How To Have relations With A Horse?

In order to achieve some level of friendship or most likely partnership you must form a bond with that horse, and it's not just by grooming, feeding and exercise. You need to initiate this partnership by first joining up with the horse, which is essentially "chasing" or herding the horse around a round-pen--working on each side of him--until he has his head and ears turned to you. You turn your back and allow him to approach you--the "joining up" part--when his nose touches your shoulder or shoulder blade, then you follow through by rubbing his muzzle then rubbing him down all over on both sides. Once you've achieved the joining up process, then you can do pretty well anything with him, including training, riding and ground-work. Joining up just makes it that much easier to work with a horse, and helps form a bond of trust, respect and even frienship you can't get if you are subconciously fighting a horse for rights to dominance and respect.

The process of joining-up is a complex one and many horse "whisperers" or horse trainers have their own methods. The process described above is just a very, very brief summary of how Monty Roberts would join-up with a horse. Other famous horsemen and -women like Ray Hunt, Pat Perelli and Cherry Hill have their own unique join-up methods that you may wish to follow to create a strong bond with your horse.

In addition to joining-up, a natural horsemanship method gaining popularity called liberated training is also a unique and powerful way to form a strong bond with your horse that can't be achieved with a lunge-line and a halter. All that is needed is you, your horse, and the 100 percent trust, love, loyalty and respect that come in between you and your horse, and you will form a bond of friendship that will last, if not a lifetime, then forever.