How To Get A Horse To Come To You? Complete Guide (2023)

Q: Why Won’t A Horse Come To Me?

It often has something to do with whether they are either occupied with eating and socializing with other horses or are not safe with humans.

by Ditte Young

How to get a horse to come to you? Many horse owners have problems calling in their horses when the horses are in the field. In other situations, it can be difficult for the horse owner to get a horse to come to them in a riding arena too.

Horses are pack animals. They prefer to be with other horses because it is their nature. When they are in a group with multiple horses, they feel safer if they meet danger and can run away as a herd together or divide themselves and split up to confuse an animal who will hunt them as prey. A dangerous animal to horses can be a wolf on the pasture.

Getting your horse to come to you requires:

Will A Horse Come When Called?

When you have socialized your horse and made it trust you, it immediately sees you as a part of its pack. Now, your pack needs a leader, and that must be you. But you must also become a friend.

Your horse will come to you when you call out its name because the horse responds to its name, and you send your energy directly to your horse when you want to call it in.

The horse reacts to your tone of voice and your energy. Since you have become a primary person to the horse, your horse will seek you and socialize with you if it feels safe and if you are interested in the horse.

Why Won’t A Horse Come To Me When Called?

In those situations where your horse won’t come when called, it often has something to do with whether they are either occupied with eating and socializing with other horses or are not safe with humans.

Lack Of Trust

The bond between a horse and a horse owner takes time to build up.

The horse needs to understand that you are the primary person now and you will protect it. This requires a lot of horse training or coaching with horses where you get to know one another.

You can use your body language as guidance, your energy, and your thoughts in creating a trusting bond between you. The more predictable you are, the faster the trust will be built up.

Herd Bound

If you meet wild horses, you will see they have no interest in you as a human being, but they are more occupied with being with their horse friends and being in the now.

Horses get stimulated by sensing each other and their surroundings. They don’t need further stimulation until we provide that need by socializing them.

They haven’t developed the neo-cortex in their part of the brain, which makes them capable of only being in the now. Horses are dependent on their pack in case danger suddenly occurs.

If you meet horses socialized with human beings, you will discover that they are very interested and curious about human beings, even though they don’t know you. By nature, they are trustworthy and want to see who you are and if you are interested or have something for them.

If you are a horse owner and have bonded with your horse, but you can’t get your horse to come to you, it often has something to do with the following:

Pain (which could be experienced before you got your horse)
Bad habits or experiences
A lack of motivation for the training session
Mistrust in humans in general
Separation anxiety from the other horses

These problems can be helped by a behavioral consultant or professional animal communicator who does horse whispering to calm down the horse again.

How Do You Get A Horse To Come To You?

You can get a horse to come to you by being open and calm inside you.

Walk slowly towards the horse and keep an open heart. Do not have any intentions but stay focused on the horse you want to contact. If the horse comes to you, let it smell you and sense you.

Many horse owners immediately fall in love with a horse when they resonate with themselves. That can be meeting a sensitive horse, and they are also sensitive. Or if they meet a dominant horse and they are strong characters as well. Then, there is a perfect match, and they often buy the horse.

A long journey can begin when two souls must get to know one another.

Additional reading: What does a horse say?

Bonding

It takes a horse 3-12 months to accept a new home when it has been moved. It spends a lot of energy on the new smells, sounds from all the other horses, you, and your tone of voice.

Maybe it gets new food products that require the stomach to adapt. And the most important thing is your horse needs to find its place in the hierarchy in the field too. That can take quite some time.

I recommend you take it slowly with your new horse, spend time and get to know each other.

To make your horse trust you to create the bonding faster, I recommend that you focus on the following:

Understanding the personality of your horse and respecting that
Accommodate its need if it needs to eat alone or if it needs to jump, even though you might want it as your next dressage horse
Be reliable - what you say is what you do
Predict any situation that could scare your horse
You need a good start and to be a great leader from the beginning
Be balanced and speak in a calm tone of voice
Be predictable in your body language, e.g. don’t make sudden jumps or lay down. Be stable.

After a while, you can start your first training session.

Liberty Horse Training

There are many different methods to make your horse come to you. One of my favorites is working in liberty. Horses are motivated by feeling they can flee if they see any potential danger.

Working in liberty gives them the freedom to come to you when they want or to escape if they want. To make your horse practice different exercises with no use of equipment is true horsemanship to me.

The Lead Rope

You can get a lead rope or use lunging equipment so your horse can move faster and further away from you. You can use your body language to show your horse what you want it to do.

After some rounds, you can stop and give your horse recognition. That can be, asking it to start trotting on the left volte. You will see that your horse will come to you in the center where you are standing because it seeks your physical presence, too, while being recognized by you.

You will see your horse yawn, blink its eyes, or smack its tongue. Your horse is relaxed and knows what you want it to do as the leader.

How To Train Your Horse To Come When Called?

There are many methods to get your horse to come to you.

I recommend you start training this early when you get your horse. The faster you can teach your horse that you can be trusted and vice versa, the better for your future relationship.

You can train your horse to come to you by being calm, having an open heart, and being predictable in your tone of voice and body language. Remember your horse will always choose you if you are a friend.

The Round Pen

A round pen is a safe and valuable training tool if you use it correctly when you train your horse with or without lunging equipment.

Establishing trust between a horse and the horse owner or rider can be helpful initially.

The round pen allows more significant interaction between the horse and the rider because it creates more control over the horse. After all, the horse can only partially avoid its human handler.

The round pen is often used for many different types of training, such as:

Many horse people are arguing about the use of the round pen.

I don’t recommend riding in the round pen because you risk confusing the horse, plus it is unhealthy for the horse to train in a small volte or arena for extended periods.

We want the horses to stand and walk on all four legs.

The more we make them work on small voltes, the faster they start to overcompensate for a laterality problem, which means they also have issues with their balance.

You often see if the horse has problems with its balance by:

Clicker Training

You can also use clicker training. Horses respond to sounds and are motivated if you offer treats. You know that if you click your tongue to ask your horse to transition from trot to canter in training.

Some of this starts by showing your horse what you want it to do. When your horse does precisely that, you can use your clicker and give your horse a treat.

That is also called positive reinforcement because the horse will repeat its actions when it knows that it gets a treat for doing this. You can also repeat the clicker training when you want your horse to come to you.

Stand in the center of the riding arena and see your horse runs while lunging it. Use your voice to create the transitions from walk to trot to canter and when you want it to stop.

Horses are intelligent creatures. They remember if you are treating them well or poorly.

Remember that even though they are in the now, they interact with you as their pack leader, and the more you repeat training and get recognition for it, the more your horse starts doing it themselves without you even asking for it. This will create a stronger bond and build more trust for you and your horse.

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Ditte Young

Ditte Young has worked as a spiritual coach, therapist and clairvoyant for 23 years. She is an author of 3 books about animal communication and is known as Denmark's most recognized animal communicator.

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