Here’s How to Strengthen the Bond between You and Your Horse

Horses have been transforming the lives of humans for centuries. They are a significant aspect of our history, honored in stories, songs, and ceremonies. Horses were also one of the first means of extrapedal travel and were instrumental to trade and communication. But how can you strengthen the bond use share with your particular pony? Here is some general information about horses as well as some ideas for how you can use that information to connect to your equine friend and lay a foundation of trust upon which to build your relationship.

Consider Your Horse’s Size

A horse’s size is one of the first traits we notice. Shire horses can weigh around 2,000 pounds each, while a small horse can weigh closer to 800 pounds. The weight of a horse is vital in determining its feeding and management program. Knowing the exact weight of your horse is also essential to administer the proper amount of dewormers and other medications.

Weight plays a large role in how rider and horse move together. Fundamental to a horse’s locomotion is its spine. Overloading can affect how the horse moves, negatively impacting the performance and well-being of the animal. A general rule for a horse’s maximum load is 20 percent of its body weight. This means that a 1,000-pound horse can comfortably carry a 200-pound person.

Make Sure Your Horse Has Enough Food, but Not Too Much

Horses eat ceaselessly. It’s important to allow them access to hay or grass every day, all day. If the food you give to your horse delivers concentrated doses of nutrition and energy, some horses can self-regulate and eat smaller portions at a time. However, many horses will overeat, resulting in rapid or excessive weight gain. If a horse gains too much weight, health issues may arise.

Monitoring your horse’s weight is easy. Providing them with a slow hay feeder allows them to snack all day while not overeating. To ascertain whether or not your horse is overweight, look for fat pads in the crest, shoulders, and rump areas, around the ribs, and at the top of its tail.

Pay Attention to Your Horse’s Quirks

Just like people, horses possess personality behavior and quirks that are unique to them, informed by their life experiences. Some horses may be social and others more introverted. They may also experience anxiety, fear, or depression. When they do, you are responsible for dealing with the consequences of their behavior, reassuring them, and returning them to a sense of well-being. This may sound challenging, but knowing your horse’s personality and what may be causing its behavior will help you provide it with the best care.

Horses, in general, express relaxed behavior when in the company of other horses. Being in a herd makes horses happy and healthy. Horses form strong lifelong partnerships that provide necessary socialization and offer them protection from predators. For their mental and physical health, it’s best to adopt horses in pairs or even greater numbers. If and when a horse loses its partner or herdmates, it experiences great loss. The loss can affect its behavior and it may adopt various quirks, including mischievous ones.

Build a History of Positive Experiences with Your Horse

Horses are quick learners. They learn fast and pick up on things you may not realize. They’re also very good at recognizing people. If a horse gives someone the cold shoulder, it’s most likely because the horse doesn’t know who that person is, or that person has been unfriendly to it in the past. Training with a horse, feeding it, grooming it, and even talking to it will help it get to know you and anticipate good things when it is in your company.

Experience is part of what builds trust — horses want to know that you will behave the same way in the future as you already have in the past. Part of what makes them ideal learners and able to recognize things and people is their memory. They remember everything, including the bad, but horses don’t hold grudges the way people do. Small changes in their environment can help horses overcome bad memories or experiences.

Respect Your Horse Physically

Horses can’t breathe through their mouths and can sleep standing up, although many horses enjoy sleeping lying down. Remarkably, though a horse has a few “blind spots,” it has an almost 360-degree field of vision. Horses are so strong that, just a few hours after birth, foals can walk and run.

Horses are prey animals and need more than their size to protect themselves and their herdmates from predators or other danger. Luckily, they have incredibly quick reflexes. It takes a horse less than half a second to deliver a destructive kick that is perfectly capable of killing a human being. It’s good practice to walk close to a horse and keep one hand on its body at all times if you are behind it, so it does not forget you are there and let out a cake by mistake.

Additional Considerations for Facilitating the Horse-Human Bond

Horses can also read body language, have a different perspective on the world, are extremely athletic, and possess the ability to love unconditionally. Horses are affectionate animals. They can communicate feelings of love through their actions. Some of these actions include making sounds like whinnies or nickers, becoming relaxed when you’re present, or following you around.