Welcome to Gaia! ::

I understand that the horse I am riding attracts you to come over and pet him, but please ask if you can come over to do that!

When I say, "He's not a pet," or "Touching can make him nervous," that is not your invitation to come over and try to treat him like one anyway. All of my horses are rescues, and the one I have with me the most often does not like to be petted; he tries to get away from your hand and is hard to calm down afterward.

I have to tell people this stuff all the time, and yet they still reach out to touch him and look shocked when my horse pulls his head up and away from them quickly and tries to turn for home/back up suddenly.

Ugh. stressed

I used to have that problem with all of my dogs until I started saying quite clearly to them, "She can bite." I didn't say she would bite them, I said she could (obviously, any animal with a mouth can do that). And that usually stops them pretty quickly.

They should think about these things! sad They don't know anything about the animal they are coming up to!

By the way, your dog looks absolutely sweet. smile heart