Horses that do/don't seek human contact

[mystiandsunny]

Are they born, or made?

I've never had one that didn't beg to be fussed/played with/ridden etc, and just figured I was lucky. However I have a 'guest' for a few months at the moment who I'm looking after, and was assured he was a 'don't care' type. That sounded great - until less than a week after his arrival I find that he now follows me around the field like the others, nuzzles for attention etc. He's either copying them or reacting to the fact that I make sure I'm the obvious leader of the herd I guess. Sigh. I guess that's one more to take time to fuss/play with then as I'm a sucker for a miserable lost looking soul. I had hoped we could just give him the odd groom, pick out his feet and he'd be happy!

 

[Kokopelli]

I think they are made.
I had one that would never seek human contact as he was very badly abused in the past.
He would go to a corner and just turn off from the world. He didn't act out to humans but he just ignored us. He never did anything wrong, he would be caught and he wasn't headshy.

It was very sad, he was almost like a robot he just was so scared of people he turned off. It took me 3 years to get him to really trust me.

Koko loved human contact and he was babied from a young age.

 

[Lolo]

I'm not sure- I think some horses are entirely self-sufficient and don't generally need to be fussed and adored. This doesn't mean they won't be fussed over, but that without it they are just as okay.

We have two dogs- one we bred, and the other who we've had from when he was a tiny puppy. Both have been treated exactly the same way- in a 2-dog family, same number of children to fuss over them (and about a similar level of maturity in the children) and a very similar day-to-day life. One is a real people dog- he adores cuddles and fusses and would spend his life being played with and cuddled. The other really isn't- she's very aloof, rarely asks for attention and though we always give lots to her she quite happily skulks off to the quiet of her own bed to sleep. Just 2 very different personalities, and I think that horses can be very similar.

 

[LaurenM]

I agree with the different personality opinion. My mare will do anything to be noticed whilst the gelding isn't so fussed. I've had the gelding over a year and he's given me about 3 head locks or in his world 'cuddles'. The mare Ive had for under 2 months and she will constantly call to me for attention. The gelding was always privately owned and the mare has been through a lot of dealers.