The horse. The trainer. The future owner. Others who may come in contact with the horse: Friends, visitors, haulers, farriers, vets, kids, horsey as well as non-horsing loved ones.
Ideally we help the horse become confident, comfortable and competent in all areas of life with humans.
That makes for a happy, well-adjusted, trusting and respectful partner that’s safe and enjoyable to be around.
For some that’s a long road and all we can do is work towards that goal in small – sometimes very, very small – steps.
When I’m working with a Mustang, whether it’s going great or less smoothly, the guiding light is always to set it up so that everybody wins.
Not in a “participation trophy”, “congratulations, thank you for being here today” kind of way, but in the sense that the horse and handler both are making progress towards getting what they are looking for.
Here NV Mustang mare Zin – her adopter sent her to Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy for gentling – is learning that when she gives to rope pressure rather than fighting or running from it, she makes the pressure go away.
She’s learning that ropes don’t hurt. She’s learning she has agency and how to think through pressure. She’s getting more confident in herself, me and calmly interacting with a human.
I’m getting her closer to picking and holding up her feet, because I want her to be able to confidently stand for her first trim. I want to be safe, and keep her and our farrier safe when we do that.
Sometimes we need to be creative in our approach, especially with Mustangs. “Everybody wins” is a good goal to have with people, too.
*We call this exercise leading by a foot. It’s also an important step towards hobble training, which in turn is more than just for backcountry grazing. It’s also broken leg and nasty cut prevention because it teaches horses not to fight if a leg is caught*
#horses#learning#goals#progress#winwin#teaching#trust#nonprofit#makingmountainmustangmemories
