Why Does My Horse?
“Why does my horse?”
This was the very first horse book I got as a child. Mainly because my second horse was quite difficult and I always fell off him!!!
And so began a lifelong pursuit of trying to figure out why horses did a particular thing and how to fix it.
And I eventually came up with the answer…
I was asking the wrong question!
It is near impossible to know why our horse behaves a certain way.
We often don’t have a horse for their whole life and don’t know what has happened to them with previous owners. Even if we know their life long experiences we don’t know everything that happens to them in the paddock every fall they have, every fight they get into with another horse, every bump and bruise they take. If we send them away to a trainer, we hope they are doing the right thing by them but can never be sure exactly how they were handled. Knowing why your horse is spooking can’t ever truly, thoroughly be answered but asking “how best can I support my horse?” can.
1. Rule out any good reasons your horse has for misbehaving.
Ensure saddle and bridle is professionally fitted. Get teeth checked and kept up to date. Invest in a good farrier. Work with a body worker that has an excellent reputation but then also go with your gut whether you are happy with their work. I have had horses become worse for working with a lot of different chiropractors. If in doubt get your vet to check.
2. Make sure they understand how to process stimuli correctly.
Horses learn from the release of pressure not the application and often they don’t know what to do with pressure and can over react. Ensuring you have taught your horse how to learn from pressure cues keeps them calm throughout the learning process.
3. Be a leader, not a bully boss
Ensure that you are showing up as a good leader by setting clear boundaries and following through on your asks, ESPECIALLY in stressful and difficult situations. This is when your horse needs you the most and how you show up when they are not handling the situation well is the best way a horse will decide if you are worth being the herd leader.
4. Make your horse confident
Teach them confidence through curiosity. A horses flight instinct is self preservation and to get away from what is scary. To create a bold, confident horse we want them to be curious not scared of new things.
5. Prevent them from going sour by changing their exercises and environments.
Repeating the same task every day in the same environment will set both you and your horse up to fail by making them sour on their work. If your going to work on the same task change the environment. If you are going to work in the same environment change the task so it seems like each training session you are doing something new and fresh.
6. Prevent them from going sore by ensuring you’re conditioning them for soundness.
Riding for a certain look or skill isn’t necessarily always in the best interest of their musculoskeletal health and soundness. It is important to understand why you are doing certain exercises and how to use them so they make your horse more sound rather than to achieve a certain look or skill.