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Jerry Tindell's Ten Most Wanted |
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Cinchy Behavior |
by Jerry Tindell |
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It's not uncommon to see a horse or mule that has an attitude when we first try to cinch them up. Like our horse in our first photo, as he is being cinched up, he shows his irritation with his ears starting to come back and he begins to paw the ground. |
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The next thing that might happen is that the animal moves off and you'll notice that the saddle is raised-up high. As in the next photo, you can even see a gap between the saddle and the horse's back.
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You can see how this cinchy horse continues to move with brace and resistance. The horse has his head held up high and he's pulling his shoulders together and hunching up his body. It's also not uncommon for a cinchy horse to start bucking, or to untrack, meaning he won't move off because he is
afraid to.
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Usually, the saddle doesn't feel good to the cinchy horse, maybe it's threatening to him. Or maybe the saddle is just fresh and the horse, or mule, hasn't moved around with it much before. Perhaps the saddle doesn't fit well. There could be a variety of reasons for the horse being cinchy. It's possible that the saddle had been incorrectly put on him for a long time and the cinchy behavior has become a habit. You can even see this behavior in older horses that were started incorrectly and their cinchy behavior has been overlooked for a long period of time.
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Imagine if the horse was born without a tail. One day, if you just put a tail on him it would scare him because the tail hadn't been there when he was born. So, it's a similar thing with the saddle. It wasn't there before, the animal doesn't know what to expect from it and it scares him.
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Cinchy behavior is often caused by a couple of common situations:
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- One, it can occur because the horse or mule wasn't properly prepared to accept the saddle.
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- Second, it happens when the horse is cinched up while tied to a hitching rail.
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Let's talk about those two situations in more depth. A common mistake people make is with an animal that they have had for a while. They've handled the horse or mule a lot and assume that their animal is gentle and will not be bothered by being saddled for the first time. They also assume that it will be okay to cinch the horse while he is tied to a hitching rail.
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When the cinch is tightened up, the animal moves and then is startled by the different feeling on their back. They become frightened and then they try to get away from the sensation. They can't get away from it and so they pull-back. Now, not only is there a cinchy problem, you might also have the beginning of a pull-back problem. So, the problem is compounded. You have to be aware of cinchy horses that turn into pull-back horses because one day they might break a halter rope and/or flip over backwards. This is a very dangerous situation and can result in a broken saddle, or worse, an injured horse.
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So you can see how cinchy behavior is man-made when we don't prepare our animals. The work we need to do to help prepare them includes:
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- Starting the horse or mule in a round corral
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- Doing rope work in a nice, soft, gentle way. Get the animal familiar with the feel of the rope.
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We want to be very aware of preparing our horses not to be bothered by the saddle and the cinch. Start first in the round corral. Maybe the first time they are saddled they will jump and buck, or un-track, that is, they might be afraid to move off. Eventually, they'll warm up and it won't be such a big deal to them. Also, notice that as the horse moves and warms up, the saddle fit will likely become more comfortable. If we don't do this prep work, we can set ourselves up for bigger problems down the road as described above if the animal becomes a pull-back horse. |
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Always work in a controlled and safe place, especially if the horse is going to move off to get used to the saddle on his back. You never fail when you recover and you continue. |
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Read comments or post your own comments to this article at the bottom of this page. |
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Meet Jerry Tindell, Teacher and Trainer of Horses, Mules and Humans: |
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Through JERRY TINDELL HORSEMANSHIP CLINICS, hundreds of horsemen and women have significantly improved their skills. A comprehensive knowledge of equine behavior and the human skills for top performance make Jerry Tindell a one-of-a-kind clinician. |
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Jerry has a unique ability - and willingness - to effectively teach people of all skill levels and disciplines. He seems to know just exactly what a student is ready to learn at any given time. His timing, commitment, and plain old-fashioned good manners make his clinics successful, educational, and fun ?for everyone, whether the rank beginner or accomplished veteran. He is dedicated to the success of his students and his progressive training program.
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Copyright © 2008 All rights reserved. The above article is the property of the Author and may not be duplicated or redistributed in any way without permission. |
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Reader comments for this article |
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Name: B.o.B. Time: 2008-06-17 12:06:35
Comment: I agree that the fit and condition of the tack should be the first concern always, whether a person is saddling an animal for the first time or the one-hundredth time. A sore back can pretty readily be ascertained by running the thumb on one side and the fingers on the other side of the spine, from wither to loins while applying moderate pressure. A sore-backed animal will flinch or deflect away from the pressure at tender spots. Once it is established that soreness does not appear to be the issue, I would agree with Mr. Tindell that we are most often dealing with a behavioral problem relating to a "hole" in the animal's foundation training, It seems we humans are all too willing to believe that unwanted behavior is the result of outside influences (breed, gender, time of day, diet, weather, tack, etc.), rather than to take an honest look at what the animal is trying to tell us. Behaviors such as "cinchy" , "pulling back", "rearing", etc.are most often the animal's way of acting out in a defensive mode when he is frightened and/or braced. If such an animal is taken back through the basic steps of a complete groundwork program in a firm but fair and thorough manner, it is likely those "holes" will be eliminated. Taking the time to patiently re-establish the basics will result in an animal that is soft, supple and perhaps most importantly confident, and negative behavior will disappear.
Name: George K. Dobrev Time: 2008-06-03 11:06:20
Comment: This article has some very good points and even mentions pain and tack that does not fit well as the reason for cinchy behavior HOWEVER those two possibilities are completely ignored in the main point of the article (see quote):
“Cinchy behavior is often caused by a couple of common situations:
• One, it can occur because the horse or mule wasn't properly prepared to accept the saddle.
• Second, it happens when the horse is cinched up while tied to a hitching rail. “
Very often, I would say even more often than the two reasons mentioned above, the cause for cinchy behavior is pain and badly fitting tack. Badly fitting saddle can cause a lot of pain and the horse/mule would try to avoid being saddled and cinched because of the association with pain caused by the saddle and the pressure put on the sore back by the cinching process (if someone pushes your hand towards the fire what would you do…). An improper and or worn out cinch can be causing pain too. Also check the saddle pad for imbedded objects like thorns, dried grass… and the horse’s skin. Yes this may be common sense for some, however common sense is rather “uncommon commodity” nowadays and I have seen situations where the saddle pad has been removed with the saddle and has remained attached to the saddle for months if not years with out even being checked.
Non tack related source of pain that can cause cinchy behavior is the presence of ulcers – how would you like somebody pulling a belt tight over ulcers you may have.
BEFORE attempting to correct cinchy behavior by training methods I think the presence of pain and bad fitting tack, if any, should be eliminated. In place of picking up the “carrot stick” first, call the veterinarian and make sure the cause for cinchy behavior is not pain/tack related.
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