Horse and human bonds

Dark Storm

Dark Storm

Well I'll be a Krampus's Auntie! :D!
Jan 4, 2009
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Hadfield
How close are you to your equine?
I've discovered over the last few days (been down 3 days in a row), Shadow is becoming more cheerful, even whinnied at me today, for what seems like ages, his sense of humor is resurfacing..
Does anyone have experiences they'd like to share that shows just how much their horse prefers them to everyone else,or the effects of not seeing enough of their horses, to the point where it appears to effect their horse's behaviour around others..
 
I have a particular bond with Harvey although it did take a awful long time to feel any bond with him!

I sometimes have to go away and leave him with others at short notice for example the last two weeks when my son was in hospital.

Normally he is fairly easy and placid but it has always been mentioned he is unsettled when i am not there. He becomes very 'pacey' in the field even if being seen to in the same way i would by other people. He also loses weight and can become strong/highly strung to handle. These resolve when i return

ellie nickered to me this time when i came back but to be frank she only cares about the hand that feeds her lol.
 
Tilley neighs back everytime I say morning, so that is twice a day. This has only happened since she has been unwell. I haven't taught her to neigh in response but she knows I have encouraged it.

She will leave the herd to come in although only on restricted turnout time wise.

If she is in the school and rolls she calls to say she has done so and waits by the gate. That started because she was only allowed in the school to roll. All I need her to do now is roll and wee and I have it sorted!:giggle: Jack used to neigh when did a poop, he was unwell and I had to check and count them. By calling it got a response in case in pain.

I feel the cob is training me not the other way round. There is no room for error.
 
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I definately have a fabulous bond with Sioned.

She calls when I arrive and when I actually get out of the car she usually has her head over the gate and gently 'talks' too me:smile:

If she is eating hay in the field and I walk round the corner she always whickers to me then as well.

Bert often 'shouts' at me lol, but usually linked to food and Heathcliffe just
gently siddles up in his own sweet time:wink:
 
Candyman wickers to me when I arrive at the stable yard. If he is in the field he will come galloping even when playing with his friends and if I go out to get another horse in he gets extremely jealous and will circle me and charge at any other horse that comes near me. He will also circle me and try to stop me going near the gate if the weather is bad. It's as if he is trying to say mum it's dangerous out there. Please stay here where it's safe:biggrin: He will also stand and watch me walk away from the gate before he will go off to his herd mates when I turn him out.
I had to have a few weeks away from him a couple of years ago after pulling a ligament in my foot leaving me unable to walk. He sulked big time with me for the first hour but after that he was all over me.
 
I've had Puz for 10yrs and we're just generally pretty good mates, she's not a physically cuddly kinda gal but likes company. Not everyone gets that she doesn't like cuddles and tends to headbutt alot, but that's just her character, she always comes over to say hello in the field and is just happy hanging out...... oh yeah and she's a :poop: if anyone else wants to ride her :giggle:

Inca is the kind of pony where her eyes give away everything that is going on in her busy little mind. I think we've got a good bond but it's still developing, I've had her since she was born (Puzzle is her dam) and she was very sick up until 6 months old, which involved her trusting me to do some very painful tending to wounds and sleeping in her stable on more than one occasion. Although this does now mean that she is a little over familiar with me and we're going through the process of clarifying some re-drawn boundaries, so I'm sure that she hates me on some days.....but whenever she gets scared she runs behind me and I know that she trusts me enough that if I say something is ok, she believes me. I've gone back to doing some more groundwork over the last few days and she has voiced her appreciation but being a more like a soppy dog than a pony, she does love her cuddles.

Bella, we've only had 6 months or so but she's a happy soul who loves her cuddles, she always come to call (with the exception of her discovery of Spring grass!) and is just happy to be in the company of her humans.

