key to horse safety. Biting is extremely dangerous and is unacceptable. In the midst of a bite don’t be afraid to be firm with the horse, otherwise you could be facing a bruise or broken bones. Biting also comes down to trust and respect. The head area should be desensitized, use approach-and-retreat to get the horse used to you touching his ears, face and mouth. To build trust and respect, use the same ground training exercises you would to deal with kicking.

Learn more about Eric’s horse training videos