NEWS & ARTICLES : It’s a TRUST Thing – For Both of You
Horse-human partnerships begin and end on trust

TRUST – Much has been said about trust, a critical element of horsemanship. We all want our horses’ trust and we want to be able to trust them. Adding more of this deeper element to our horsemanship begins when we view our horses as partners, not just tools or livestock. Books and DVD’s from well-known masters such as Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt, Walter Zettl, can help us learn how to better develop this cherished trust with our horses.  Some of the best masters are not well known, but meeting them and seeing their abilities to foster trust with horses will help you do the same.

Trust must extend from you to your horse in every situation. Slow things down if you need to so that you can develop the horse properly, through trust. To develop correctly, think of teaching the “a b c’s” first; then you can make letters into words, words into sentences, sentences into chapters, and chapters into books. We often give a college-level request to a horse who is only in the first grade.  That isn’t fair; that breaks trust. Build up the horse’s understanding, and you will build up trust.

Consider the horse first. Be critically aware of the horse’s needs or the way the horse perceives the situation, and then work with the character of that horse to accomplish the task. This goes further to developing trust than you can realize.

Develop everything – new skills, bravery, even transitions should be developed.

Mean what you say; say what you mean or you break trust with the horse.

Follow through! 

Release to reward, and thus, to teach.

Timing – it’s almost everything. Work to perfect your powers of observation so that you have better timing. Don’t ask the horse for too much too soon. Ask something the right way with the right timing for that particular horse. 

Without your consistency, the horse looks to himself for leadership and makes his own decisions – he doesn’t trust you as a leader. Problems grow until you feel threatened or you don’t trust your horse. Misunderstandings between you and your horse can develop and must be cleared up; achieving this can be done without breaking trust.

Learn to be quiet and simply become acutely aware of what is going on, of what your horse needs, and of how you feel. In this way, you can improve your timing and feel of the situation and properly aid or teach your horse to achieve the task. Trust your intuition; clear your mind and increase your focus.

When you feel that your horse isn’t trustworthy, question yourself first. Remember that understanding develops trust and trust furthers understanding. Partnerships are built on this solid foundation of trust.

©2006 by CentaurGenics®. All rights reserved.