testing trust?

Ok everyone makes posts on how to make your horse trust you. And that's great and its helped me a lot.

But my question is how do you safely test this "trust" you've gained?
I was just wondering.thanks guys :)

Lol why do you wana test it?

Weirdo....

;)

I let Sonny show me himself without me testing him. He's never been one to go through water...even puddles...but he's gone through them when they were in our route without me asking him to.

You test it every time you ask for something new -- a new command, a new place, a new lawn ornament, a new trail, a new horse...

Your horse will show you - - you don't have to set up a situation, just be in tune with what he's showing/telling you :)

When you take the halter and lead rope off, do you know what is left? The truth. Playing with your horse at Liberty is how you test your strength of bond. If the horse truly wants to be with you he will stay but if he truly doesn't want to be with you he will leave. The horse has complete freedom to do what he wants. Liberty work is very telling to the kind of relationship you have with your horse.

Yeah I guess what you guys said is true...deffinately. My horse goes through water and does tons of other stuff...now that I think of it I guess that is testing trust huh?? And my mare used to be TERRIFIED to be by herself on a trail with me...but now she's great! It used to be she must have another horse there..but now she's good with just me on her and I guess that's trust right?

I pretty much agree with what's being said- that every time you ask your horse for something new he has the choice to either trust you or not.

But a really cool trust thing that I do with my horse is to ride her blindfolded (the horse, not you!!). For your horse to ride completely blind, especially being a prey/flight animal, is a real show of trust.