Continuation of Session One

 

Since Cassie was trusting Sylvia to lead via join-up, Sylvia begins the task of desensitizing Cassie to human touch. Like any wild horse, Cassie had to be introduced to this slowly, one inch at a time. Using advance and retreat, she slowly gets there. If she bolts in fear at any point from hereon, it is easy to invite her back, because she now understands and responds well to the join-up invitation.

 

 

Starting on the neck is usually best for hand desensitizing. Mother horses lick their babies on the neck as a form of comfort, and horses remember this nurturing. Rub, don't pat horses! It is important not to push a horse over their fear threshold in this stage of desensitizing, in order to maintain trust. If a horse gets nervous as you advance your touching to new regions, just simply return to where they were most comfortable for a bit. This makes it easier to keep the horse supported before you again dance quickly past their threshold line and return just as fast to the comfort spot, before they have time to react. Slowly, via this route, the threshold lines move along and eventually evaporate altogether. Like most long neglected, fearful horses, Cassie is actually touch-deprived, so she quickly settles in nicely to being stroked, with her relaxed about it for the first time in her life. It feels good, and she's beginning to trust the human. Maybe humans aren't so bad after all! Sylvia is beginning to more deeply bond with Cassie now via finding her favorite spots to be rubbed, and Sylvia is filing them away mentally to return to later to nurture Cassie through any future fears that get flushed out as they go along. This bonding step is crucial for creating a more trusting horse.

Sylvia takes a walk, twirling the rope passively, no eye-to-eye contact, but encouraging Cassie to remain joined up and follow. This allows Cassie to get accustomed to the rope, but in a passive, non-demanding manner.