Horse Information - Aussie Horsemen

It’s interesting to me to take note of how the various horses I meet feel intheir surroundings. Whether they feel safe, confident and playful, or whether they are waryand reactionary ... always on guard.

Knowing that horses derive safety from the herd, even if its only another one or twocompanions and that much of a horses comfort and confidence comes from having a great leaderin their human partner, I’m always interested to note what the horses I meet tell me abouthow they feel in their place in the world.

It’s a great shame, but so many of the horses that Shane and I come across are really basketcases. If they were human beings, many of them would be institutionalised from their fearsand phobias, however, so often their well-meaning owners have really no idea just howinsecure and afraid their horses are. It’s not that they are bad people or that theymistreat their horses ... far from it in most cases. It’s just that they do not reallyunderstand horses, what makes them tick and what it is that they reallyneed.

One case in point was a little mare I met quite a number of years ago. Her owner had calledus because he was having a lot of trouble getting her into a float and he desperately wantedto come to some lessons and consequently couldn’t. Our local organizer had been to visit himand had mentioned to me that this fellow really did have genuine problems with this horse,so I agreed to visit with him and see what we could do to help.

When I arrived, the owner of the little horse came out and caught her and handed her over tome. She seemed like a nice enough little girl and did her basic yields fairly well althoughshe did everything with her head in the air and a look on her face that told me that she waswith me in body but that her attention was else where. She was a bit touchy with the ‘noyield’ and had a bit of reaction, flinching when I used any amount of energy swinging therope and then wanting to run me over if the pressure got too much for her. Her owner watchedquietly from the sidelines as I explained what she was telling me. She knew the yields andwould do them for me, however although she wasn’t overly reactive she obviously wasn’treally accepting me or the rope and stick in her space. She was tolerating it at best andkept on being wary and on the look out for danger constantly. I mentioned to her owner thatfor me to put her in the float, which is a very scary and claustrophobic place for a horse,she’d need to be a lot more trusting in me (and humans in general by all accounts) for me tohappily load her up. I could see that when it came down too it, this sweet little girl wouldquite happily take me out rather than risk her own neck and try the float on for size. Thisbecame very clear a few moment s later.

Once I had her going forward nicely, backward, sideways, yielding away from me and goingover some jumps, I took her toward the float to do some more flight tests near it and overthe ramp. Her high head and far away look had already told me that she felt unsafe and onthe alert at all times. If this was the way she lived then I felt truly sorry for her as shewas full of stress and tension. I mentioned it to her owner and he said that she was quiteoften like that. We talked about how the float wasn’t really the problem, it was just thecatalyst. She was insecure at living on her own and not finding a leader in her owner shewas constantly on the look out fearing imminent danger.

Her head flew up as soon as she saw the float; she was obviously quite stressed about it andthere was no way she was going to go on the float. I started doing some flight tests withher, at first quite a long way from the float and gradually got closer. When she gave me atry I’d take her right away from the float and let her have a good think about it. At firstshe was pretty keen on trying to run me over in an attempt to get as far away from the floatas possible and she’d shoot through the gap between me and it like greased lightening. WhenI took her away from the float she’d throw her head up and snort at the distance as if toignore me ... this was the longest part of the whole exercise ... waiting for her to relaxeven just a little and acknowledge that something good had happened.

I kept repeating this, gradually getting closer to the float and taking her right away againuntil eventually she started to relax. By working on her hindquarter yields after each passof the float and then taking her away from the float to think about it, she eventuallyrealised that she wasn’t going to die! When I asked her to walk across the ramp, she leaptclean across it ... there was no way she was going to touch it with her feet! We kept at itpassively until she’d brush it with her hoof and then I’d take her away again.

With each pass of the ramp and each disengagement, she gradually realised that she wasn’tdead and nothing bad was happening. She started thinking and even better, her gaze shiftedfrom the far distance to closer to home and eventually to me. She started to look at me asif she’d just seen me for the first time. I gave her a rub to connect with her and askedagain.

Pretty soon she started to walk across the ramp, first touching it only with one foot, thentwo, then three and finally with confidence with all four. That was a pretty nice moment.Even better, she lowered her head for the first time and checked in with me after each pass.I knew then that we’d made a major breakthrough ... way more important than whether she wenton the float or not. She was starting to trust me therefore she began to relax and softenand think. While before she was a reactionary accident waiting to happen, she was nowthinking about where she was in her environment and listening to me as I communicated withher. She was safer now and definitely feeling more confident in herself and in me. With eachpass of the ramp that she survived you could see her confidence growing. It was fabulous!

We had a little break as I tried to explain to her owner what was happening. I hoped hecould see the changes ... he said he did ... and see the importance of not just doing stuffwith his horse but becoming a leader for her. All horses need to know that someone islooking out for them, will let them know where their place in the world is and will showthem that they are safe and can relax.

We had it now and I explained to her owner that I’d now put her on the float and that we’dleave her there for a minute or two to think about it all and relax. He was pretty amazedwhen she went on all the way and just stood there. Her confidence had grown to the pointthat she was now becoming curious which is a great sign. Her curiosity outweighed her fearso we were making great progress.

After I had put her on and off the float a few times, I asked her owner to grab a carrot togive her whilst she was on the float. He told me there’d be no point as she didn’t likecarrots ... she wouldn’t eat them, never had, and just wasn’t interested. I asked him tohumour me and just try it anyway so he went and got one.

She was standing there thinking about it all ... still a bit timid but staying there justthe same ... eyes looking keenly around her, a bit amazed at where she was. I asked herowner to go into the front of the float and offer her the carrot, which she greedily grabbedand munched on straight away. She liked it so much that he offered her another and anotherand she just stood there without the butt bar across to keep her there, happily munching andlooking at the world outside the front door.

Her owner turned to me in utter amazement. Never before had she eaten a carrot an apple oranything like it. I just nodded my head and explained to him that she’d never felt safeenough, let alone comfortable enough to consider eating a carrot. She’d had so much tensionin her body that those little lips were pursed and only opened for the essentials like waterand grass. Imagine the relief she felt now, after all those years of living on adrenalin andstress, to be able to relax and let it all go.

There are a great many horses out there living similar lives. Not all of them refusecarrots, however the stress is there just the same. If only we would all become betterleaders for our horses and provide the things they really need; leadership, confidence andtrue safety, not what we think they need (pretty rugs, high octane food and pampering) theworld would be a better place.

View more Aussie Horsemen articles.

Comment on this article using the Comment Function below. Discuss this article with otherusers on the Horse Forums.