Ways to bond with your horse - any ideas?

[welshponylover]

I was thinking it would be nice, rather than lots of schooling or jumping, for me to loose school Brom over some jumps and stuff and just muck around with him in the school (by that i mean bonding btw!). I might do some bareback wandering and stuff but do any of you have any ideas on how i can bond with him from the ground or up on board?

Please reply i want to make it a special afternoon i love him so much xx

[M'n'M]

oooh I love bonding! You could hand graze him or take him for a walk on trails but don't ride him, just lead him. Its also a nice chance to check out his ground manners!

Getting him used to scary things (bonus is that he'll trust you more), hand grazing, leading on trails, reading a book while he grazes, any other wonderful ideas you can think of!

By the way, he looks EXACTLY like a horse I know named Maestro! He's a stunning boy

[Crackajack]

He looks lovely!

I found with my horse CJ that it was time that helped me bond...

Grooming - which turned into me scratching those itchy spots! - hand grazing, feeding and teaching tricks etc

Then the riding side of it was that i could hack him alone - it was just me and him then - we loved nothing better than to talk to each other and agree on a gallop

[jroz]

Bring a big ball into the ring and play soccer!

[Kenzo]

Water, water, water.

Horses naturally love water, be it for drinking (obviously), cooling off and playing in, it brings out their inquisitive side and is actually an important social and rest time for a horse.

Horses like to spend time around a watering hole in company, usually all go to drink at the same time at certain times of the day, you may notice this when you observe them in the field.

So you have a few options, if you have an area of water like a large water logged part of your field, large puddles (stick ya wellies on) a near by lake, pond (with save shallow footing that is) you could take him for an explore in that, so he can snort and paw about in that with you, or you could empty and clean his field trough, you should find he will come over an explore what you are doing, dipping his nose in, swishing the water about and no doubt try play with the jugs/buckets and interfere with what you are doing as well as having a drink just for the sake of it, if you gave gentle splash he will probably join in but its all bonding social time.

You can also offer him a little water in a bucket when you finish riding but stand and hold it up for him, you may find he will stick his head in and give it a good swish about, dipping his nose right under, they like the cool sensation around the lips proving its cool not freezing cold that is.

Get the hose pipe out, give him a gentle rinse after you have worked him, always work your way up, so start with the hooves, legs then girth area, chest, neck and he will really appreciate it on a mild day if he's sweaty or if you just do his legs on a daily basis, besides it cools the tendons too and provides moisture into the hooves if your fields have had a long dry spell, so good around.

Carrot stretches.

Gentle massage.

[welshponylover]

Thanks guys he is stunning i must say!! I also heard that you can do the join-up on the lunge so might try that any other ideas? xx