Isn't Trust Wonderful?

All the trust from one little hoof-picking session!

I've become an avid follower of Warwick Schiller lately. I really like listening to his videos and learning all sorts of amazing things. And so when he said something on a video I watched about trust, it really hit me and made me think. 

Warwick was talking about trust. He said that horses are naturally "flight" creatures. In a panicky situation, they're gonna run, 90% of the time. But, when a human is picking out a horse's hoof, that horse is literally unable to run or walk or move at all while their hoof is being held up in the air.

That's trust.

That's your horse, listening to you ask for their hoof (and they don't really know why because they don't really care about clean hooves) and readily picking that hoof up and giving it to their person. They're trusting you. They're trusting, 100%, that if something happens, you will protect them. You are watching out for them. 

So when your horse lets you pick up his or her hoof, they are essentially saying "I am not concerned about needing to run for safety because I am trusting that you will look out for me and protect me and that you have my best interests at heart." 

How amazing is that? How powerful and cool is it to have that much trust placed in you? 

On Saturday, I went to ride Pepper for the first time after watching this Warwick video and hearing about the trust and the hoof scenario. When I asked her to give me her hoof, she picked it right up and, having this new insight now, I marveled at the trust she was putting in me. 

But I also thought about what it means for me, on my end. If Pepper is putting her trust in me, what am I to do with that trust? I could take that trust and force her to do what I want. The owner of the barn said that sometimes people use that trust, that picking up of the hoof, to break a horse. To force them to bend to your will.

That's not me, that's not my relationship with Pepper, and that's not at all the type of connection and trust bonds that are forged at my barn. 

Pepper is putting her trust in me. That's a commitment and a bond that I am accepting from her and being respectful of. The trust she is giving me is something I need to respect and give back to her ten-fold. It's the start of a relationship, a connection. It may be something as simple as picking a hoof up to clean it out but if you really think about it, it's a sign of so much more.

I've earned Pepper's trust, at least in a basic sense. Now, it's time to deserve that trust.