Behaviour Articles
Got a problem? You
can solve it by being a good detective!
By Cynthia Cooper
How many
times has your horse behaved badly? How often have you thought he/she
has an issue you must solve with either better discipline or a different
training technique?
I am often contacted about problems people have with their horse and
I’m happy to help them get to the bottom of the issue.
Over the years of solving various issues, I’ve realised it’s
generally not bad behaviour that is the true problem.
A horse will usually only behave in a negative way if there is an underlying
cause, so our job is to find out what that is.
There are the obvious things to check like teeth and saddle fit but
when you look closely there are so many other parts of a horse that
can be affected and therefore cause behavioural problems as a result.
Here
is my Check List:
Feed
(pasture, supplements, minerals, grain, hay):
What goes into your horse will change what comes out – in the
way of condition, overall health, ability to focus, strength, soundness,
gut health etc.
Having experienced first hand what the lack of a vitamin or mineral
has on me, I know how detrimental this is for good function. Without
supplementing magnesium I can be crabby and irritable at times, and
without good iron stores, I’m lethargic, tired and can’t
think straight.
So, the same can happen to your horse – if the diet is unbalanced
or lacking, then all sorts of symptoms can manifest – some physical
and some mental or emotional.
For example, a horse lacking in magnesium, perhaps because it is eating
false dandelion or flatweed, or capeweed, will display physical symptoms
of stringhalt.
An excitable, nervous, stressed horse may also need supplementing with
magnesium which is one of the minerals tied up by toxins coming from
weeds or grass.
An oversupply
of feed can cause a horse to be excitable or lethargic, irritable or
unable to focus. It can cause hoof tenderness which then causes a shortness
of stride, unwillingness to move forward or to jump, inability to cope
with hard surfaces and these can all manifest in behavioural abnormalities.
If you want
to find out if your horse’s diet is balanced go to www.feedxl.com
where for a small subscription you can have the diet analysed by special
software, and then make changes to get the right balance of roughage,
grains, minerals and vitamins.
Pain
– teeth, feet, body: 
Physical pain is perhaps one of the major causes of behavioural problems.
Some horses cope with pain better than others. It’s in a horse’s
nature to hide problems that may indicate to a predator they could be
the next choice for lunch!
When the pain reaches a point before it is physically obvious, it can
cause the horse to avoid any activity that makes it more uncomfortable.
When pushed to do things, a horse will display signs such as tail swishing,
ears back a lot, teeth grinding, head tossing, threatening to kick,
refusing to go forward, bucking and rearing.
These are all messages from the horse trying to tell us there’s
a problem and therefore should not be ignored.
A horse with pain anywhere in its body may show any of these signs so
it’s important to have teeth, hooves and body/muscles checked
out by a qualified, competent person.
Other
physical issues – old injuries or ulcers:
A horse may have limitations due to old injuries that may or may not
be obvious. A well qualified Equine body worker will be able to detect
those that can’t be seen, otherwise, you must rely on the horse’s
previous owners to reveal anything that might be a causing a problem.
For instance, I have a horse that fractured his pelvis as a yearling.
It is not visible but it has affected his stance and muscular development
to the point that he will only ever be a pleasure riding horse.
Horses that
are kept stabled, yarded and on limited or infrequent amounts of roughage,
can develop gut ulcers that affect their behaviour. If you’ve
ever had a sore gut, you will know just how little you feel like doing,
so it is no wonder horses with a gut ulcer are irritable and behave
badly.
Equipment:

Whatever equipment we use on a horse, it must be comfortable and fit
well or the horse will show negative responses. Badly fitting saddles,
girths and bitted bridles are often the cause of undesirable behaviour.
Horses are incredibly sensitive in a tactile way – just as we
are. We get cranky if our clothing isn’t comfortable, and get
rid of it. The horse has no choice, but to wear whatever we choose to
put on them, so it’s up to us to take heed of the subtle signs
when we tack them up. Ears laid back, moving around, trying to bite
or kick, holding the head high, are the only ways a horse can indicate
there is a problem with the equipment we’re using.
Past
issues:
If a problem is ignored or the horse disciplined for reacting and showing
its discomfort, then they will either ‘shut down’ and put
up with it, or continue to display bad behaviour, even after the situation
has changed.
A horse, like an elephant never forgets. They can forgive but that memory
of past issues is carried with them and it usually doesn’t take
much for the problem to resurface. Sometimes it takes a compete change
of attitude or ownership for the horse to overcome an issue sufficiently
for them to be comfortable and happy.
Positive based training such as ‘Clicker training’ often
has good results with situations where the horse’s past resurfaces
frequently.
Social
situation:
If a horse is socially deprived in any way during its life, it’s
behaviour will not be normal. It can range from excitability around
other horses, to separation anxiety, intolerance of other horses, to
aggressiveness.
It may take some time and patience along with a change in the horse’s
social situation, to change their behaviour. Being a herd animal, a
horse needs appropriate company for its age and social status to feel
happy and comfortable. It needs good leadership to feel secure enough
to leave the herd, along with a consistent routine to become used to
the activities we ask it to do.
Training:
There are probably as many methods of training or educating a horse
as there are horse personalities. Different personalities cope better
with some methods than others and it is important to choose the discipline
or pursuit most suited to the horse you have. Or go and buy a horse
suited to the discipline you want to ride in.
Even sticking to the same old training routine can cause a horse to
develop behavioural problems through boredom. Cross training is recognised
as the best way to keep a horse interested and athletic in their field
of specialty.
Rider/handler
ability & attitude:
Ability and attitude have a huge effect on horse behaviour so it’s
not surprising that beginners and those with a stiff, inflexible attitude
have more problems.
Some horses cope better with beginners, or are more forgiving, while
others will not tolerate their lack of independent seat, feel, timing
or balance.
Even amongst experienced riders there will be horses who respond better
to another style or way of being with them. I guess that’s why
there are a lot of horses for sale and magazine like Horse Deals are
so popular!
As in marriage, everyone is looking for their perfect partner so if
your horse is looking for a divorce, maybe its time to realistically
assess your situation (or have someone help you do that) and make the
change to a more suitable partner, or method of horse handling/training.
Instinctive
responses:
The nature of the horse has developed over hundreds of thousands of
years so no matter how good the breeding or the temperament, you’re
never going to remove those natural reactions or instincts.
Some horses are more reactive than others, but an understanding of the
horse’s instincts and the ability to see things from their point
of view can reduce many so called problems.
It’s
natural for a horse to shy or spook, refuse to step over or into scary
things (until proven they are safe) or to leave the herd. It’s
natural for the horse to run from perceived danger, to fight if cornered
or trapped and to experience emotions such as fear, grief, anxiety,
distrust, playfulness and high spirits.
Young horses and those inexperienced in the ways of the human world
will turn to their natural instincts quicker than the ‘been there
– done that’ older educated horse.
If we can educate ourselves in the way of the horse and learn horse
psychology or ‘know the nature of the beast’, we will be
more tolerant of their natural behaviour and be able to educate them
to cope with human demands.
So the next
time your horse displays some kind of ‘problem’ look behind
the behaviour and be a good detective to find out the true cause.
After all, displays of behaviour are just one of the ways a horse can
communicate with us.
When we get really good at listening to our horse, we will have very
few if any issues to deal with and isn’t that the relationship
without horse we’re all are looking for?
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