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Can your horse do this?

© Gwenyth Browning Jones Santagate

Can you ...

Groom, bathe, clean hooves or sheaths while your horse is unrestrained and able to leave whenever he/she chooses? Tack up your horse while he/she is unrestrained? Leave your horse standing unrestrained in one spot in the paddock/pasture while you run back to retrieve something from the barn and know your horse will be standing in the same spot you left him when you return? Get your horse on a trailer by simply opening the door and saying, "Let's go now!" ? Clean your stalls with your horse inside the stall and feel safe, knowing your horse will remain in the stall where you ask him/her to stand? Call your horse from the pasture and know he/she will gallop up to you, leaving his/her other pasture mates (and loads of yummy grass) to go to you? Flap umbrellas, sheets, plastic tarps, balloons and other "scary" items around your horse while he/she is unrestrained and know he/she will continue to stand quietly next to you? Put a child on your horse's back and know he/she will "take care of" that child? Ask your horse to back up, move sideways, move forward from a mere hand signal (unrestrained) and know your horse will comply? Call your horse while he/she is galloping madly about in excitment and know he/she will come right up to you to stand quietly next to you? Expect your horse to stand quietly while dirt bikes, fireworks, chain saws, backhoes, 18 wheelers, or noisy children are around? Ride your horse in parades or take him/her to a carnival-like environment to give "pony" rides? Go out to the paddock where your horses are, grain buckets in hand, and know that each one will go quietly into their own respective stall without fighting, bucking, running around, grabbing for the grain? Introduce your horse to a new and scary obstacle and know that he/she will go over, under, through whatever it is within minutes time as calmly as can be?

Do you ...

Feel your horse looks out for you and protects you? Feel safe enough that if you lose your balance on your horse's back, he/she will try to help you out or stop moving? Know that if you *do* fall off, your horse will not run off in a panic but stand quietly and wait for you to get on his/her back again? Feel that if your horse finds itself in a precarious situation that he/she will remain calm and wait for you to help him/her out?

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