In a message dated 12/22/02 6:23:12 AM Mountain Standard Time, mtnrider@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Teach him to face you - this you can also do
in his stall or somewhere smaller than a pasture.
TO WHOEVER ASKED THE INITIAL QUESTION: Make the horse curious about you and he will move his hip quietly out of the way to see what you're doing.
I have found myself staring at the wrong end of a horse a few times. When it ISN'T my idea, I want to ask the horse to turn and look at me so he can better assess just what it is I am there to do.
First, I stay out of kicking range...and don't UNDER-estimate that, seriously.
Second stand DIRECTLY behind the horse (again, OUT OF KICKING RANGE) and watch his ears search for you and what it is you're doing. Do this quietly...no cooing to him, no talking, no shuffling of your feet. MAKE him "search" for you with his ears and his eyes. He will use one eye to look for you without actually turning his head too much....when he does, step quietly to your left (or right, whichever is the opposite to the eye) JUST ENOUGH to make him change his eye in use to his other...when he does, step quietly into the view of the other eye just enough to make him change his eye in use again.
Always maintain the distance between you and the horse, don't shortened it up, don't get too far away (or the NEED the horse feels to locate and assess you will diminish.)
This next part is very important....WHEN he slides his hip to the left or right and STARTS to turn to get a better handle on what it is you are doing, IMMEDIATELY take a step DIRECTLY BACK, not left, not right, directly back. As you do, use whatever quiet and loving words you reserve for your horse, ensuring YOUR eye remains soft and your posture remains soft (do not affect a rigid, ready-to-move-to-the horse posture.)
When he lowers his head, and he will if you do this quietly and in a "non-threatening" manner....he WILL throttle down his threat assessment capabilities and watch you quietly.
Hold this moment for a moment...and YOU break it by stepping BACK & AWAY from the horse...saying the quiet and loving words you reserve for your horse as you move AWAY from him. (NOTE: Do this a couple of times, trying to ascertain when the appropriate moment to start CLOSING the distance to the horse is, always being ready to take a step back to the intensity of conversation with which the horse is most comfortable. Do not hurry this, it will work, and it will change the horse's behavior.)
This method is best used when you don't want to beat the horse and chasing him around and around is something you may not be interested in doing. It is gaining control of the moment without being threatening, without beating the horse, and without endangering either one of you (if you use the method correctly.)
BE CAREFUL, maintain your distance, but be close enough to engender his CURIOSITY rather than HIS FLIGHT OR FIGHT response.
Once you learn to make a horse "curious," you have opened the window to eventually having meaningful and fruitful conversations.
There are other methods, depending on the nature of the horse, methods that work and which may need to be employed....but I like to start with the quiet, least threatening one and move up as the horse and situation require.
Good Luck,
Frank
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