Initiating the Horse Human Relationship

Vertigo, my 4 year old horse, is a spicy ball of fire. Training him has been a process of transforming the ball of fire into gentle candle light. This is often the experience with initiating the horse-human relationship. You never know what is in store, but it teaches you things you never imagined.

The first equine whom I trained to ride was the donkey my father purchased to watch over the sheep (donkeys are fantastic watchmen). He was a hoot – dodging under tree limbs to get me off, ingenious! What really drew me to training him was his sense of curiosity about the activities I had in store. He was learning about me, bonding with me, and understanding our trust agreement. There is certainly a defining moment with untrained, wild animals, one in which they quietly observe you and let you into their world. This is the beauty of training horses.

I dislike the term “breaking” because it comes from an unkind era in the horse-human history. Training isn’t really it either, we are not educating them but merging worlds. If anything, they are educating us. Lately, I feel that the art of starting horses is losing focus in many equestrian aspects. There will always be those wonderful humans who do this, but these skills are beneficial for every rider to know. When you are the one who initiates the horse-human relationship, you are forever carried in that horse’s heart. You exemplify humans to a whole other species – showing them our capacity for kindness and trust, qualities they understand perfectly.

I encourage everyone who works with horses to learn how to start horses. Finding that moment in which you discover, this animal trusts me is marvelous. You will learn things about yourself you never before imagined and will be better for it.