Does my horse's teeth have to be floated or anything before I start training him?

I heard somewhere that a horse's teeth have to be fixed by a vet before you can start breaking them with a bit...is this true? and my horse is a little over 2 years old now..I stood on the other side of the gate and made him stand there for 20 minutes to try to teach him to tie...well about 5-10 minutes of standing there he started pawing the ground and gate and started to rear...how can I teach him to not do this?

Does my horse's teeth have to be floated or anything before I start training him?
First the teeth issue. You only need to float if the teeth are sharp when you feel them . It is good to do this twice a year but you don't have to wait to break your horse. As for the standing isuue you never leave your horse do one thing for to long a time as they get bored very quickly and that is why he started to paw and rear you need to tie him everyday until he understsnds he must stand and behave. Also reward him for being good .
Reply:Tieing will take time, but horses are herd animals and they dont just like to be tied places where they cant see anyone for long periods of time. Keep that in mind. I would tie and groom.





About the teeth. All horses teeth need to be done. Some more frequent then others. If you haven't had your horses teeth checked i would do it soon, but hes young so i wouldn't be over worried, and i would say its ok to use a bit, just something very lite and no pulling hard on his mouth. Use a baby bit of some sort or just a simple egg butt.





Good Luck with your horse.
Reply:Other than a routine floating, there is no special dental treatment that a horse of this age needs- however, you will want to have him checked for the presence of wolf teeth that are hidden in his mouth below the gumline. These teeth tend to erupt near the bars of the mouth where the bit will rest, and if the bit hits one of them during training, it will cause your horse excruciating pain. This can lead to head tossing and being hard to bridle, and it can also make him resistant to training. Have your vet check him thoroughly for the presence of these teeth, and if any are found, have him remove them. Make sure that you make an appointment to have the horse checked again in 6 months- a horse's teeth change rapidly when the animal is young and growing, the way your horse is.





Next, the tying issue. Your horse needs to learn to stand tied before he ever has a saddle on his back- indeed, he should have been taught that as a baby when he was a few days old. Why are you tying him to the pasture gate? That's not a safe place to tie any horse, much less one that doesn't know how to stand and has no respect for the rope. I would tie your horse to a stout post that has been set in concrete or a similar material, and let him stand there for about 20 or 30 minutes. Make very sure that you keep the rope short, so he can't get a leg over it or get caught up in it, and just let him stand and figure it out on his own. Watch him to be sure he isn't in trouble in any way, and when the 30 minutes are up, release and reward him for standing and being quiet. Keeping the rope short will keep him from rearing, and your presence will keep him calm. Repeat this procedure several times over a period of at least a week or more, and as the horse gets used to it, you can leave him alone for short periods of time ( start with 5 minutes and work up from there) while you do something else. Your horse was pawing the ground because he was bored and looking for entertainment. Our horses do this too, and we have to discipline them on occasion to keep them from breaking the gate. After your horse learns to stand tied, then you can continue with the rest of his training. Hope this helps you.
Reply:I would not bother to train a horse without a full checkup by the vet and a equine dentist. You might of overheard this popular idea of only training fit and ready horses.Its just not practical to invest so much time and money in animals that are unfit or injured. That counts for teeth as well as bodies!


Teaching your horse to rear: Horses have moods and temperments, so tying and any other ground work need knowlege,patience, attention and praise for the good behavior before you worry about correcting and creating misunderatandings.Otherwise you just taught him a new trick: how to rear!
Reply:unless your horse has a problamatic bite he shouldn't need floated until age 4. you should check for the presence of wolf teeth, if they are there then yes you need to have dental work done before you can bit the horse. as for the rearing problem, sounds like you took the lesson too far. young horses like young children have very short attention spans and even shorter fuses. you needed to start with more lessons over less time. tie for 1-2 minutes, 3-4 times a day. increase the time until you get to a point where you are tying as long as you are resting. then decrease the repetitions and add more time. ideally you want to be stopping just before they start acting out. you want to stay on the edge of the comfort zone. shouldn't take all that long before you can tie for as long as you need ( within reason of course). very few horses dont get antsy while being tied for hours on end, but you should be able to tie for 30-45 minutes without problem. as for striking, i carry a short dressage whip and evertime they raise the leg to paw i rapp the front of the cannon bone lightly until they put the foot down. your not hitting or smaking or beating, just gently tapping the leg until you get the submission. if the leg is moving stand to the side and rapp the leg evertime it comes up into the air, you can even pick a point directly infront of the leg and let the horse tap himself each time he feels the need to paw. when you can get at least 5 seconds of stillness, release the horse and reward them. let them move around a bit to remove the urge to move. when the mind is quite again, tie and repeat until time is up. you really need to step down your lessons a bit, the rearing is a symptom, and if allowed to continue will only get worse. at this stage its normal for some rearing to occur. why? well many horses instinctively feel the urge to rear when they first encounter immobile pressure on the lean back. we have all seen it, a green horse sits back and pulls, when nothing gives they go straight up to escape the pressure. when teaching give to pressure i dont tie at all. i just loop the lead line around the hitching post and when they sit back i feed a little line out- just a little so they dont feel trapped. at the same time i cue to move forward. alot can be done while leading. apply gentle pressure to the halter, wait for the horse to move towards you then release. repeat again and again both exercises untill they stop sitting back on the lead line and you have progressed to actual tying. once you can tie without the sitting, rearing or pulling then start worrying about the pawing and length of time tied.