Exchanging Trust With A Pony

As it is with all your other relations, so it is with your horse: trust is the cement that builds a strong relationship of mutual sentiment and respect. There are two sides to that coin: the side that embodies full trust and a healthy relationship, and the side that symbolizes puny trust or none at all. This side reflects the more deadly of the types of relationships.

You can get a graphic illustration of the way trust works when it comes to horses if you take time out to study a herd of them. Ideally, you want to study a herd of wild horses out in the open. The herd leader, a stallion, will be the sentry on permanent duty. He’s alert, all of his senses attuned to even the littlest scent of anything threatening. When a threatening situation does arise, it is the lead mare who decides on the subsequent plan. Her decision will often be to take flight. Every single horse in the herd will obey her cue without the tiniest hesitation and there’s very sound reason for that: it relates to the old proverb about strength lying in unity. As a herd, the horses can protect one another. Any pony that’s isolated becomes simple prey for predators. The mare leads the retreat because it’s the duty of the stallion to take up position at the rear and keep the herd tight. The lead mare and the lead stallion are trusted blindly by the whole herd.

Now that was a horse to horse situation. How does one as a homo sapien gain the unquestioning trust of your foal?

I’ve got a story by way of an illustration here. A few years back I was visiting at a friend’s ranch in Arizona where a wild Colonial Spanish herd of horses had just been rounded up. I was challenged to tame one of the stallions and I do not run away from challenges where horses are concerned. At the beginning, my efforts with that horse drew a large amount of laughter and derision. I made a few forays into the pen, and each time I had to leave rather suddenly and unceremoniously. Every time I exited over the 6 feet high rails like I used to be a professional athlete. The best I could manage was to get to within 10 feet of the herd before it became provident to run.

That first approach of mine clearly finished in failure. I tried a new tack. I just got onto the fence and sat there, making no motion that could be construed as threatening. Shortly enough, curiosity got the better of the stallion and after a few mock approaches he finally loped up to me, took a good sniff and loped off. I was sweating, and I’m absolutely sure the Arizona heat wasn’t the main cause. Over the following few days, others were working with the mares, while I did nothing except sit there, always within sight of the stallion.

It wasn’t long before he came up again. This time his approach was less frightened. He was almost assertive as he approached and took another good sniff. His posture really made one or two folk around me scream at me to leap.

I did the opposite: I slowly descended from the top of the fence on the side of the stallion. The horse backed off a bit, but came forward again some time after I slowly sat down on the ground. A quick sniff or two and he seemed to relax significantly. After a while, I slowly got up on my feet and he observed me thoroughly, showing neither aggression nor fear.

I made up my mind to test him: I talked with him for some time and then walked away slowly along the rails, still speaking. He hesitated for some time and then followed me.

Since that time, I have used this method in varied forms with plenty of purportedly huffy wild horses. Many of them have had tons of experience being chased by riders with a rope. I just wait them out and let their natural curiosity work for me. They come, sooner or later. I’m taking my time, and eventually I make sure they follow me as they are , without halter or rope. Each time, that point is when I know That I have achieved success in taming one more horse using nothing more than the tool of trust.

I know one thing for sure: if a foal trusts you, you can have faith in it. Horses attack you only when they fear you: they give into their natural flight or fight instincts.

You want to work at gaining a horse’s trust and you need to work at keeping it. The best way of keeping a horse’s trust is to refrain from ever forcing or even asking a horse to do something it’s incapable of doing, or it doesn’t know how to do.

You must also take care never to lose your temper at a horse simply because he’s not done what you wanted him to. If he didn’t act on your wishes, he had sound reason. If you identify that reason and work on easing it out, you buttress the horse’s trust in you. If you fight that reason and attempt to bend your horse to your will, you lose his trust.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about western show clothes