Horses are incredible animals with a unique way of communicating. 

As Holistic Equestrians, we have to learn to read their body language and listen to their cues to understand what they are trying to tell us. One of the essential aspects of understanding our horses is learning to differentiate between reactive and responsive behaviours.

But how can you tell?

Reactive Behaviours

Reactive behaviours are instinctual and automatic responses to stimuli. These behaviours are not always conscious and are often related to the horse's survival instincts. 

For example, a horse may react to a loud noise by spooking or bolting because it perceives the sound as a threat. The startle reflex is a reflex and they have no control over that response. We can also antagonise our horses with pressure in training to the point of overwhelm and fear where they are no longer in control of their behaviour. They are reacting to the stress in the best way they know how. 

Reactive behaviours are often exaggerated and out of proportion to the actual stimulus, and they can be dangerous for both the horse and rider.

 Responsive Behaviours

On the other hand, responsive behaviours are thoughtful and intentional actions that horses take in response to a cue from the rider or handler. These behaviours require the horse to think and consider the situation before acting. 

For example, a horse may respond to a leg aid by moving sideways or picking up the trot. Horses will also use intentional behaviours to try and communicate things with us like nudging us with their nose, stomping their hooves and nipping at us. 

It's essential to understand the difference between reactive and responsive behaviours because they require different approaches from the rider or handler. 

When a horse displays reactive behaviour, it is triggering a stress response in the horse. While we want our horse to have resilience to stress, we want to wire in a more appropriate response. If the horse is left to its own devices to figure out how to deal with the stress we have put on them, especially if we haven’t built a relationship with our horse, they often give big explosive behaviours. Trying to force a reactive horse into submission can escalate the situation and cause the horse to become more escalated because a horse that can’t control its emotions, can’t control its behaviour.

When a horse gives a responsive behaviour in response to an ask, it is important that we see their answer to our ask and reward, praise or show some form of thank you and reciprocity for the effort. This keeps our horse from going sour on the ask, and allows for an open 2 way dialogue between horse and rider/handler. When there is reciprocity in a relationship there is more congruence with the asks. Trust is built between the horse and rider or handler and evolves into confidence. #holisticequestrian!

As Holistic Equestrians, it's our responsibility to create an environment where our horses can be responsive rather than reactive. This means:

• setting the horse up for success by providing clear and consistent cues, 

• ensuring that the horse is comfortable and relaxed, and 

• being patient. 

When we incorporate our compassionate leadership tools of reciprocity and congruence, it's rare for resistance to be presented as evasion of work.

What we are trying to do is engage our horse to be an active participant in their learning and training. Cuing, developing aids and building out communication is a very mentally taxing exercise and part of training is their ability to learn and get answers wrong without frustration or fear of punishment. The ability to concentrate and hold focus for a whole hour during a lesson is also taxing on the brain (I have a lot of human students that can’t do this). So what we are doing is stretching the mental capacity of the horse, emotional agility to stay engaged in a positive work ethic for an extended period of time as well as physical condition for the work. 

When we can be considerate of our horses needs for this we significantly deescalate reactive behaviours because our horse has trust and confidence in our ability to support these needs. 

How well can you read your horse's behaviour? Can you tell the difference between a reactive behaviour due to the horse being scared, overwhelmed, in pain and at the point of threshold where they are no longer in control of their behaviour and a responsive behaviour which is a controlled body language trying to communicate needs? How confidently can you read these behaviours? 

Understanding these body languages and differences are the foundation of our holistic horse handling approach to horsemanship so that you can choose based on your horse's needs what the best tool is to use to actively engage your horse in training and how to best support them in the training process and resilience to stress.