Horses Are Not Pets

There was clinic this week at the barn that I attended to. It was so wonderful to hear all the things that I have been trying to explain to others. There was a huge discussion on how many horses are spoiled (and its true). Many people try to treat horses like a dog, and horses will jump into your lap if the opportunity arises. I even didn't realize how much I was spoiling my mare. This all goes back to the subject of habits, focusing on one main point and ignoring the rest. Horses, you cant do that with, one needs to be there in the time present. My horse became rude when I started to pet her alot in her stall so she thought that it was OK to nip and nudge at me for more, so I thought how how sweet. I feel like banging a pan over my head!!! After I realized this I didn't do it as much with her and she became made at me, starting to shove me around, it became dangerous. It took me weeks to get her respect back for me to be in her stall. Any way horses don't pet each other in herds, and here we humans are like awe lets cuddle and let me pet you. Have you ever seen horses do that out in the field? Hope not. when horses give comport, they go up to the shoulder of the other horse and just gently touch the shoulder and leave, they don't stay there and keep going. Its annoying to horses if one stays and does that, I mean try if for yourself with another person. Just go up to him/her pretending that the\y are a horse and start scratching all over and cuddling with him like one would do with a horse. This is what horses feel and its invading their space. Leave them alone, they wont die. This then leads into other issues of if they are asking you to rub them all over and how much is too much. What I like to do is if they ask nicely, then I will rub scratch him like five times more than I should. Like I said earlier, horses just tap their nose on the other horse, so I might rub him five times then quit. If you go till your tired, your horse is going to get quite bossy, as this is what happened to my horse. This doesn't just apply to just petting the horse, it has to do with every thing with feeding being the most dangerous if your horse is spoiled. If your horse is rude while in your presents, its most likely that you've spoiled him in some way and should be fixed as soon as possible.