If I go away for a few days Puzzle will pretty much ignore me for two or three days when I get back, Inca can be a little stressy and I haven't left Bella yet but I'm not sure she'll be too bothered :giggle:
 
As my boy is called Chanter he name really suits him. When he see me he starts talking until I stoke his head.

but one of my favorite things is when I go to get him in his field mate can be a pain so I just open the inner fencing and let them in to the small area then I open the gate and let him leave the field. He will stand there and wait for me to get his field mate back in the main field and collect his head collar from the bin before I pop it on him collect the barrow and off we walk chatting together.

When I deployed this year for 4 months I felt like something was missing inside, My OH said he went through periods of sulking through to be damn right dangerous to lead in opps, he never does that with me.
 
I part loan but I feel I have a good bond with poppet.
When I pop down in the morning she always whinnys and same on the night. When she was in the field 24/7 for summer I would.. sorry my mum would drive me down with a haynet and her tea and after a while poppet knew the car engine and would canter up to the fence whinny and prick her ears up.
When she saw me yesterday I came to get her in from the field, she looked up , pricked her ears up whinned then put her head down and started eating more grass lol. Then decided she was going to canter around the field 3 times before standing still and letting me get her :happy:

She is quite affectionate(sp?) now, before she didn't used to like me hugging her. But since I have had some problems at home she must sense something as she will let me hug her. And alot of people at the yard say we really suit each other :D
 
I have a special bond with Minnie but I think it will be good for her to go off to the trainers so that she can learn to accept other handlers.
I have three horses total and with Bixby and DJ being so close to each other, Minnie seemed to use me a bit as a substitute buddy. It's like she craved to have a pair bodn as has it with me.
What makes me super happy is that she always comes to greet me at the gate, even when I am carrying her saddle or other things that mean 'work' for her. She follows me and walks when I walk, stops when I stop. She goes to her spot in the cross ties when I put up the other horses because that means it's our alone time and we will start doing something together.
She gives the trainer and my OH a hard time about being caught and haltered but happily accept the halter or anything else from me and most of the time doesn't even need a halter.
I think it's just due to me being her main caretaker from such a young age. I am hoping she will be able to form a trusting, positive relationship with her trainer.
Because while our bond does make me feel special, you just never know. If I drop dead tomorrow, she needs to be able to be caught and haltered by other people too. Stuff like that.
 
Yes I am very close to Storm, it wasn't always so, she took a long while to let me into her life properly. End of the day why should she trust me? Took a long time to earn that trust and long time for her to accept me as leader. She used to turn her bum to me in the stable, I was silly and heartbroken, I had wanted a pony all of my life and aged 35 couldn't believe it was like this - I mean, all ponies are cuddly right?! Well, fast forward 7 years and she is cuddly, we have our little routine of an evening. I go and just spend time in her box standing next to her and rubbing and scratching where she likes whilst she chomps her haynet - and allows me to snuffle her mane (yum) and listens patiently to my tales - but she always lets me know when she's had enough!lol after about half an hour she sorta looks at me like "ok mum you can go now" and carries on eating! She is a joy to be aroundin her box though - so polite and will never ever step into your space. I know her like the back of my hand and can honestly say we are like an old married couple together in our ways, she steps out the way whilst I do her water bucket etc etc and it is so unplanned, yet regular (hope that makes sense). She is gentle too and will never ever apply too much pressure grooming or taking something that you offer her byhand.
 
Ziggy has taken some time to come round, because like Storm he had had some rough experiences. He's not very vocal except when it's feeding time, but I know he likes me because when I turn him out after a ride he'll often stand behind me with his head over my shoulder and his face next to mine, breathing with me. I feel we have a strong bond.
 
I have a very strong bond with Rio, she's quite a demonstrative horse and we've been together a long time now and been through a few things together. She definitely looks to me and there are a few things that she'll do for me, or allow me to do, that she might not for anyone else. I feel very lucky.

Tess is more self sufficient but we still have a great relationship, she's a lot more cuddly than Rio too when she's in the mood and loves a scratch and a fuss.
 
