Trust is absolutely crucial when working with horses. You need to trust your horse, and your horse needs to trust you.

Your horse needs to know that you will keep them safe and only ask them to do things that they are capable of. You need to trust that your horse can act like a partner and be responsible.

If your horse doesn't trust you then you will end up with refusals, skittish behaviour, and unpleasant experiences. If you don’t trust your horse then your horse won’t learn to be responsible, he won’t like you because you are too controlling and predator like, and you won’t develop a relationship where your horse wants to work for you.

You can only get the best out of your horse when you can both trust each other. Here are some easy ways you can begin to build trust.

Here is TIP 1:

1. Protect Your Space:

The most important step in building trust with your horse is to protect your personal space. I often see humans wanting to snuggle up with their horses, except the horse ends up rubbing too hard and causing the human to step backward – or when its time for the snuggle session to stop the human
backs away instead of the horse.

A horse is supposed to see you as a strong and great leader that can keep you both yourself and the horse safe – but if you can’t even protect your own space, then how on earth are you going to protect your horse from the scary wolf that hides in the arena, or the alligator that is waiting
to jump out from behind the rock on a trail?

People often don’t fully understand the massive impact that protecting your personal space can have. In general, you need to be more aware of your feet….. DON’T move your feet! If you are done with your snuggle session, you back the horse away – but you DON’T move your feet.

If the horse is standing with you while you are waiting for something, grooming, etc and he gets too close for comfort, you move your horse – but you DON’T move your feet.

The second part to this is making sure that you don’t move your feet when you go to back the horse up either. Instead wiggle your rope, flap your arms (do the chicken dance!), etc to get your horse to back up out of your space – but you DON’T move your feet.

You only move your feet when you decided its time to move on or to ask for something different. You should only let your horse into your personal space if you relax your position (turn your belly button away from your horse) and invite your horse in.

If you stand facing your horse, your body language suggests you are standing your ground and the horse should not come into your space. Only if you relax your posture and invite the horse in, should the horse come
to greet you.

Lindsey Forkun 
www.LFEquestrian.com