COMMUNICATION OVER CONTACT

      As I have recently begun petting the wild mustang mare that is currently boarding with me, it has made me reflect on my goals when touching a horse for the first time.  I have spoken to many people who work with mustangs that seem to have the view that touching the horse is the end goal and until the horse is desensitized to being touched all over, they do not move on to any other steps of training. From my point of view, touching a wild one is a byproduct of establishing communication through pressure and release, and a horse growing to enjoy being handled by humans stems from a clear understanding of the person's intentions. With this mindset, having a dialog with the horse is far more important than "desensitizing" them to touch.  
     Imagine for a moment that a stranger is trying to get a bug off of you.  If they walk up and immediately begin chasing the bug all over your body, you are likely to flinch, dodge, or otherwise get away. Some people might even get violent in their response. On the other hand, if the stranger clearly communicates their intentions, you will become a willing participant in the bug removal process.  The analogy applies to horses, if we can make them understand what we want, they become much more willing to comply.
       How does one communicate before making contact?  Like all good communication, it starts with listening. I try to look for signs of the horse "giving me permission" to get closer or reach my hand towards them and respect signs that I am making them too uncomfortable. I offer as many chances as I can for the horse to sniff and touch me first. I spend a lot of time with my hand hovering in the air near a wild horse. If they make any positive move in my direction, which can be as subtle as  relaxing their muscles with my hand near them, I reward it with a release of the pressure my hovering hand is creating, either by dropping my hand, or completely walking away depending on  the horse's needs in the moment. With this type of pressure and release, most horses begin following your hand and reaching out in curiosity. When they reach the point you can tell they don't want you to take your hand away any more, that is usually when they want to take a good long sniff and you need to hold still until their curiosity has been satisfied.  I do not recommend touching a horse before they make the leap of faith and touch you first.
     When I finally do touch a wild horse, the touch needs to feel confident but gentle and be over with quickly; followed by a complete release of all pressure. Leave them with the thought "Was that it? That was all you wanted?"  Each touch should ever so gradually build on the last one, lingering a little longer wandering over more and more of the horse. Once I can hold my hand on a horse for even a few seconds without upsetting them, I begin teaching them to yield to physical touch. Using fly-weight pressure, I use pressure and release to ask them to bend towards me, and also push into my touch.  I intersperse touches where I am asking for a response, with touches that are meant to be just pleasurable for the horse. 
       By creating tiny objectives the horse can understand and accomplish, the horse will grow in its confidence in being touched quicker than touch desensitization alone will, because consistent, well timed releases of pressure, allows the horse to feel like they can "control" your actions with their responses. A feeling of being in control is empowering, which will boost anyone's confidence.  Part of empowering the horse is respecting when they are asking you to quit. If you can respect the horse's slightest suggestion of saying "no" they will not be forced to resort to telling you "no" with violence.
      If you should misread the mustang's comfort level and accidentally cause a flight or fight response; it would be a rare horse that would hold it against you for long.  Going back to trying to improve your timing and feel for the horse, will lead it to forgive fairly quickly.  
        Like all things with horses, timing and feel are an art form that take tons of practice to perfect. Giving and accepting respect is the foundation of communication that should be part of every interaction you have with a horse, even before you touch a finger to them.

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