Hi all.....would you share some ideas with me on how you "play" with your horses for fun?

Also, do you ever allow your horse to touch you with his head during play?  I had always thought this was disrespectful but recently I've been told otherwise. 

Thanks! 

Hmmmm..... you pose an interesting question.  I massage, groom, graze my horses, but don't really know how to play with them.  Hope some knowledgable people reply.

Horses dont "play" they set boundarys with other members of the herd - so unless you are going to set yourself as the "Alpha" horse - dont play!  A 500 + KG who choses to play and challenge you is probably always going to win! Big Bite Big Kick!

By all means command respect and build a relationship by grooming, training etc but realise they are not Pets, they are not dogs, I have seen a few people who have adopted this attitude only to see them put at the end of the pecking order and get quite badly injured!

I have no hesitation with my horses about putting them back in their box if they get out of hand

 I think you need to define what you mean by 'play'..

But whatever your definition, I don't believe that a horse would ever define 'play' in the same terms as we would.  Just watch horses at liberty 'playing' - there is no room for safe human interaction on that playground.

I do think that it is possible to make training 'fun' & interesting for both horse & person, but I would not call it playing with my horse. One thing that comes to mind is carrot stretches - I suppose that  could be described as a light-hearted way of 'playing' with your horse BUT I doubt that any horse thinks of it as play - he is just plain & simple out to get that carrot.  And for us it is really plain & simple a training exercise.

And IMO a horse's head does NOT, under any circumstances, belong in my space unless I initiate it.

There is a girl at my barn that has 2 Arabs and she has a game she plays with hers.  She will turn one loose in the arena and after the initial bucking and running are over with, the horse goes to one end of the arena and stands at the centerline.  Megan will be facing the horse and the horse will start walking towards the side of the arena and Megan tries to get there first and head him off.  He will turn to trot to the otherside and she will run to that side.  They keep this up until the horse gets there first and then gallops a lap around the arena.  It's really cute...kind of like herding.

Horses do play but it is much more of a rough housing situation. You can, however, do games with your horse. Parelli is all about turning work into play in terms of making the work you do into game form. By doing this you make the exercises more interesting. In terms of the head thing, that is your call. I allow my horse to rub his face (which is perpetually ITCHY) on my back, etc. BUT, he knows he is only allowed to do this with ME, he will not nudge random people or crowd the space of someone leading him in, etc. There are times when it is appropriate. For instance, (imagine if you will, a horse wiht the itchiest face in the history of horses, that is my horse!) After riding I loosing the girth all the way and then I go and unlatch the noseband and then he is allowed to scratch his face by rubbing on my back or by my scratching it for him. He would not just go up to someone and try this. I do not find it to be a problem because he does not shove me or anything like that. He was taught at a young age to be gentle and he is very gentle all of the time.

 Some horses, however can play games in the arena with you. I have known some horses that like to play a soccer-type game with a big ball. They kick it and you kick it back to them and they get the idea. I have known other horses who play hide and seek where one stands in an area of the arena or behind a jump (obviously quite visible and then the person "looks" for them and when they get close the horse tries to sneak away. It is sort of like tag but you only tag the horse...he doesn;'t tag you, obviously.

 I would encourage you to not take your horses too seriously as some people obviously do. Horses are not all that serious, they are interesting and they are playful with one another, they are curious....it is good to think about them in more "fun" terms, it keeps you from making things boring for them.

I agree with the others about not "playing" with them like you would a dog.  However, they like to do things like run around a buck and snort when they have enough room.  I put mine in an arena and if they just stand there, I pick up a can and put little rocks in it and shake to get them going.  Once they are playing, you just have to be in a safe place, and they'll run around for awhile.  In the hot months, I put a rain bird sprinkler out for them and they love to run, get wet, stand in the stream and get sopping or even bite the water.  My mare likes to stick her whole head in a big trough and blast the water back and forth by making huge waves with her head.  They also like cones and balls and other toys.  The picture in my sig of Aragorn (black horse) is when he was in a giant arena and just started running around.

Yes, be carefull of what they do with their heads/butts/feet when around them, but you can always have fun.

I haven't done this in a while but here's one thing I liked to do with Annapolis.  He was owned by Monty Roberts as a yearling and even though he's pushing 30 now, he still likes doing this.  In the round pen or enclosed arena I make him move away from me and keep him going, changing directions etc (basic round pen work) until he shows signs of wanting to come in to me.  At which point I'll stop driving him away and he'll literally come in and "join up".  After that happens, I can move in any direction and at any speed and he will follow. People have been amazed to see me running across the arena with him trotting behind me. 

 There's a couple of pics of us playing on this webpage: http://www.geocities.com/jaynep12002/horses.htm