C&E EQUESTRIAN

The boss horses here at C&E Equestrian play a vitally important role in the process of backing young horses. We use a technique that involves the boss horses being in equally or ideally more control of the youngsters as a person would have on the ground and use this advantage to back them from one of the boss horses. All three of the above horses are dominant characters that are leaders of their herds. This is crucial as boss horses must be strong characters that will not back down to other horses even in emergency situations. They must offer safety, obvious boundaries and dominant but fair leadership to the youngsters during the backing stage and their initial hacking out. We have found this makes a big difference to the youngsters as many of them are more comforted by another horse than they would be a human depending on their previously handling. Danny has done the most boss horsing of all and is the most experienced by far, probably being able to do the job with his eyes closed! Although we are lucky enough to have two other horses that show equally dominant characteristics and that we can pull out if and when Danny needs a break.