Do you become frustrated when your horse sticks his nose up in the air, or pulls his head away when you're trying to bridle him? We've all been there at one point or another. There is an easy resolution to this maddening issue.

1. Teach your horse to lower his head (see my head drop exercise in my Groundwork Essentials Book or DVD).

2. Practice taking a halter on and off to teach your horse to lower his head.

3. Use the same head down cue (pressure over the poll) when you go to bridle your horse.

1. Be Prepared
Know where you're going and what is required to transport your horse to that destination. This includes necessary paperwork to travel across country. Research online or call the location and find out what is required. Then speak with your vet about getting the necessary paperwork in order before you leave. Note: some requirements are time sensitive. Be sure to consider those timing sensitivities in your preparations. If you don't have your paperwork in order, it could mean extra time being stuck at border crossings for your horse in a hot trailer.

2. Directions and Maps
Have the correct directions to your destination. Look up the appropriate route on-line and buy a road map for the area to keep in your vehicle in case you need to detour while in route due to construction or weather issues. Confirm any overnight stays before you leave. Not being prepared could mean extra hours in a hot trailer for your horse.

3. Go Early
Avoid traveling during the hottest part of the day. The hottest part of the day varies depending on what part of the country/world you are in. Do your research before hand and know everything you can about your journey and your final destination. Most professional transporters get up early and are on the road during the cooler parts of the day, and allow the horses to unload and rest during the hottest parts of the day.

How to cinch the front

1. Ensure your cinch is unhooked and hanging where you can reach it.
2. From the left side of your horse, hook the left stirrup over the horn.
3. Untie your latigo and reach under your horse's belly and grab the cinch.
4. Insert the latigo into the cinch's dee ring, from the back side. Meaning the latigo will stay close to your horse's belly and the end will come towards you.

I like to start with grooming. Grooming is a great way to get to know a horse and to build trust. Why? Because if you open up all your senses, be present in the moment, turn off your cell phone, not talk to your buddy, and truly focus on the horse, s/he will tell you volumes of information about him/her self.

The horse will tell you where on his body he is ticklish, where he is in pain, where he likes to be scratched, where he is comfortable being touched and most important where he is NOT comfortable being touched.

When you have all of this valuable information, you can use it to gain the horse's trust. You may still be asking, well how do I do that?

A study conducted by the Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition unit of the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom has found young horses under the age of three are not able to understand when a human is paying attention to them.  Adult horses, however are able to use head movement and open or closed eyes to understand when a human is paying attention to them. The results of this study suggest the ability for horses to read and understand human body language is a skill that develops over time and with experience.

We've seen and/or heard what happens when a foal is raised by a human and doesn't understand horse body language...