# Games to play with horses?



## riverfest (Dec 12, 2011)

What are some fun games to play with horses to get them to trust you more?


----------



## APHAforlife (Mar 2, 2011)

Really I can't think of any "games" per say, but what I try to do is spend time with them. Do the daily things that they need to trust you with and around...grooming, cleaning tack, mucking, etc. 

If you are looking for fun things to do, I like setting up obstacle courses and training/teaching them on foot. Use ground poles, rocks, tree stumps, tarps, traffic cones, hay bales, anything you can think of and set up courses according to difficulty level. 

Its challenging because some of the obstacles you really might need to work around, and repetition and consistency is the trick. Be patient, work slow, and have fun...your horse will learn to trust you and you guys can learn to w/t/c the courses you create depending on how comfortable you become. Change it up, make your first course in an arena/roundpen to make sure of a controlled environment, but move outside the pens and create a course on the trail, you can always progress to working the courses under saddle as well.


----------



## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Well you can always try clicker training. You can get a lot of trust building exercises using a clicker and it keeps your horse's mind engaged and you on your toes.

But to gain trust, it's about establishing that you are the herd leader because horses will follow the herd leader's intuition. And this is done with lots of ground work with an emphasis on leading


----------



## APHAforlife (Mar 2, 2011)

Something else I have seen that you might be interested in, is a program that Stacy Westfall uses that involves a large rubber ball that you can teach your horse to push, stop, and play with etc that is supposed to build trust as well as teach manners and some ground work basics. Here is a link, check it out! We sell them at the local farm/ranch store in town so I am sure you could find it somewhere near you as well:






Westfall Horsemanship


----------



## Marecare (Jan 1, 2009)

I kind of like to ride them and that can be a game of sorts.


----------



## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

Maybe try jousting?


----------



## Tsaraph (Nov 9, 2011)

APHAforlife, that is a neat video you posted. It's fun watching that horse have fun


----------

