How much do you trust your horse?

holeymoley

holeymoley

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Was hacking out yesterday with yo. It was chilly and there had been a bit if frost overnight but to the eye, the roads looked fine. We got down a hill and towards a little bridge where my boy stopped. I tried to kick him on but he snorted and moved sideways. I thought he was 'at it' so gave him a tap with the stick and he walked forward fine , but friend in tow when down on two back legs on ice! We promptly turned back and abandoned the ride but it just goes to show how smart they are! I genuinely trust my boy 100% but egged him on as it looked fine. I just remember the scene from black beauty where they whip him over the bridge in the storm and it collapses! :(

So how much do you trust your horse?
 
Very.

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Far as their 'warning' about stuff, if it's dodgy ground, then I let them decide and pick their way round it.
:)
 
Not as far as I could throw him! Stupid animal decided to have one of his "doing what I want cause I weigh much more than you" moments tonight on a yard thick with ice! He is trying to kill me :D
 
I've never trusted a horse in the way that I trust my current girl and I can tell she appreciates it because I don't think anyone has trusted her before. She is big and can be silly but she's really looking for reassurance.

The way she comes when I call her and follows me like a dog tells me that she trusts me too, which is nice. She is ridiculously easy to read though so that always makes things easier, I'm always told the two of us are very alike in the way that neither of us will hide our mood, good or bad :)
 
Far too much! I was thinking that the other day, as I had her hoof hooked over my shoulder to clip her armpit! One day I will get killed because I trust her so much, I wouldn't put myself in such a position with any other horse. Silly really. Two very experienced people I knew, both BHSIs, were killed by their horses, and another had her jaw broken in ten places. We really shouldn't be so blazé...
 
Neddy proved himself today! He slipped on some ice neither of us had seen and I pretty much dropped my reins and let him sort it out. He figured that tiny baby steps worked best and he was right! He could have panicked and tried to run, but he didn't ^^

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Well I trust my horse completely never to hurt me on purpose. I'm not putting my trust in his decision making over safe/dangerous situations though. If I did that we'd never go anywhere that involved passing large stones, fallen logs, cross country jumps.... I wouldn't count on him noticing ice underfoot until long after we were on our backsides either tbh, but I trust his heart's always in the right place. :D
 
I was only thinking this tonight.

I trust my mare Asha 100%, shes amazing.

Tonight was a prime example, was chucking the haylage out in the field, and the gang all come cantering up full speed. Some started messing around, she looks up from her mound sees me in the middle of them and calmly walked over and moved them all out of the way so i could throw the haylage out without hassle.

She just gives me that 'look', total trust, awesome.
 
With my boy, we have to trust eachother or it doesn't work! If there's something he's scared of I have to give him confidence, like scary logs that are tight to get through but then the other night we went out hacking in the dark, went through the woods, shooting started somewhere, millions of crows started squawking & flapping & he looked after me big time! But put a nervous rider on him & he goes to pieces.
 
I trust him to look after me while riding, in school and open fields, he always looks after me. His ground manners - not so much. He doesn't intend to hurt but can barge, he's learning he can't barge me without consequences, not so much with my friend when she does him in the mornings.

I trust my friends mare a hell of a lot even though she is sharp she is honest.
 
I trusted benson 100%. With my life. I was a very very nervous rider, and he knew it, and he looked after my brilliantly. he would take it steady, put in a little stride if the stride before was gonna be too big, hacked past things others would be silly at, and I felt so safe on him, nearly all of the time.
 
Flame_ said:
Well I trust my horse completely never to hurt me on purpose. I'm not putting my trust in his decision making over safe/dangerous situations though. If I did that we'd never go anywhere that involved passing large stones, fallen logs, cross country jumps.... I wouldn't count on him noticing ice underfoot until long after we were on our backsides either tbh, but I trust his heart's always in the right place. :D
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This made me laugh :D So true.

I trust my horse that he is a horse and will react like a horse and sometimes that might put me in danger. Mostly he won't mean to hurt me but he might.

I've seen too many friends and acqaintances who have had serious life-threatening injuries received on the ground to think that trusting a horse too much is a good thing.
 
It depends on what we are doing. I trust that she will look after me when I'm riding. She slows down if I start slipping to one side doing no stirrups or bare back work, and if I bugger up jumping, she sorts us both out. She stopped and stuck her head up in the air after I landed on her neck once when she could have had me off.
On the ground she can be tricky though so always have to think ahead of her in terms of potential scary things. 'Come on you big bean' usually gets her through it though :D
In the arena if I let her free and walk away, she follows. And if she's had a play free schooling and is at the other end she will come to call and rests her head on me. :D

Saying that, I'm with badgermyers, no matter what trusting them 100% can be dangerous.
 
