(and start building your relationship)
1. Notice when they are keen to do something (like eat grass) and develop some boundaries so that you can indulge this request in a safe way. I like to establish clear, light head up and head down signals and practice them whenever I let my horses eat grass. In this way we effectively have an ‘eat’ and a ‘stop eating’ cue, which I can easily reinforce (reward) by letting them eat more grass.
Sometimes, after I notice that my horse is interested in the grass, I will walk on a little way and then choose a spot to offer them grass. Depending on what we are working on, I might actively train them to walk past the grass without stopping, using a different food reinforcer, or if we are not quite ready to handle the distraction of grass, we will move to a different area with no grass.
Doing these things make it safe for me to let my horses eat grass sometimes when they suggest it, because I have set us up to succeed at doing this activity safely and within boundaries that I can control.
2. If your horse ever hesitates whilst leading or out on a ride, don’t pressure them to go forward. They are telling you that something is concerning them and adding pressure will just create even more stress for them. We might not think it is anything to be worried about, but they are worried. If we can respect their concern and help them to find a way to relax, then it will build our relationship and their trust in us.
So, next time this happens, try and breathe and give your horse some time to have a good look. Encourage them to relax by relaxing yourself and let them decide when they are ready to move forward. Listen to their body language. You may even find that they need to move away from what is concerning them in order to relax properly.
3. Give your horse the opportunity to make choices for himself when you are not there. This might sound odd, but for many horses, their day to day management can be tightly controlled. As much as is possible, set up your horses' living environment so that he can make choices for himself. Perhaps between shade or sun, hanging with friends or being alone, eating grass or hay, being inside or outside, having somewhere interesting to go for a walk around, activities to explore or somewhere comfortable to lie down.
Giving our horse the chance to make choices about his life whenever we are not around can not only make life easier for us (no bringing our horse in and out, for example, if our horse has access to a shelter he can choose to use or not), it can also significantly enrich our horses’ life. These sort of choices can help lower our horses’ overall stress levels, increasing their ability to learn, as well as their interest in life and in having a relationship with us.
© Sara Jackson 2022