What are some great ways to bond with a young and trusting horse?

Question

I've been with my horse for 2 & 1/2 years and I'd say I've never been this close to an animal. He's my world, but I would like to know some good ways to get even closer to him. What kind of playful things do young horses like? I run him beside me all the time, i walk him out through the pasture, i bareback ride every day and i always brush him and lay with him. Is there anything else I can do? Much appreciated =]

Thanx.

Answer 1

Spending time with them is the only thing you need to do to form a bond. You could do trust excerses to strengthen the bond. Take something you think he's scared of and expose him to it a little, like a plastic bag. Hold it in you hand and squease it to make noise. If he acts like he's going to walk off then stop before he does and pet him and tell him he's a good boy. If he does walk off then you don't let him just walk away from it. You pop him on the butt or throw a rope out behind him and send him off. It's not painfull. It's just communicating to him that it's not okay to walk off. Then give him another chance to trust you, that you won't let the bag eat him alive. It helps to do all of this in the round-pen so he can't go as far if you need to send him off. You can then start to increase the discomfort a little at a time. You can wiggle the bag around a little, and then shake it, then rub it all over his body and head. You use the same process everytime. The thing is, is that he doesn't have to deal with a different level of fear every time. He has to deal with the same small amount, because when he no longer fears the noise of the bag crumpling in your closed fist, then when you wiggle it around he experiences the same small amount or fear or discomfort that he felt when you first started crumpling it in your fist. Eventually, if you keep this up with various things it will strengthen your bond, make your horse trust you, make your horse respect you, and make a horse that is confident and won't spook at things as easily. When I say respect I don't mean fear. I mean exactly that, respect. Horses are like children and while playing with him is great and I do it with my horses often, at least in his mind you need to be bigger than him and if an emergency situation arises, he needs to know that he can take your lead, that you can be trusted to protect his little self from the boogie man. And when you continuously acclimatize him to strange objects, noises, and animals, then when he comes upon one when your riding that he's never encountered before then he'll just think, "Oh, it's that game again, well I guess she's showing me something new. She's never letten me get hurt before, so I guess there is no reason to panic."

Answer 2

Handle him often.  Brush and curry him, talk to him, pick up his feet and clean them.  Spend lots of time with him.

Answer 3

i find that just reading a book to them in the field works really well. my mare loves it and she comes over and eats next to me just to 'hear' the book being read! another great thing to do is just to sleep in the field on a lovely sunny afternoon, this just creates a relaxing atmosphere for your horse to be in and they love it! also take your horse for walks and in the field gain his trust enough so that he will follow you everywhere and come to your call. and eventually he will trust you enough to follow you and walks without a lead rope! (but make sure you do it in a secure place first as you dont want him suddenly changing his mind when you 3 miles away from home!)

just generally stroking your horse will build up a bond and find his 'best' spot on his body and give it a good scratch (my mare perferres behind the ears??) talking to your horse is another great way of building a bond- but dont just go 'whos a pretty boy then?' kinda talk- have a proper conversation with him (it will be weird at first but you will soon get used to it!) and he may even being to nicker to you when you talk to him (my mare has recently done this- i wonder if she understands me??? lol)

well i hope this helps and good luck!

Answer 4

Join up never fails. it is a way of comunicating with  a horse in it's own language, and therefore gaining it's trust. I have used it on all my horses, and I have found I have been more confident in the saddle, trust my horse more and my horses have been more responsive.

It is the ultimate way to bond- and you only have to do it once.

It takes about half an hour, and you are bonded for life!

Answer 5

You have two really good answers above me.  Start directing his feet.  Sidepasses with cues from the ground.  Move his rear hips and face you from your finger point.  Move his shoulders right and left.  Back up on command.  Big praises with these.  Ride him bridleless.  Close your eyes and spread out your arms and feel his footfalls.

Some like games.  Look at some of Parelli's training.  Some like toy horseballs.  One gelding of ours throws it all over the pasture and plays soccer with it.  I have to retrieve it under the fence and get the ball back in play.  We use a free plastic 55 gallon drum and let him roll it around.  

Lead from both sides.  Lead without a halter and rope.  Lead with just your hand on his neck or withers.  

Lastly, it sounds like you already have a great bond.  He's fortunate to have such an owner.

Answer 6

How old is he?

give him a massage (my horse loves it and falls asleep!)

do some simple tricks with him."Bow" and "shake" are easy to start with

try loose jumping, set up a jump and let the horse loose, then run round to get his attention before hopping over the jump yourself, see if he follows (dont do this if your horse gets over excited and kicks out ect, thinking he is playing)

try getting a big ball of some kind an eccourage him to puch it along and play with it. as he is young he will be very playful and interested in everything

Answer 7

Horses don't understand as much as we like them too. Time and training is the only way. Their way of thinking is unfortunatly very different from ours, causing lasp in communication.

Be dominate, you are HIS leader not his pal. He will respect you more if he trusts you to take care of him than if you are a play thing.

Time is a must, but spoiling can induce bad habits. Avoid treats instead try and be the one who feeds him at his feed time.

Read his body language: does he ignore you? or is he relax but paying attention?

Train train train.... Train.... Ask him to do things for you, if he does listen to you, then good job. Be sure to ask him for something he already knows, if he doesn't know how to do a leg yeild Teach him. Teach him everything! he will never be bored, you spend time with him, and it is mroe effective than just talking to him or spoiling himj with extra food

*running with a horse can be very dangerous and i recomend doing it with a lead rope, even if the rope has no tension it is there incase he is spooked and you will have control. Also if he does spoke calming him down and facing what scared him is another way of building trust and bonding.

Answer 8

your doing everything right which helps form a great close relationship but some extra activities could be:

massage (your horse will love you!)

play games like with balls, show them new different things eg: walking over a rug they will start to trust you generally young horses a curious - use treats if you like

teach them tricks

do things they enjoy eg: jumping

sometimes i just like sitting with him eatting and watching? they appreciate that (that they are your friend and not just your worker)

one thing i love to do is just randomly go and sit down in the paddock or lie dwn my horse-they will come up and be like - what you do down there and start playing with my hair and l*****g me all over i just laugh. (you have to be careful of this - i always try and kneel when they are close that way you can always quickly jump up if need be.)

you could go to a camp together or clinic to do natural horsemanship things?

good luck! hope i helped!