What Is A Safe Horse?

Have you ever heard the term “bomb-proof horse”?

It sounds like the ideal beginner horse.

And I’m about to tell you why you don’t want one of these horses.

Looking at the horse sale adverts, you will often see these horses that are advertised as the ideal beginner’s horse, the “bomb-proof” pony. I can’t tell you the number of times I see these ads with pictures of the horse in various phases – a tarp thrown over them, flags near their head, or a pre-teen child standing on their back (I won’t go into my thoughts on that, either, but let’s just say it’s not pretty).

These horses seem to be the perfect horse because they are not reacting to the stimulus, the “scary” objects, and you can do just about anything with them.

But most of them aren’t perfect. Most of them have shut down.

Yep, that’s right. Most of these horses have been terrified with flapping tarps, plastic bags, waving sticks and flags, and have reached a point where they no longer cope. As a result, they will react in one of two ways:

·        They explode, become marked as dangerous, and often end up slaughtered

·        They shut down, completely disengage, and are therefore marked as “safe”

Unfortunately, these horses are just like the wild cat backed into the corner. Eventually, they ARE going to explode. And if we are lucky enough, we will get to sit up from the dirt, stare at the cloud of dust left behind as our horse becomes a small dot on the horizon, and ask “What the (insert expletive of choice) just happened?”

The big issue with these horses is they are forced to not react - until they can no longer NOT react, resulting in a massive overreaction to a seemingly small stimulus. They have no capability of processing, they have no capability of thinking, and they have never been shown how to look for support and direction from their rider.

I’m not big on the terminology of a safe horse, as every horse has the capability of reacting to every single person differently (personalities, training, confidence, attitude all come in to effect here for both horse and rider), but there is a way to make your horse safer.

To make your horse safer, you need to establish a working relationship, set yourself up as a leader, be consistent in your training and handling, make your horse curious, and always be mindful to condition your horse mentally AND physically.

Be prepared to put some time into your horse. This isn’t going to happen overnight. But the effort will be more than worth it.

Added bonus – you won’t look like an idiot chasing your horse around the arena with a plastic bag on a stick.

Looking to make your horse safer?

Our Training Trainability course takes you step-by-step through the process. Click here to access

Has Your Horse Shut Down?

What is a horse that has shut down?

A horse that has shut down has developed this behaviour as a coping mechanism for stress.

When a shut down horse explodes it can be seriously unexpected and dangerous.

In stubborn horses it can be seen as stubbornness but it also shows up in the more flighty horses where their brain disconnects from their body and is shut off to their experience. This kind of horse copes, copes, copes and then explodes and the rider is left asking where the heck did that come from?

A horse that has shut down emotionally is the end result of desensitisation gone wrong. They have been taught to react to nothing, rather than feeling, because feeling would include fear and anxiety and they are not allowed to react. Instead, they have just shut off emotionally.

While desensitising is important for our horses, relationship built on trust has more of an impact than any amount of desensitisation. If my horse is unsure of something I want it to be curious and investigate it, not just shut off to it. Being shut off to it is “safer” than the mad, hairy bolt away from it but eventually something will trigger your horse to react and it will be years of pent up anxiety behind it – and probably a thousand times more dangerous.

Some of these horses may also be shut down due to pain. If a horse is sore and made to work no matter what, the best way to go on for some of them is to just shut down. (Click here to read about the sacroiliac pain the quiet lameness)

Again we eventually get to the point where the pain is too much to bare and then they react (these horses are the most often to be called dangerous and unrideable because the novice rider, trainer or instructor didn’t see it coming and labels the horse as “unpredictable”).

We don’t want our horses internalising their pain or their emotions and just cope with being ridden. Firstly because that’s not a partnership and secondly they can only internalise so long before it all blows up in our face.

Our best chance for getting a good working relationship with our horse is to open up a two way conversation where our horse can tell us if its uncomfortable or unhappy (in ways other than bucking, rearing, bolting, biting, kicking) and with being there for them when they do feel stress and pressure. (Read here for getting our horses to relax and breath with us).