Commonly, people go for a test ride on a perspective horse, and the horse is perfect, but as soon as they bring the horse home, they are a completely different animal. The horse is aggressive or flighty or depressed, or more than likely a combination there of. Why is this complete change? Well, of course there's the suspicion of drugging, which is a very valid worry that should be investigated, but also where your horse is finding themself in relationship to you should be addressed.
Different horses react to changes differently, but when you go test out a horse, you are going to be with the seller, who is essentially the lead horse. You are more than likely in an area the horse is familiar with, using tack that they know both the feeling and the smell of. If you just bring them home to a strange area with strange people, they are going to act much different. Remember your first day of school? How your parents put you on a bus with clothes that you had never worn before and a back pack you don't remember them buying you? Remember how you were ordered around by strangers and told to act right and it was crazy. Some of you may have been perfectly fine on your first day, but more of you probably thought you were kidnapped by a big yellow brick. Horses are the same. Some horses might be perfect with the transition between owners, but more of them are going to be hesitant, and that's completely valid. The best thing you can do for them in this stage is to build a relationship, but how do you even start building relationship?
In my opinion, one of the best tactics for starting to build relationship with your horse is to just spend time with them. Hang out, groom on them, and otherwise just chill. A lot of horses like to have quiet time where the both of you are just enjoying the moment. Some horses will even want groom on you back as a part of accepting you as their herd. Quality time is so.powerful for building relationship.
Another tactic to building the initial relationship is food rewards. This is similar to hanging out, but a food reward is incorporated to give an extra boost of dopamine when the horse engages with you. I personally think this is a great method for the initial steps to relationship building, but it also won't work on all horses. Some horses prefer just having quality time, but testing out food never hurts, just don't over do it. Use a bit of their regular feed as the reward and reserve treats for special occasion.
After you have your basic connection, where your horse will put an ear on you or even follow you when you enter the pen, you can probably move on to playing "The Catching Game". The Catching Game is essentially approach and retreat; trying to achieve a join up with the goal of haltering. Ideally you want your horse to stand still for you to halter, or to even meet you and put their head in the halter. You can start the Catching Game exercise by walking into the pen with your halter in front of you so that your horse can see it fully. It is really important that you aren't sneaky and hiding the halter so that you don't create mistrust. After entering the pen, stand at the gate for 10 seconds or so, and give your horse the opportunity to recognize that you are there and the chance to join up with you. If they face you and/or start walking up to you, remain standing there. Many horses will meet you at least halfway, but extra friendly ones will come right up. Here's the three main scenarios you will have with your horse, and how to proceed with each type of horse.
Scenario #1: If your horse walks all the way up to you, pet them, then halter them, pet them again, lead them around the pen a couple steps, pet, un-halter, and walk away. You can repeat this as much as you see fit, but more than likely you and your horse have a pretty good bond going if they come right up to you.
Scenario #2: If your horse faces you or walks halfway up, and then stands, let them stand a little bit to process. They may come up to you after processing, but may also just stand there. Wait for a noticeable switch in their body language where they really settle and relax. Then, you can go ahead and slowly, but not sneakily, walk to their shoulder. If you get to their shoulder, pet them, then retreat. Repeat the process of waiting for the go-ahead from your horse, walking up to their shoulder, petting, then walking away. Your horse probably will start following you as you walk away, which is a sign they are joining up with you. If you get to the point where you can easily walk up to them, or they come up to you, you can go ahead and halter them using the process of scenario #1. Repeat as needed until you get the desired result of them being easy to catch or even where they catch themself.
Scenario #3: If your horse doesn't really acknowledge you or even walks away from you in this process, don't worry. This is where Catching Game gets the title of "game "and the nickname of "Haltering Dance". You can start by slowly, but not sneakily, walking towards their shoulder. If they continue to walk away keep on following them. If they give you their attention at all (their ear being focused on you is a good sign of attention) or if they hesitate and think about stopping, reward by turning around and walking away. This usually will get their attention and tune them into you, but repeat this pattern of approaching, then backing off when they do what you want them to do (ie. face you, stand for you to get closer, etc.). They might need to recircle -or literally turn around in a circle and recenter themself mentally- but eventually as you approach and retreat, you should be able to get closer and closer before they move away. It may or may not take a while, but eventually you will get them to more of a scenario #2. Once they do get to that point, you can start following the steps of a scenario #2 horse, and gradually, you will get to a scenario #1 horse.
Once your horse is relatively easy to catch, I see that as the go-ahead to start groundwork. Everyone has a different groundwork program, but some good points to hit is shoulder control, hip control, and a round circle when lunging. For shoulder control, essentially all you are doing is teaching them to move their shoulders over off of energy. Hip control is pretty much the same thing as hind quarter yielding, so teaching them to move their hip away from energy. Getting a round circle is going to be more ribcage control, teaching them to maintain a round back while on the circle. If you have control of their shoulder, their hip, and their ribcage, you have control of the horse. Establishing your groundwork, no matter the groundwork program, you are establishing more in depth relationship, boundaries, and are overall getting to know your horse better so that you can maintain safety mentally and physically. After their groundwork is tuned to your liking, you and your horse are ready for the next step in your journey, whatever direction that may be.
The relationship with your horse is incredibly important to find success in your horsemanship journey. Hopefully some of this will help you, or at least if anything, give you a bit more understanding of relationship building with your horse. Good luck in all of your equine shenanigans! Thanks for the visit! <3
-Abbie Davison
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