Horses are so perceptive. They can read your intentions. They know if you have come to them with a purpose or just come to hang out. “Undemanding time” is great for building a great relationship, but it definitely does not fool them when it comes down to any time with purpose you may have planned for them.
I love going into the horse pen and “hanging out,” but my pony’s know if I’ve come to hang and leave… or if I intend to leave with one of them in toe… I love playing “the catching game” and trying to get them to catch me!
Storm does this well! She loves to hang out with me, but she also thinks its under her intentions. And it WAS for the first 4 years of her life. Now it is under both of our terms. She can do as she wants as long as she does what I want too. More and more, day by day together we are getting that relationship to become more about respect and determining who’s the leader… and it won’t be her!
Rain on the other hand has always known she’s the one who needs to listen. Although that doesn’t go well with her horsenality, or always with my humanality… and everyday is a new experiment! Will today she want to be with me? Or is today the day she’ll hide behind the other horses pretending to not be seen. “Don’t catch me!” I play hide and seek and I always find her. But I love those days when she catches me!
Sun Doll is drawn to food. I love these horses! She is not scared of humans at all, but also has days when doing nothing would suit her just fine. I haven’t spent much time with her out of her pen, just a few sessions online. We are still learning to build our relationship and communication before the spring lessons start. I’m hoping by then, she will be catching me as well! “Come on, lets go play!” And off we’ll go…
So even if you go into the pen with intentions of purposely playing, make them good intentions. Let the horse be curious, and bring along your sense of fun! They will definitely understand the difference!