The story is as old as the hills. Horses are grazing animals and when we are working on green pasture and any grass areas our horses will gravitate to the grass. Most equestrians I talk to find the available grass annoying at best and downright unacceptable at worse.
Have you been faced with a pushy, heavy headed horse that requires constant reminders and corrections to keep their head up off the ground. Maybe you have resorted to working your horse in a well kept arena with no nibbling opportunities to tempt your horse. This isn’t the worst option but it definitely doesn’t solve the underlying problem you are having.
It’s not uncommon for me to hear people embarrassingly admit they are working on it as they snap the leadrope at their horse's face or yank abruptly on their halter. Most call their violent corrections “working on it” but the way I see it they are waging an ongoing battle between the horse's instinct and design and their own strong opinion of what a “good horse” looks like.
I know first hand how exhausting battling instinct in any animal can be. It’s not a war you are likely to win without seriously damaging the animals psychological wellbeing and possibly negatively impacting the animals overall welfare. This is without mentioning the withdrawals these kinds of training methods make to your relationship trust-account with the horse.
Let’s jump into how we can once and for all solve the issue of diving for food with this simple and effective training protocol.