How to Introduce Objects to Horses

As a lot of you may know, horses can be spooked from unfamiliar items that they may not be used to or have seen before. Horses are naturally fight or flight animals and have prey instincts, this makes them very wary of new objects. Items that I have played around with to help my horses get over their fears have included tarps, umbrellas, and large bouncy balls. This post from the blog Learning Horses explains the steps thoroughly in getting your horse used to objects in a safe way for both you and the horse. I love how she describes that this is not breaking the horse to the point where it is so deathly afraid its spirit is broken, it is merely slowly introducing objects and showing the horse there is nothing to fear. The horse's head is the most sensitive part of their body and they tend shy away from things close to it, especially if they fear it will hurt them. She stresses patience and to approach the horse and then retreat with the object. I completely agree with introducing foreign objects slowly. I have used it countless times with my own horses. It really works and I love reading about another person's experiences. I hope that all of you can try it out with your horses and have a much better relationship with them that is more than just fear and force, but instead is trusting and a partnership. I highly encourage you to check out this post by this amazing blogger. Here is the link: http://learninghorses.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-approach-and-retreat-little.html