Are you filling your horse's emotional needs?

We talk a lot in the human world about filling our cups but do you know how to fill your horses emotional cup?

Every time we work our horses we are creating stress.

That stress can either influence them positively and help them grow and develop or it can influence them negatively and they can develop stress associated vices like crib biting or behavioural issues associated with fear and frustration. 

The way that we structure our training sessions should work to create just the right amount of stress that allows them to grow and develop their cognitive skills, emotional range and physical skills. We can do this by giving our horses a tool to connect back in with us to let us know if we are creating too much stress.

When we open this pathway to communication our horses start licking.... a lot!!! And I often find they need a good licking session before we get started to connect and fill their cup and to break up the training session as we go.

Often if they are pushed to the far end of their stress management skills this licking becomes nipping. The nipping is them asking us to back off and be more respectful of the pressure of our asks. 

Having this conversation with our horses empowers them to have more control in the training session over what is done to them which builds mutual trust and respect and in turn improves true willingness instead of submission. 

What It Means When Your Horse Is Licking Or Chewing During Training

Is licking or chewing during training a sign of stress or relaxation?

I’m going to throw my 2 cents in on this debate #yourewelcome.

Licking can indicate your horse may have reached its’ coping limits with your training.

I believe it is a sign of both. 

If you’re horse is actively showing signs of relaxation than one would have to think that first it needs to be stressed, to release the stress and show exaggerated signs of relaxation. Right? So my thought is that it is actually a sign of learning and processing what they were working on. 

There’s no doubt about the fact that we create stress when working our horses. We create physical stress to condition their body, mental stress to grow their intellect and emotional stress to increase resilience to their environment. If we create just the right amount of stress they grow and develop. If we create too much stress they start to protect themselves. Their body tightens up to avoid injury, they stop thinking and processing what their are learning and they shy away from challenging situations. 

So while I’m not actively seeking the licking and chewing response, it is an indication to me the pressure I had on them before they started licking and chewing is probably about their limits for coping. Any more pressure and they will not be learning any more -they will be stressed. Horses can only learn and seek the right behaviour with a relaxed brain.

Begin training your horse the CORRECT way

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