Playing with your horse - how?!

[rowan666]

Ide say my mare does as she chooses to follow me around like a dog and copying after being sent away/free lunged although TBH i cant see how they feel this is a "fun game" more a dominence/submission exercise but it is great for bonding and reinforces respect without being harsh? IMO.

 

[canteron]

Teaching horses to play is good, especially with unconfident horses, what you can do is encourage them to 'solve' problems rather than just react.

I used clicker to teach my horse to play football - fun! The dreaded 7 games in Parelli actually have a few good ideas you could steal (don't do it all, just check out on youtube and use the bits you want) it really isn't all bad.

And massaging your horse is quite cool, you can find their tickly spots and learn how to reward them without treats.

 

[pansymouse]

Playing is just the twee Parelli term for ground work and involved thing like the "circling game" i.e. lunging. My friend is Parelli and plays with her horse, I mentally roll my eyes every time she uses the term.

 

[Sleipnir]

I play with my horse, and I don't mean the Parelli way. Groundwork is groundwork, fancy names won't turn it into a game, if all you do is just stress a horse out. It may become a game for a horse if the right attitude and lightness is offered, but it calls for a serious work with yourself to achieve that.

But, as for playing with my horse, I often just enter the pastures, approach the herd, follow them and wait. My boy is then likely to come forwards to greet me. If he is in an active mood, he will then follow me over and around different obstacles (puddles, logs, ditches, etc.), we'll play tag, tug of war with a lead rope, he likes grabbing my whip and swinging it around or running away with it, sometimes he'll offer something he's been taught - the Spanish walk, as an example, and sometimes other horses will get interested as well and join in to follow us. If he's more in a mood to graze or to nap, I'll just hang around, follow him, offer some scratching or a massage, which he thoroughly enjoys and may fall asleep while being massaged. If I'd try to make him do any of this, he'd just trot away, so I've learned to offer only.

 

[fburton]

But, as for playing with my horse, I often just enter the pastures, approach the herd, follow them and wait. My boy is then likely to come forwards to greet me. If he is in an active mood, he will then follow me over and around different obstacles (puddles, logs, ditches, etc.), we'll play tag, tug of war with a lead rope, he likes grabbing my whip and swinging it around or running away with it, sometimes he'll offer something he's been taught - the Spanish walk, as an example, and sometimes other horses will get interested as well and join in to follow us. If he's more in a mood to graze or to nap, I'll just hang around, follow him, offer some scratching or a massage, which he thoroughly enjoys and may fall asleep while being massaged. If I'd try to make him do any of this, he'd just trot away, so I've learned to offer only.

What a lovely attitude!

 

[JillA]

I chase my pony around and he runs after me and then we play hide and seek (he is 2 and half so still a baby) he usually just runs around chasing me and pouncing haha!

Please don't do this. I know a horse who had to be PTS recently after having "played" such "foal games". The trouble is you might see it as a game, he probably sees it as a dominance thing, and the one I know never ever learned to accept leadership from humans once he had grown into a mature horse. Lead mares don't play, only subordinate or equal playmates play, and you should never ever see yourself as that, you need to be his leader for the rest of his life so he can rely on you.

 

[Jimmy260910]

Genuinely curious... How can you tell?

ETA: For example, does he/she initiate it?

I'll loose school for a few minutes and then when the whip is put down he'll turn in and walk towards me, he then follows me around & it isn't a forced thing he will willingly follow me and sometimes I'll walk over small jumps and he'll follow and if he doesn't want too he'll walk round and meet me on the other side.

To be honest I don't know if it's through obedience or enjoyment but he is happy when he does it and he is in no way forced I just see it as a fun thing that we both enjoy together, if I felt that he didn't enjoy it I wouldn't do it

 

[fburton]

Please don't do this. I know a horse who had to be PTS recently after having "played" such "foal games". The trouble is you might see it as a game, he probably sees it as a dominance thing, and the one I know never ever learned to accept leadership from humans once he had grown into a mature horse. Lead mares don't play, only subordinate or equal playmates play, and you should never ever see yourself as that, you need to be his leader for the rest of his life so he can rely on you.

While I agree with you that playing games with foals is particularly fraught with the risk of teaching inappropriate, dangerous behaviour that may be hard to reverse later, I beg to differ about the reason. Human leadership of horses is something the horse learns as he interacts with us. He learns to be compliant, that we are in control and that we can be trusted. He doesn't have to view us as another horse; indeed it's better that he doesn't. Imo, there is no reason to bring dominance into it. You can call control -- that we can make horses move as we wish -- dominance if you wish, but to my mind it is clearly different from dominance in a herd (and that is different again from leadership/followership amongst horses). I don't see myself as either subordinate or dominant in the equine social sense, and can still teach boundaries and good manners. I think the fact that none of the horses I played with (in the proper sense of play) became any more "challenging" or difficult to handle, any less mannerly or mindful of boundaries, shows that dominance (or lack of it) wasn't a significant factor. I contend it's all about learning.

I know the idea that dominance is important in the human-horse relationship is still popular (though growing less popular I think) - I just wanted to put an alternative view in case people reading this assumed it was established fact.