It's All About What's In Your Heart and How You Use It"
Until the owners could reach an agreement on how to work and play with their mare, nothing was going to change. It truly is not about the horse. But, I digress from my original writing here. I'll continue ...
In the year and a half that my filly has been here she's gone from an unhandled, wild foal to a calm, quiet, playful, inquisitive young mare who loves human company. She's had ropes thrown on her, around her, she's worn saddle pads, she's been cinched, she's learned to circle in a lunge pattern at a walk and trot, she's learned never to turn her butt to a human, she follows her "leaders", she comes when called, she respectfully backs off from her feed dish until asked to eat ... all sorts of things that a youngster needs to learn in the way of social manners. She moves over when asked, steps back, stands, comes forward, ties, leads ... she's a wonderful, quiet, respectful young lady in most situations. I can stand over her, lean over her, pick up her hooves, sit on her when she's lying down, lie down with her ... all sorts of wonderful, best friend activities. As most horses who are seeking safety and comfort from their lead mares, she likes to stand and be close to her leader. This can be dangerous for the human. She's not a lightweight standing over 15 hh and weighing in around 900+ pounds right now. She gets reassurance from touch just as any other normal horse does when feeling a bit insecure. Horses touch one another, lean on one another, like to crowd each other for comfort. That's part of the equine wiring for survival and safety. When bunched together in a herd, the mountain lion has a hard time getting into the middle of the herd to eat his lunch. It's usually the straggler, the horse last in the herd who stands out a bit alone who gets to be the main course. Horses know this instinctively. So, humans need to understand this and teach the horse how to be watchful and respectful of humans when feeling insecure. The horse can't change its hard wiring but the humans can help the horse learn to think through scary situations and to be respectful of the human in the process. Again, its not about the horse - it's about the human. The horse
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