No strong bonds here, just a loud acknowledgment of where the food comes from. :tongue: And I know she likes me more than my OH cos she doesn't try to bite my face off when I go in her stable. :wink:

She is slowly learning to trust me as a rider and on the ground, and I'm slowly learning to trust her - so hopefully we'll develop a stronger bond as time goes on.
 
Toby is a total donkey with me. Hand him over to my mum and he's a badly behaved, bargy nutter! We understand each other completely, i can predict his every move and we once spent a whole afternoon waiting on the farrier, me sat on a stool and him resting his chin on my shoulder. Took a very long time for me to trust him but 16 years down the line and he is my world. I hate to think of my life without him.
 
Tia and I have a strong bond, she whinnies to me when I come up to the field, and even knows the top of my head (I come up a slope to get her!). If she's in her stable when I arrive at the yard, she'll nicker to me as soon as she sees me, and my god, I get the evil eyes if I dare to stroke or give another horse a treat! She'll also constantly watch me as I move around the yard too and will also not let any other horses get near me in the field :happy:

Having said that, she can be a right mare, and as grumpy as anything when she's coming into season! But I still love her dearly. Sometimes she just knows when I need a Tia cuddle and has stood for hours whilst I've cried into her mane!! She's probably thinking, 'Get a grip, mother!'
 
Well reading through these replies would have really made me ache a couple of years ago but now I'm happy with what I've got!
My horse doesnt whinny at me (he does at his fieldmate if he goes out and only once did this to me a week ago for the first time - but only because his fieldmate was away!)
My horse doesn't come to call - unless he's in a routine for food, infact he's more likely to walk away if he sees me off load tack from my car.
He's not affectionate as such, but I see that I've conditioned him to allow me to chuck my arms around him and cuddle, to stroke him on his forehead and not have him turn away.
I do notice that if I'm standing speaking to folk in the field, he will gravitate towards me and away from them which is my subtle sign that he knows I'm his human, and when we've gone on our summer holidays and he's been without another horse, he follows me around like an oversized dog.
I think I chose well - it might be I've made him this way, it might be that I was attracted to a horse that was like this, but he's like me. Not very tactile, pretty introverted, undemonstrative and eager not to let anyone know that he's bothered - incase you get hurt. It's gonna take a few years. It I think he'll eventually learn that I'm not going anywhere.
 
Flipo's Mum said:
I think I chose well - it might be I've made him this way, it might be that I was attracted to a horse that was like this, but he's like me. Not very tactile, pretty introverted, undemonstrative and eager not to let anyone know that he's bothered - incase you get hurt. It's gonna take a few years. It I think he'll eventually learn that I'm not going anywhere.
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Great observation FM. A friend commented to me the other day that all "my creatures (as opposed to my OH's) were like me. How do we do it?
 
I've definitely got a strong bond with Sham.

I felt a tug when I first saw her even though she was thin, soaked to the skin and wearing her winter coat. Even though she was so nervous she ran to the back of the stable when I went in. Even though she ran away from me when I tried to put her bridle on.

I'm convinced Kels found her for me - I'd looked at some beautiful animals, but none of them gave me that tug I felt when I first saw Sham, and now we're very close. I never bother to put her headcollar on when I need to go to her in the field (an unusual thing, as normally she'll drop everything and come running over), I just walk up to her, speak to her and she'll follow me right to the gate, and she'll have her headcollar and lead rope on there.

I love that feeling, that she'll happily walk away from the herd to be with me. :inlove:

I certainly wasn't looking for a project when I bought her, and might have missed viewing her if I'd known how much work she needed, but this is what I've got and I'm loving every minute!
 
I instantly knew Scarlet was the one for me...took her a little longer to feel the same :giggle:

We have had an ok bond since moving yards (i think she appreciated the move lol) was happy just to know she preferred me to other humans but this winter we've grown closer, she whinnys to me when I arrive, she is more than happy to wonder over to me in the field and seems to actually enjoy doing stuff with me :smile:

OH has said many times I have the equine version of me...short, treat orientated, opinionated and moody! he did add very pretty and loveable :wub:
 
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