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NEWS & ARTICLES : What a Character!!

What a Character!! (originally published in PetFolio magazine)

Horses come in many different colors, and characters!

It's easy to fall into the thinking that your horse is just a horse. Be careful! Each one will surprise you with his or her differences.

It may be hard to come to this realization, but every horse is an individual, and should be treated according to individual needs. Getting to know your horse, as an individual, is one of the most important things you can offer to that horse.

My filly Bailey is quite the character. If she thinks you are coming to "do something TO her" she will turn and face you, but think quite a while about coming to you. If she knows you are coming to "do something WITH her" she is hot on your heels, wondering what "we" are doing today! With this particular horse, I make sure everything I do has a purpose, one that I can clearly convey to her. She, like many horses, needs a purpose.

Recently, a horse we were going to work on came galloping along, first of the herd to "arrive", only to be quite upset that there was no food waiting for her. She made it supremely clear that we had "let her down"… She was expecting food, did not get any, and wasn't very happy about it. We made sure that when we were done working on her we did give her some food. Then she was very happy, and she felt like staying around us, even though we were done working on her.

A very different horse I know may be offered food and totally reject it. He wants to know exactly what he can DO! If his owner does not engage him in something that interests him, she won't get very much accomplished. He will continually try to find something more interesting to do, much to his owner's frustration!

If you try to find what your horse is interested in, what really captures your horse's mind, you will probably accomplish much more with your horse. Obviously, sometimes you must work on various tasks that may not interest your horse, but if you get to know your horse's interests, you will be able to retrieve and engage your horse's attention, thus develop a better partnership and cooperative effort -- together!