Have you ever paid attention to horses in herds? When do you hear them vocalizing? Generally when calling for a friend. They call out when they are stressed. Stallions chatter when they are excited by a mare or irritated by a rival. Mares will call to their foals to bring them into line or nicker softly to settle them. Foals will call frantically if they are out of sight of their dam. But if you watch a herd of content horses, they are generally quiet vocally. They are saying what needs to be said through body language and touches.
Wisdom Wednesday
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Pondering’s! 😊 I rub mine and usually have a soft sincere tone of what a good boy! I also sing when I am on the trail, sometimes. I always thought they liked it but?? Good Wisdom Wednesday to ponder! They positively know words as good as my dogs did. Walk trot. Canter, back, over by verbal Queue and of course COOKIE AND CHAFFHAYE!!
The whole not patting thing has been hard for me but I’ve improved. It’s fun to try to figure this stuff out.
I recently read an article about what a horse enjoys as rewards. The thing I took away from it was that they benefit most from scratching where another horse would be scratching them. I tried it with one of my girls and it put her to sleep, just scratching along her withers. Singing softly also seems to help with tension on both our parts. Just my observation.