Solving Horse Problems

Simple Approach to Solving Horse Problems

In my Facebook Group (see link below) I have started posting "mysteries" i.e. training issues I have come across and asking group members to solve the mystery by inspecting photographs or reading descriptions of the horse's behaviour. I have been getting some really cool responses from group members!

The one thing I have noticed is that people are excellent at considering the horse may be in pain or experiencing discomfort. This is excellent because pain/discomfort is typically behind the horse's behaviour. It is either a) experiencing discomfort; b) anticipating discomfort or c) has experienced discomfort in the past and learnt a behaviour that ended the discomfort that the horse now repeats as a habit.

Therefore, people are quick to point out the the horse should be check for any unsoundness, that the tack needs to be checked and if the horse is suffering any health issue such as ulcers or teeth sharpness....so in other words checked for "physical pain".

However.....people tend to miss two very important types of "discomfort" that tend to be the cause of MOST problem horse behaviour that I come across - confusion and lack of motivation or confidence. These are not as obvious "pains" or "discomforts". Let me explain....

If a horse does not clearly understand how to respond to an aid such as the bit, your leg/spur or whip they experience discomfort in two ways.

Firstly, they have this lump of metal in their mouth that you are pulling on and if they don't know how to respond that HURTS because you pull harder 🙁 The same thing goes for legs/spurs/whips or any tack that horse's are suppose to respond to. Just because you pull on a horse's mouth does not mean it knows that means to stop. Just because you kick with your legs or hit it with a whip does not mean it knows it is suppose to go forward or speed up!

Secondly, they are confused and having no understanding or ability of how to avoid the discomfort they are experiencing causes tremendous metal anguish, frustration and fear, which are all horrible emotional discomforts!

Next, is confidence and motivation. Whilst a horse may have an understanding of what an aids or application of tool/tack means they may have had their confidence or motivation to perform destroyed! For example, your young horse is going super at home, so you enter a competition. The problem is you have never ridden the horse off the property before. Never taken the horse out to a low key event or done anything to help build the horse's confidence and ability to work away from their home comfort zone. So, off you go to the competition and the horse totally freaks out and has a really stressful day trying to take in all the sights, smells and other distractions of the event. You ride the horse and it has this horrendous experience with you on their back. The experience is stressful and painful as you had to wrestled with them to gain control.....unfortunately terrible experience and ultimately poor decision can blow a horse's confidence in being ridden. A horse only has to have one shitty experience being ridden to build a negative association with the activity 🙁

Another source of discomfort is balance. Horse's get really stressed when they don't feel balanced. This can happen when you force them into head postures, ride poorly or get the horse to do things it is not yet balanced or gymnastically developed to do! For instance, I get a lot of horse's with canter issues. When I work these horses on the ground they struggle to canter with no one on their backs, yet people wonder why the horse is freaking out or refusing to canter when they are riding it!

Therefore, I hope this flow chart helps people address the problems or frustrations they may be experiencing with their horse. Bottom line is – remember there are many different types of “pain” and “discomfort” besides “physical pain” and how confusion, frustration and fear can turn into “physical pain” in the long run due to muscle tension, biomechanical issues or having their mouths or heads yanked on because they do not understand how they are suppose to respond!