Make sure all of your movements are slow, planned out, and deliberate. Allow them to smell whatever it is you have in your hands – be it a saddle, bridle, or blanket. Approach the horse slowly, making sure he/she knows well your location. Remember, horses are animals that respond well to routine and changing owners is a big disruption to that routine. While the horse has almost certainly been through this same routine hundreds of times, he still may be frightened about something or other having to do with his recent change of not only location, but entire lifestyle. When saddling, bridling, and riding your new horse for the first time, take it slow is the primary rule. It may take the horse a few days, weeks, or months to settle in to his new environment, new people, and new life. When a horse is sold, it is like your first day of school, without ever getting to go back home to your parents. Going to horse shows, trail rides, and moving to a new barn presents the horse with a new situation to deal with, but he is with the same people he knows from his regular environment. You can draw parallel lines between these situations and the ones we put our horses through. And, lucky for you, after the first dreadful day of school, you get to go back home to the same people you know, love, and trust. School is the first real test you have at being on your own. You’d been many places away from home already – to the park, the store, your relatives’ – but each time you were with people you knew, loved, and trusted. Remember your first day of school? Some kids were lucky enough to feel right at home, but others were quite devastated. The first and cardinal rule with horses to remember is that they are, of course, horses! What this means is that they have a personality, a functioning brain, and a body system that is similar in many ways to ours.
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