Why Play with our Horses?

Bronzz picks up my dressage whip

We play with our dogs, don’t we? It’s fun. It strengthens our relationships, and makes them enthusiastic about being with us. It’s also useful as training and rewards. Even service dogs, whose jobs are critical, are trained with lots of play and positive reinforcement. We could be enjoying similar benefits with our horses, but few people do. One reason is that rowdy, free-form play like we do with dogs is downright dangerous with horses. Excited dogs are a minor danger compared to overly excited horses who might rear or kick, with no malice intended because it’s what they do with pasture mates. The solution is to teach specific games and the rules that go with them so we maintain safe boundaries. We can choose games that reinforce essential skills, like standing still. Horses are not necessarily enthusiastic when first learning the rules. The activity becomes a game later when they discover that they can take initiative and make good things happen. The payoff can be praise, scratching, treats, or just the pleasure of interacting with their people. These positive interactions encourage horses to focus on us and associate us with good things (other than food). Here are a few of my horses’ favorites. All can be done on lead. The only pre-requisite is safe leadline manners, especially respect for our personal space.
Stand on a board
Horse plants front feet on a board and stays till asked to move. This proved to be extremely useful when the veterinarian needed a foot to be still in a specific place for x-rays.
Teaching it: Starting with a large board, I lead horse toward it, and demonstrate by stepping on it myself. Horse is allowed to inspect and paw at the board, but not required to step on it. No pushing, pulling, coaxing, bribing, or tapping. The horse must step on it by choice; the only “enticement” is to model stepping on it myself. After they understand the game, I switch to a smaller board for precision. Advanced version: Send horse to board from increasingly greater distances. This is how they got Clydesdales to line up for those great commercials.

Brandy Dribbles the Ball

Dribble a ball
Horse pushes a ball using either nose or feet. This is great for confidence building as the horse discovers that he controls the motion of that strange object that previously seemed to roll itself around at random. Brandy likes dribbling the ball with my grandchildren. In the photo she has just pushed it, so it is Colin's turn to push it next.
Teaching it: I push the ball ahead of me, leading the horse on a loose lead so he is not forced to get close to the ball. (If horse is uncomfortable with that, have a second person go far ahead with the ball as you lead the horse, letting him show you when he’s ready to get closer.) When he gets curious enough to nudge it with feet or nose, I reward him, then reward increasingly more enthusiastic bumps.
Pick things up
Bronzz started this game by lifting messy things, like the cats’ water bowl or one wheelbarrow handle. I re-directed it by encouraging him to pick up approved items like cones, his feed dish, my gloves, or his own leadline.
Teaching it: If a horse doesn’t pick things up spontaneously, this can be taught by “shaping” the behavior (rewarding successively better tries) with clicker training. Advanced version: Horse plays fetch. Sapphire used to fetch a small rubber feed tub and bring it to a waiting person, who exchanged it for a peppermint candy.
Spin
Horse turns a full circle while handler stands still.
Teaching it: I put Brandy’s (long) leadrope around her butt to encourage and guide her turn with a hint of pressure. When she had the idea, I put the rope only over her back. Before putting any pressure on the rope, I twirled my finger in the air as a cue. Next I just laid the rope on her back and twirled my finger. Finally, I phased out the rope altogether. Brandy and I demonstrate in this short video. Play Video Horses clearly have favorite games, and activities they don’t like. Bronzz does not like pushing balls. Brandy isn’t interested in picking things up. Success comes from capitalizing on something the horse already likes to do. New games often generate so much enthusiasm that horses volunteer them even when we want to be doing something else. The spin is Brandy’s current favorite. I usually wait for her to get done and enjoy the praise. But if I don’t want to play at the moment, I firmly cue her for what I want instead. Domestic horses have precious little control over their own lives. Humans determine ownership, training, jobs, feeding, housing, turnout, companions, breeding, weaning, and so on. Games give them the power, in a safely structured way, to initiate activities they enjoy and are confident will get positive reactions from people.