In our following story we show you games you can play with a real horse. Horses are naturally very playful. If they can pursue this play instinct, they are more mentally in balance, more motivated and more willing to perform. Horse play lessons are not only a nice change for horse and rider in summer, but also a good idea in winter when it is too cold to ride. HWe explain here how horse owners can integrate games into the everyday life of their four-legged friends.

The young horses can often be seen playing among each other. Young stallions in particular train climbing, coordination, their stamina and muscles. Looking at the Ascot live stream, one can see horses that are in exceptional physical and mental shape. Mares love running games together and social grooming, which is where things get tougher with young stallions and geldings: they bite each other's legs, climb, race to make a sliding stop at the end of the paddock. Afterwards you look into exhausted, but completely satisfied, horse faces. How can you incorporate this joy of play into training?

Games are fun for people and horses

In order for everyone involved to have fun with the game, it is important that we approach the mindset that we only offer a game where there is no “right” or “wrong”. We humans often have solid ideas about how a game should play out. However, the horse may have completely different preferences. If we intervene in the game too often, all playful elements are lost.
No day is like the other and even very playful horses don't feel like it. That must be fine. In addition, a certain degree of relaxation and mutual trust is required. Friedrich Schiller used to say: "People only play where they are in the full meaning of the word human, and they are only fully human where they play." Therefore we have to create a space for us and our horse, both of them feel protected. If one of the two partners feels insecure, it is not possible to play.

The rules

Every game needs rules. This is an indispensable safety factor, especially when playing with such large animals. Therefore, before we start to play with our horse, the order of precedence between human and horse must be clarified to such an extent that the horse respects our limits and we can protect our individual distance. It also happens that the ranking in the game is tilted. When this happens, the game ends immediately. Signals for this can be that the horse drives the person with big ears in front of it, pinches, bites or behaves disrespectfully in other ways.

A simple game is ideal as recognition after riding or for horses that are lame and have to stand in the box due to illness: Dipping an apple. This requires a feed bucket with water and a whole apple or two. Carrots don't do that well because they don't swim on the surface of the water. The location should be a place where a few liters of water can be spilled.

Show your horse the bucket of water and the apple. Before it bites off the apple, let it slide into the water. The idea behind this is that the horse dips the apple. To avoid frustration, only fill the bucket halfway with water the first few times. There are also horses who don't like diving. Such a horse might knock the bucket over and get the apple in this way. This is also an approach and must not be punished.

In feeding games, it is always important to ensure that the horse does not start playing until the person has given his okay with a gesture. It is a matter of respect and hierarchy. In a herd, the lead animal determines who eats and drinks where. As a result, whoever controls the feed is the leader.