I acquired an ex-racer, Khatani, just over three years ago. He was fresh out of training, highly strung and very defensive - especially when trying to change his rugs which he really needed at the time being fully clipped and all! The long and short of it was that he'd try and bite me whenever I touched any part of his rug unless he was held short or tied up. I googled him as you do, and found the folllowing article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/2380963/Point-To-Point-Khatani-puts-bite-on-rivals.html

Well, I run a fairly relaxed herd of three, and I prefer the horses to be cooperative with daily tasks such as foot picking, grooming and rug changes, meaning that I like to do all three without resorting to a head collar. I want them to enjoy these interactions and keep still and safe for me to do them. Big ask? It was for Khatani so I broke it down.

First of all I taught him that when he hears a clicker noise, he'll get a treat. He got that really quickly, so secondly I taught him that I only 'click' when his nose is pointing forwards. Then he had to hold that position for me to go through the rugging and derugging process, then later the saddling process too.

The film is a whistlestop tour of how saddling safely was achieved.

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