Is your horses behaviour trauma, or needing leadership?

I have worked with a lot of horses over the years with difficult behaviours and there is a bit of a tell from the horses that are scared of humans due to trauma experienced either just in their life or at the hands of humans and horses that are scared because they lack confidence and trust in their human.

Both horses are scared and show spooky, reactive behaviours but the way we address them are subtly different.

The horse that has experienced trauma always has its exit strategy front of mind and won't let itself be cornered. It will go over the top of you if they feel you have them trapped. The feeling of being trapped is their biggest trigger so something as simple as holding their hoof to clean it can be a trigger. They need to know it is safe for them to relax and sleep around you. That you are not the threat.

The horse that lacks confidence and trust in you will show a lot of resistance that becomes flightiness or sometimes aggressive. They often feel unheard and their needs unmeet and that they don't have the support from us they need to face the difficult challenges we want to put in front of them. They tip over to fight or flight because they don't see us as a leader worth following and they don't trust the decisions we make for them have their best interest at heart.

Want to learn more about how to read how your horse responds to your requests before they are over threshold and showing big, dangerous behaviours? Register for our holistic horse handling program to get on the waitlist for when it next opens.