Many years ago, a friend asked me to start a pony that was to eventually be ridden by her five-year-old daughter. The pony was a very sweet and smart six-year-old, eleven-hand gelding – as cute a pony as you could ever wish to own.
Anytime we feel a brace or resistance in our horse we are learning the limit of our relationship. A big part of training is to eliminate any and all ‘no-go’ areas of working together. A lack of softness to an idea is a horse telling you the limits of your relationship have been reached.
We all know when horses meet for the first time they decide within moments to be friends or not. They go through the “introduction ritual” then they’ll either gallop off together or, one will chase the other away. I’ve seen it a thousand times.
So it is with horses. We don’t know how horses go about picking their friends or their foes. Sometimes the meanest horses form the strongest bonds in a herd. Sometimes horses that make the most unlikely bedfellows become inseparable. It too is a mystery.
