Do you find that as you get to know and trust a horse more, you tend to let the boundaries and the rules slide just a bit?
Here's an example: when I first started riding my current mount, he had no sense of personal space. When you were leading him he would be right at your elbow, every second he was always way too close. Right, I said, can't have that, it's not safe, and I fixed it and made him walk with me but at a decent distance. Two months pass, and then the other day we were walking along and he bumped my shoulder gently with his head, and it was like all of a sudden I realised just how close he was. It wasn't that I hadn't known where he was but that I'd noticed and not thought anything of it, because I trust him now.
And that's worrying because, trusted or not, he's still a solid 16.1hh horse (and I'm not quite 5'1) and if he gets a fright he will still trample all over me. It was disconcerting to realise just how lax I'd gotten about it without even noticing.
Another example happened today. He was being a bit of a jerk, not really openly naughty but grumpy and not minding his manners properly. We muddled on for a while and then I thought, 'you know what, I'd never put up with this crap from a school horse' and I got tougher with him and kicked him into gear a bit and voila! Horse works properly.
Anyone else find themselves doing this?
Here's an example: when I first started riding my current mount, he had no sense of personal space. When you were leading him he would be right at your elbow, every second he was always way too close. Right, I said, can't have that, it's not safe, and I fixed it and made him walk with me but at a decent distance. Two months pass, and then the other day we were walking along and he bumped my shoulder gently with his head, and it was like all of a sudden I realised just how close he was. It wasn't that I hadn't known where he was but that I'd noticed and not thought anything of it, because I trust him now.
And that's worrying because, trusted or not, he's still a solid 16.1hh horse (and I'm not quite 5'1) and if he gets a fright he will still trample all over me. It was disconcerting to realise just how lax I'd gotten about it without even noticing.
Another example happened today. He was being a bit of a jerk, not really openly naughty but grumpy and not minding his manners properly. We muddled on for a while and then I thought, 'you know what, I'd never put up with this crap from a school horse' and I got tougher with him and kicked him into gear a bit and voila! Horse works properly.
Anyone else find themselves doing this?
