Horses And Safety

There are some good blogs out there posting about Horses and Safety, I have been reading some very good tips being offered. I have decided to add my 2 cents worth to the mix. I am not a trainer nor do I profess to know all that much.....what I do know though is that over my many years spent with horses I have had some of the displeasure of injuries and near misses...mostly due to my own ignorance. A lot of what the other bloggers are talking about I practice so I will try to add something slightly different. This seems like such a simple thing and I would have thought it is just something everyone does.....most people probably do. My tip is about the benefits of training your horse (s) to go through gates without a fuss. My horse(s) stand patiently (outside my personal space) while gates are being opened ,they are then asked to come through and they then come all the way through around the gate and turn to reface the gate.They end up well out of my space, it is then possible for me to close the gate with no horse(s)blocking my way or getting tangled up with other horses.As I said this seems like a no brainer....but when I was young and without proper guidence,the gate thing got me on a number of occasions causing me a bit of pain.....I have been crushed against gate posts, stepped on and pinned.,banged in the head and face(by horse head) I have been sandwiched between horses that wouldn't move around the gate.....so as I got older and some what smarter I started training all my horses to move all the way through and to swing around the gate end which generally puts them a fair distance from my left shoulder and allows for me to close the gate with no interference. I am not saying this is "the way" to train your horse but what I am saying is I have dealt with other people's horses that do not go through gates very well and these are just accidents waiting to happen, this method works for me and keeps me safe from future pain ....so to end this, do whatever works for you and stay safe too.