Читать книгу Finding the Missed Path. The Art of Restarting Horses онлайн

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The next thing that had to happen, and before we could actually start helping him overcome that fear, was we needed a way to introduce ourselves to him. Now I know that may sound funny, or maybe even a bit “new age.” But it’s not, really. When I say we need to find a way to introduce ourselves, I am talking about one of the most basic forms of introduction between horse and human: Allowing the horse to smell us.

The sense of smell is a very powerful tool for horses and one they constantly rely on to receive and decipher basic information. They use their nose for such things as identifying friend and foe, seeking a mate, recognizing territory, distinguishing edible plants from those that are toxic, and helping to seek out or sense danger. Horses unable to get a good whiff of something they feel threatened by only serves to make them feel even more threatened. And I believe that was a big part of what was troubling our gelding.

Laddy obviously felt threatened by the presence of anyone that came near him, in this case me, but because he was so fearful and moving around so much, he most certainly hadn’t been able to pick up my scent very well—something that further unsettled him. On top of that, he was too frightened to even try to get close enough to do so. It was a catch-22 situation.