INFLUENCING HORSE BEHAVIOUR
These are the five freedoms a horse should have:
Food, water, exercise, comfort, safe enviroment.
POSTIVELY NEGATIVELY
Routine lack of routine
Good food/hay hard feed etc lack of good food
Consistent handling inconsistent handling
Clean bedding dirty bedding
Health and welfare lack of welfare
Dentist visits teeth not cared for
A good farrier a poor farrier
A well fitting saddle a badly fitting saddle
The right bit the wrong bit
Consistently good riding consistently poor riding
Note: A good farrier fits the shoe to the horse’s foot and bad farrier fits the foot to his shoe.
Note on Teeth: if in bad condition: poorly aligned, infected or loose. A horse might, bite, rear, refuse the bridle, evade work.
Note on badly fitting saddles: If badly fitted they may, can or will cause soreness, which may result in hind or front lameness. It they rock or slip or are too wide and are on the withers, they may cause, saddle sores, and damage. It too narrow they will cause atrophy of the horse’s muscles. If too long they will cause tension and soreness in the lumber region.
EXERCISE LACK OF EXERCISE
A good skilled horse person will know and understand that like people horses need to be exercise with a balanced routine, walking, trotting up hills, cantering, school work. Cavaletti work, jumping. A balance of tasks that will stimulate the horse’s mind is advisable. This requires a skilled and intelligent riding.
Doing the same thing every day can be ok, but needs to be balanced with outings such as racing, hunting, showing and dressage tests.
Horse Behaviour
Horse behaviour can be directly altered by pain or by inflicted pain. NEVER CAUSE PAIN TO A HORSE. If a horse bucks you off there may be many reasons but there will be reasons.
If you hit your horse or cause it pain in any way it will do the following:
Shut down, get rid of you, or get angry and eventually the horse will attack you. (Though this is rare it was common in Victorian England).
If a horse is in pain it will: move incorrectly, try to avoid work, try to avoid being touched. ie if you constantly girth a horse up too quickly and too tight he will eventually turn and try to bite you when you put the saddle on.
A horse may also try to bit you when you put the saddle on if its fit is not good or if it has ulcers.
If a horse does not want to do something there will be a reason. It is up the rider/owner to work out the reason.
If you cause your horse pain it will:
Believe you are a predator and react accordingly.
A horse will fight or run. Flight or fight or avoid you, knapp, or develop habits such as rearing, bucking and biting.
Believe it is going to die.
Refuse to be caught
Kick
Bite
Develop habitual movements, such as crib biting, weaving.
HORSES unlike people only live in the present.
People live in the past with regrets, present and future with anxiety and stress.
HORSES ARE AFFECTED BY TRAUMA.
How does trauma affect a horse?
Through their memory.
Horses have excellent memories.
If something happens which reminds the horse of a traumatic event. The horse will: bolt, kick, bite, refuse to do something; It might suddenly be fractious or difficult to handle, spin, back up. Etc.
If a horse has been in an accident in a horsebox, you may never get it back into a horsebox again. It will never forget.
If a horse has been badly attacked by a dog, it will never forget and will be afraid of all dogs. They can sometimes be retrained. It may work for a while and it may change their behaviour but if a dog attacks them again they will panic.
Always avoid allowing a horse to develop bad memories.
The nature of these guiding articles concerns the communication between horses and people. They have emerged from a lifetime of case studies, each one bringing a different perspective to this ancient partnership.
If we humans are willing to listen and work with them rather than subduing or breaking them into doing our will, we can learn about them and ourselves and enrich our lives in ways that were previously undreamt.
The articles here are intended to inspire you the reader to investigate ways of improving your communication with your horse and making his and your life happier and safer.
Copyright © 2013 Caroline Baldock