How to Tame an Abandoned Horse

Wild horses have evolved as prey animals and have a strong flight instinct. A horse that has been abandoned may revert to these feral tendencies and lose trust in humans as well as its basic training. Taming an abandoned horse requires time and patience as well as a commitment to operating in a manner safe for both the person and the horse. Use gentle, positive methods to tame an abandoned horse.

Things You'll Need

  • Food rewards
  • Clicker or marker
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Instructions

  1. How to Tame an Abandoned Horse

    • 1

      Understand the horse is likely fearful and not trusting. Ensure safety with the horse by exercising extreme patience and caution while working to train and tame it. Evaluate the horse's current living circumstances. If it is contained, make sure it has appropriate food and water resources. If the horse is running loose, establish a common zone where you leave food every day to reward the horse for consistently returning to a specific location.

    • 2

      Utilize the reward by retreat method to begin approaching the horse. In this manner, the horse is rewarded for allowing a human to approach by having that same human leave. While it may sound counterintuitive to the human goal of taming the horse, the horse will come to understand that by holding ground and allowing the human to approach, the scary human will then go away.

    • 3

      Work in small increments, taking one or two steps toward the horse and then turning and walking away if the horse calmly accepts movement in its direction. Slowly decrease the distance from the horse until it allows a close approach. This may require a great deal of repetition and patience.

    • 4

      Load the clicker or marker (this can be a sound, a word or a whistle) when the horse allows approach. Make the sound once and immediately provide the horse with extremely tasty food like sweet feed or carrots. Continue one sound for one treat until the horse looks eagerly towards the direction of the sound. When that happens, the clicker or marker is considered loaded and can be used for further training.

    • 5

      A loaded clicker or marker becomes a communication device between human and horse, telling the horse when a behavior will earn a reward. Use the clicker to gain further ground in taming an abandoned horse by clicking and rewarding for behaviors such as allowing touching and, eventually, the placement of a halter and lead rope. Work with the horse frequently, for short intervals of time, always ending on a positive note.