I trust my horse 98%, the 2% being the fact she is a horse and wieghs half a tonne so accidents can happen!
She is very good at looking after me, even though she can be spooky and a bit of a wimp at times! We help eachother when it is needed :)

Although I would not tust her on ice, I have the worlds first ice skating horse! She LOVES it, and actually skates with her legs when she gets on it! We found this out at my old yard, it had a really long concrete yard that used to freeze quite badly in the winter. Another livery was putting her and her field mate out one morning and she started skating!! :rolleyes:

Needless to say, every year I dread turning her out/bringing in as I have awful visions of her falling over! :o
 
I trusted my last horse implicitly - had him a few years and he always seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. He's just gone back to his owners for semi-retirement (he's nearly 18) so I suppose a lot had to do with the fact he's been everywhere, seen everything and was an older horse. He would pick his own way over rough ground, could be trusted on an icy road and just generally knew how to get us out of trouble.

I don't trust the new one anywhere near as much. Not because I think he'll do anything nasty or naughty because he won't - he's a little dude but he's only a baby so he's still learning and looks to me to guide him. Hacked out early this morning and one of the roads was a bit icy. The older horse would have known exactly where to walk but the baby didn't, and didn't work out that he needed to take small steps, slowly. I had to show him, and then he understood and was OK. But I trust him not to do anything naughty or nasty. I trust him 100% on the hunting field to look after us both and not doing anything silly. I trust him when jumping - he doesn't stop or run out. The only time he's ever "naughty" is when he has a baby moment.
 
I trust her almost completely with myself but not so completely with my boys. She looks aft me and even when shes got her funny head on she will listen. Yesterday i was practically on my knees underneath her belly and something concerned her so she started to move away from whatever it was that she heard and she brushed against me and stoppped instantly even though she was a bit distressed. Its like for a split second she forgot I was there but that brushing of flesh reminded her and she put herself second over me. I was then able to finish what I was doing under her. Its moments like that that just make me realise that our bond is stronger than I think.
 
The only thing that I trust any horse to do is to react like a horse! Its up to me to understand and observe enough to know what that reaction is likely to be, and how to deal with it. :)
 
Choccy, 100pc. Like some of you, we went out this morning and found the seemingly dry frosty ground was not, but was solid frozen icy ground. So I dismounted and led back via another less icy route and he happily mooched alongside me like a very large dog. wub wub.

He will pick his way through water, ditches, mud, and he knows when the ground is good enough for a trot or canter, or when it's too soft and best to stick to walk too.

Thomas, 25pc as he's young and unbroken and doesn't know much about the world yet.
 
My grey (now retired due to injury) I trusted completely when competing. He's a funny one, I stopped hacking him years ago as he was such a nutter so Id never trust him to hack, but to take me safely round a novice BE course or decent BSJA track? oh yeah no problem! He was a cross country machine, if in doubt I'd simply give him the rein and let him sort it out - he'd sort out the striding anywhere and always get us over in one piece. Once he confused himself at a funny looking table with brushes on the front and back, he wasnt sure if it was an upright or a spread, he realised it was a spread half way over it so simply put his legs down on it to bounce the brushes on top and off! Ive got the photos somewhere, he was such a dude. Will never again have such a superstar horse. Funny thing is that when I first got him, he almost killed me regularly in the first couple of years - he was very spooky and cold backed so he did bronc me off quite a few times... oh and bolted 3 times (once through a barbed wire fence) which made me give up the hacking!
 
Trust my mare with certain things, like XC, if she stops it is for a reason - for example. I can be pure passenger and she'll take me around safely. Trust her to go past lorries, tractors, hedge cutters when other horses won't, she'll lead. I can trust her to stand and be groomed by the kids, untied (she doesn't tie). BUT, if a vet is around, I won't trust a hair on her body! Nor with the farrier if she is in a moody mare mode!
Filly, not yet trustworthy, but she is young and trust happens over time. Some will say playful gets confused with kicky/bitey, hence non trust worthy, but hence being young and working on it!
 
Hmmmm. Good question.

My riding horse, I trust her to trust herself, so if I am riding I let her look after herself. It is a two way thing, she trusts me enough to give it a go, and if we get stuck - we did end up in a tree once, she'll just have a think about it and extricate herself, she may be a little diva of an arab but she's got a brain in her head.

My philosophy is that the majority of horses have no more desire than I do to end up in a heap on the floor, going up, down or through stuff, especially when I can't see the bottom of it I just give her her head and let her get on with it. She is actually, the best trail horse I have ever had, and the others were good. She'd be **** hot at this game :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmQeNy25iTI

If I did end up on the floor I have no illusions that she'd wait for me, she'd be half way home before I could catch my breath. :D She's not that fond of me. ;) I trust her not to bite or kick because she is a gentle soul, but not so much that I'd let her walk behind me, or stand in the way when she was galloping in the field, because she'd have no hesitation in going over the top of me - talking from experience here.
 
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