Is My Horse Nasty?
If your horse has been acting out you can find yourself contacting industry professionals to try and rule out why.
Quite often I see people ask one professional, who comes back with no there’s nothing wrong with your horse - and yet the behaviour continues. It leaves you thinking you have a dud horse that’s just nasty.
Different professionals see different problems in your horse based on their experience and what they specialise in. Just because one professional couldn’t find the problem doesn’t mean there isn’t one and you shouldn’t keep digging. Sometimes you even need to ask for a second opinion within the same profession.
If you are asking yourself, “what is wrong with my horse” then you need to run through the following list:
Does the saddle fit well?
How is the horses teeth/mouth?
Does the horse like the bit you are using, does it fit?
Is the tack rubbing uncomfortably?
Could it be ulcers?
Are they on the right feed?
Has the vet ruled out underlying issues?
Is my horse sore?
The “is my horse sore” is a complex issue to deal with.
All horses have some kind of discomfort from being ridden. The threshold for the level of pain or discomfort the horse feels is completely dependent on its own unique personality. I’ve worked with some horses that you would think should be in a lot of pain from their past injuries and yet they are perfectly behaved, and other horses that are slightly uncomfortable about being ridden and yet complain loudly.
This is why the correct conditioning of the horse is a key component of our horses’ trainability.
They have to be able to hold our weight within the limitations of the tack and move elegantly, freely and boldly, but without making us nervous and uncomfortable. It’s a bit of a big ask right?
Our horses are athletes and as such will require the same support that Olympic coaches put into their athletes. It is why we should put such an emphasis on correct musculoskeletal development, allowing our horse to communicate its’ needs back to us, and getting additional manipulation support by someone with a good reputation whether chiro, massage or acupuncture.