Before anything can happen, there must be communication. Learn to speak the language!
Imagine being surrounded by foreign people that spoke a completely different language than you. You have no interpreter and no translation book!
Well, body language might help some, but what if in their culture, even body language was different than what you naturally understand? Now imagine these foreign people are trying to make you understand what’s acceptable in their land and what is not!
Now try to see this through your horse’s eyes as they try to interpret what you are asking of them! Ironically, the horse may even want to do the thing you ask but if the message is not clear, not much is going to go well. You see that If we lose our ability to communicate, life becomes extremely difficult and frustrating.
We (humans) tend to apply human qualities to our horses. You cannot! Horses are horses, they are not humans. Horses do not speak English and I don’t suspect they will learn anytime soon. Therefore, it is up to us to learn how to communicate with our horses in a way they understand. Speak the language!
I’m not saying this is easy, but take the time and seek out information on this subject or even better, take advantage of every opportunity to watch how horses naturally interact with each other. Learn their social hierarchy and how they communicate with each other (and believe me they do!). Obviously, we are not built for pinning our ears or have the ability to actually effectively bite or kick however, we do have the ability to improvise and get our point across.
Remember, if you want success with your horse, you will need to learn to speak their language and how to communicate in your horse’s world…not yours!