Dealing with a Herd Bound or Mentally Distracted Horse (also helps spooky horses!)

We often see horses that are mentally stuck to other horses, only feeling safe and at ease if they are with their buddies. This can become a very challenging situation for people, especially if we don’t recognize that such a horse is showing us that we need to help him learn how to center himself and calm his mind. When we can do this, the horse soon comes to feel that he is as safe or even safer with us than he is with his friends, and herd-bound issues disappear. The same principles apply to a horse that tends to spook easily, as that is often a result of the horse feeling the need to be hyper-aware of the environment because they don't feel safe.

In this video, I work with a young mare in the Yukon who was troubled being by herself. At first, her mind was not with me at all, as she was entirely focused on her friends outside the round pen. I will talk you through how I handle this kind of horse and build the base to center the horse’s mind, using with a simple approach that creates connections and brings calm to the horse quite quickly.

If you would like to learn more about my Relational Horsemanship approach, come on over to JoshNichol.com and look around.

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