Every day I work with horses, especially wild mustangs, I’m reminded of one simple truth: trust isn’t something we take. It’s something we earn, little by little, like putting coins in a bank.
With a fresh mustang, the first thing I work on in the round pen is helping them learn to face me. This is called “hooking on”....but it’s more than just a training exercise. It’s the beginning of a new way of thinking for that horse.
Out there, they’re wired to survive. Everything in their instincts says, run first, think later. So when I ask them to stop and face me, I’m not just teaching a cue. I’m offering them a new answer to their fear: focus on me, and you’ll be okay.
Every time they choose to look at me instead of flee, that’s a deposit in the emotional bank account. I don’t chase. I don’t yell. I wait. I invite. And when they take that first breath, lower their head, and step in with curiosity instead of panic—that’s when the real work begins.
Because later on, when something scary happens—like a trailer door clanging shut or a tarp flapping in the wind—I want their first thought to be, “Where’s my person?” Not because I forced them, but because they’ve learned: “That’s where the comfort is. That’s where the safety is.”
Trust like that doesn’t come from pressure. It comes from presence.
So today, and every day, I’m reminded: every round pen session, every breath, every choice to be patient—that’s a deposit. And those deposits are what carry us through the storms.