A QUESTION FOR THE FRUSTRATED HORSE OWNER

A QUESTION FOR THE FRUSTRATED HORSE OWNER

First, some insights….

To sum up everything I know about working with horses, it is this:

Horses respond to you and the situation they find themselves in based on how they FEEL. Therefore, any issue you are having with a horse boils down to what you are DOING to the horse and the DECISIONS you are making.

Horses can become worried and negative minded when a person makes them feel confused, frustrated, in danger, uncomfortable or sore.

It is up to the us to ensure that we do things and make decisions that don’t confuse, frustrate, hurt, damage or freak out our horses.

We can build great relationships and connections with horses where they can enjoy and feel safe in our company. Where they can learn to perform physically demanding tasks because we do things and make decisions that make them feel confident, comfortable and successful in being able to perform.

However, we need to learn how to become aware of what we are DOING to our horses and how to do better.

People can talk it up, tell me how much they love their horse and how much they know about horses, training and riding them. However, a horse will always show how well a person’s words or thoughts convert to actions and good decisions.

While everyone can talk it up, the people that will succeed are those that are prepared to listen to how their horse feels. Take this feedback from the horse and set about to do things that will improve the way the horse feels. Even if the horse has a physical or medical reason that is impacting the way they feel, ensuring you are not doing anything that is frustrating, confusing, damaging or freaking a horse out, will help in diagnosing and identifying the physical or medical issue. In many cases the issue can be caused by things such as poor saddle fit, poor hoof care etc. and therefore, corrected by learning to do better! For example, the importance of using correctly fitted tack, improve hoof care etc.

So my question to the person frustrated with their horse…..

Are you prepared to listen to your horse? Do you have the courage to be confronted by this realisation and begin working on your own knowledge, skills, fitness and confidence to help the horse feel better?

Or, are you just unlucky and you believe there is nothing you can do?