Your horse needs to accept human touch anywhere on his body. This is for his health and safety, as well as yours. If you have a horse who has been well-treated from birth, and is pretty self-confident, you may not encounter any difficulties in taking his temperature, lifting his hooves, clipping his muzzle or ears. But don't wait until it's an emergency to discover that he won't stand for having his ears touched or won't allow you to clean and bandage a hind leg injury.

I once went to look at a horse for sale who was very sweet, but he nearly fell to the ground when I tried to pat him on the rump: I discovered that he could not be touched anywhere behind the saddle. He was not aggressive about it; he was simply terrified. At that time, I was not looking for another "project" horse, so I sadly passed on him.

Could this have been "fixed?" Maybe. Here are some ideas on how.

Touching on Safety

Always keep safety in mind: both yours and your horse's. Use an area that is free of clutter such as tools, wheelbarrows, or extra t-posts lying around, and is fenced completely, if possible. I recommend keeping the horse on a 12' lead rope for this work, but in case he breaks away from you, you don't want him to get very far.

Start where both of you are comfortable. If you don't already know, now is a good time to find out what sort of touch your horse enjoys: a firm, massaging touch on his neck, or a light stroke along his cheekbone? This is good to know for rewarding him when the occasion arises.

You and your horse are probably pretty comfortable with you around his neck and shoulder: we tend to do a lot of ground handling there. So start there, on the left or right side (just be sure to do both sides) stroking and working your way back. Don't be in a hurry; make sure you observe his reactions as you move toward his hindquarters.

He may follow you with an ear, even his nose, or he may be so comfortable that he doesn't seem to notice or pay any attention. I say "seem to" because, trust me, he is completely aware of where you are.

This is a good exercise for you to heighten your awareness of your horse's signals to you. The challenge is to pick up on the earliest signal possible that your horse has become uncomfortable with your touch somewhere on his body. Is it six inches behind the girth line on his belly? High up inside his right hind leg?

And what is his signal? Did he flick his tail up and down suddenly? Swivel his whole head around and put his ears back? Or was the first sign you noticed when he moved his feet to get the sensitive part away from you?

It's best if you can catch a signal before your horse actually steps away from your hand. When you see beginning to get uncomfortable, move back to into his comfort zone momentarily. When he relaxes, move again into the area where he began to object, and see if you can stay there for a second of two (literally) without causing him to move away. Again, observe carefully so you can retreat just before he moves.

Repeat this several times. You will be surprised at how quickly you gain inches. Be patient, but be firm. It's not alright for your horse to withhold any area of his or her body from you. Again, if only for his health, you need to have access wherever it's needed. The bigger picture is that if you allow him to set such limits, you are not being the leader of your herd of two. Your horse won't respect you, and potentially won't do the things you ask of him. Or, he'll only do only the things that he feels like doing - which may or may not be what you want him to do!

Note: Be very observant of the causes of your horse's reactions to your touch. Make sure that there isn't a physical cause for a grouchy or flinching reaction.

Hints

Like a lot of other training activities (maybe all!), what you're doing here is the "approach and retreat" technique. You're asking your horse to expand his comfort zone. To do that, you have to push him outside of that zone - only momentarily at first. Remember to release the pressure before he has a chance to give you an undesirable reaction (like moving away).

Keep your goal in mind: that your horse hold still for your touch anywhere on his body.

Any time he holds still, reward him by releasing the pressure - move your hand back to a part of his body where he's already comfortable with your touch -- before he grow so uncomfortable that he feels he has to react in an undesirable way.

This is not a confrontation - don't feel you need to be very aggressive or insistent about this. But you should have high expectations - don't settle for "almost." With patience and improving observations of your horse's body language, you can help him to overcome his areas of resistance.

Cautionary Tale

Work Vs. Play

Horse time is different from human time. Don't feel like you need to accomplish any particular goal in some set amount of time.

It may not be productive to go to the barn with a goal something like "Today I'm going to get Smokey over her resistance to my handliing her dock."

A goal like this may put you under pressure, and you may end up pressuring your horse too much. You need to create a situation in which your horse can learn. That means encouraging her to learn, not pressuring her beyond her ability to focus on your requests.

Try setting goals like, "Today we're going to make some progress in getting Smokey over her anxiety of having her dock handled." You may get her over her fears in one short session. But in case you don't, you need to give yourself permission to reward her for whatever progress she makes, and move on.

Listen first, whisper later...