Sakima the Brumby’s Journey

Sakima had joined the herd and gradually gained acceptance with the other horses. He was not so welcoming to human approaches. He had learnt that people meant food and would follow the other horses in for a nightly free hand out, but his extreme fear of people dictated the level of contact – standing off and coming in when he felt I had safely retreated.

I frankly did not know what to do. I knew that I did not want to start him in the traditional manner or put him in the round yard and push him through Join Up and other pressure moves to make him submit to human control. I felt there had to be a fairer, gentler way to bring Sakima into the human world and for him to accept his loss of freedom.

I went in search and found Carolyn Resnick in the USA who had grown up with the mustangs and offered a method that involves working with your horse at total liberty in the paddock so the horse has a free choice as to the level and extent of the communication. The foundation of her method was how horses communicate in the wild as a herd and involved hours of just being with your horse doing nothing, as horses do.

The key was expecting nothing and having no time constraints or agendas when you went to work with your horse. This was not going to be easy as we humans are so time bound and goals oriented and prefer to work on plans and agendas.

Talking with Carolyn was even more confronting on the issue of time and expectations. She bluntly said “I don’t think that my method will work for you, it will take a very long time from what you have described for your wild boy to accept human interaction. Do you have the time that it will take”?

I had to think about this as my life suffers from the human condition of too many pressures for the time available and now I was going to add one more time demand. Certainly other methods would be faster if it was results I was wanting.

I pondered for several days and came to the conclusion it was not results I wanted. What mattered was that Sakima would willingly give up his desire for freedom and want to be with me and other people. The focus for me was willing and choice.

Working at liberty with your horse from the start clearly tells you what type of relationship you have with your horse. They are in control, not you. It is an interesting challenge for all horse people to see the level of interaction that a horse chooses when you just sit in the paddock and do nothing and don’t approach your horse.

This is what I did with Sakima I just sat in the paddock. After a few days my other boys would willingly come up and say hullo and hang around. When Sakima even came near the others would send him off.

If I was to have a relationship with him I had to remove the others for my long sessions in the paddock. I did and then took my chair and book to just sit in the paddock with Sakima for an hour at least a day. My other horses hung over the fence wanting to be with us.

So it went on for weeks and he gradually came to accept that there was this crazy human sitting in the paddock as he grazed. I expected nothing and never tried to approach him and I just gave him time and space.

Weeks on it happened… Sakima came over to me and stood several feet away and just hung around me for the rest of the hour I would spend with him. Each day the distance that he stood away lessened. Then I introduced a food reward and he would come in for his reward and then back away.

Under Carolyn’s instructions I then began to put his evening food bin between my legs and my arms around the bin. His desire for the goodies was bigger than his fear of the human touch and he would tentatively come in, take his mouth full and back away to a safe distance. The human need to reach out and touch him was held in check as he became used to closer, gentle contact with a person.

The next step was for me to try and put my hand on Sakima’s face before he grabbed his food. His level of acceptance was amazing and within days I could put my hand on his star and hold it there for a few seconds. This was a magical moment as every milestone in his journey into the human world would be.

The next steps in his journey would be just as exciting for me but for most, the progress would be too slow. I kept reminding myself this would take the time it took.