The power of play.

  Many studies have appeared demonstrating the need for humans and animals to engage in play.  Most notably, dogs cannot mature and function healthily without the opportunity to engage in play behaviors.  Playing with your horse is a wonderful way to build a bond.  It also presents the owner with valuable time to observe the horses natural body language.  This carries over into training.  The better you understand your horse the better you can train it.  Today I didn't have a typical training session with Rio, we worked on some desensitization and also played together.  When I was introducing her to things I wanted to desensitize her to, she started playing with them.  I was able to turn the desensitization process into a game.  This made it more fun for her, also, after having an opportunity the handle the objects she wasn't so afraid of them.

This is how it started out.

I started desensitizing her to the sound of a plastic water bottle that I rolled between my hands.  At first she really hated the noise but calmed down quickly.  Then I let her sniff it and she started biting it and crinkling it.  She thought it was lots of fun and after playing with it some wasn't scared of it any more.

    A lot of horses probably wouldn't have started playing with the bottle.  Especially older horses.  But I think that if your horse does start playing with something it is wise to let them play with it unless it is something they will damage.

Then I took half of an old feed bag and she grabbed it from me

and tried to hide it.

Then we played a gentle game of tug-of-war.

And she was totally fine with me putting it on her back.

Then we did the same thing with a whole feed bag.

   Through moving up from something small and crinkly, to medium and crinkly, to large and crinkly I got her over her fear of crinkly things.  And by letting her play with them she did more than just get over her fear.  She learned that they could be fun and exiting.

  After this we went unto the indoor arena and I let her loose to play.  She had lots of fun running around and bucking and I ran around with her some.  I have gotten her to play the chase game where I chase her and she chases me.  It is a lot of fun.  When we play there is one main rule.  She may not come within 5 feet of me unless she is walking or standing still.  This keeps me safer, and makes a clear difference between her chasing me playfully and charging at me.