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

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After bringing a new horse home, he would usually keep him separate from the others on his place for a few weeks—and sometimes even months—not really doing much with him except feeding, watering, and cleaning his pen. I would come to understand later that this was a sort of decompression time for the horse, especially a horse that was coming out of a neglectful or perhaps abusive home. It was a way to give the horse an opportunity to sort of recalibrate a bit to his new surroundings without having to worry about adjusting to a new herd, fighting for food, or having to protect himself. It also gave the horse an opportunity to settle into what would ultimately be a new way of being around people.

Once the horse settled into his surroundings, my old friend would then begin working with him, paying close attention to what he felt was most important to that particular animal. For some horses, it might be something as simple as teaching him how to be caught or how to lead properly. For others, it might be more advanced, such as redirecting unwanted or dangerous behavior, or working on some aspect of riding that the horse didn’t seem to understand completely.