03/18/2026
Training is influencing the horse.
I saw a post today that prompted me to think about how I work with mustangs. When training any horse, the human is influencing the horse. The horse’s responses influence the human. The relationship built with a horse is shaped by human and horse influencing each other. That means observation, awareness, communication, clarity, boundaries, and safety.
With unhandled or barely handled mustangs, they don’t understand the human and influencing them is difficult. Training mustangs at this stage starts with the human introducing themselves to the horse and observing where the horse’s spatial boundary is starting from, how curious they are about the human, where their reactions sit on the scale of wary to reactive. The first intentional interactions with the horse, offering hay from the hand, is often where the human first starts introducing the idea that choosing to interact with the human is safe and predictable.
As the horse becomes more comfortable, the human is able to influence the horse in more direct and recognizable ways. The human must stay aware and be patient. The human starts setting their own boundaries right away just like the horse has already communicated their boundaries. As the horse associates the human with consistency, food, and neutral activities like mucking or filling water, they begin to relax. With that relaxation comes a greater willingness to be influenced. These pieces don’t happen in a strict order. They build together like a conversation unfolding.
Working with unhandled or barely handled mustangs can be a slow process when done without high pressure and a consent-based framework. It’s not always slow. Some mustangs are naturally curious and can be easy to gentle and easy to start teaching more complex skills. Some mustangs are very reactive and slow to trust, like my girl Zana was. Yet it took less time than it felt back then. It was six months of learning to listen, observe, be truly patient, and learning to be clear for us to reach the point where we were influencing each other, both safe, and both able to opt out.
Training horses is influencing them, no matter where they start. Whether it’s an unhandled mustang, a barely handled mustang, a gentled mustang, mustangs that already have a good relationship with their human, and of course this applies to domestic bred horses no matter where they are starting from. Training horses with consent means both horse and human have a say. The horse and human influence each other. Safety, boundaries, clarity, communication, and awareness all live there. When a mustang feels safe, heard, understood, and has clarity from the human; they are willing to be influenced by the human. They are willing to go along with the human’s ideas and often begin to seek out the human’s ideas because they want to engage.
