rotten past
Most people have experienced a child throwing a tantrum at one time or another. We often see these little tyrannical episodes when the boy goes shopping with his parents. The child wants something that the parent refuses to give, and the child reacts with an emotional outburst. Children are not born with patience and understanding, those are learned virtues. When a child throws a tantrum for not getting their way, we as bystanders often think to ourselves “well, if that was my child, I’d fix that problem ASAP.” We are often surprised by the fact that the child’s parents do little to regain control and are mortified when we see them give in to what the child wants only to appease him.
I feel the same way when I see a horse throwing a tantrum. A horse can be spoiled by its owners very easily. The saddest part of the situation is that the owner does it in the name of love with good intentions deep down.
By “coddling” your horse, you are only setting him up for the development of bad behavior. I talked earlier in the book about how humans try to make a horse think and feel like a human. We assume that they are governed by the same rules of affection. We believe that we should constantly love them and give them treats to show them how much we care.
I’ve even heard people make excuses for their horses’ misbehavior like a mother would to her son, “Oh, he’s having a bad day, he’s not normally like that.” Horses don’t have bad days. That’s one of the great things about horses, how dependent they are regardless of outside influences. A horse may move a little slower in the heat, but if you make him go faster, he will. A horse will walk just as easily through snow in minus zero conditions as it will through a meadow in spring. They are very stable and reliable by nature.
When you see a horse outburst, it’s not because it’s having a bad day, it’s because it’s gone bad in some way, shape or form.
There is one exception to this rule, a horse that is in some kind of pain. I made the mistake of saddling my horse and forgetting to make sure his mane wasn’t under the pad. She became very agitated during the trip. She wagging her tail, not paying attention, acting like she was irritated and sulky. I stopped and checked everything, but found no reason for his discomfort. I kept feeling her contract the muscles of her withers as if she were getting rid of flies, so I thought maybe a horsefly was biting her. When I looked down, I saw that his mane was pulled back hard under the saddle pad and with each step he pulled more of it. She was reacting to pain. As soon as I fixed the problem, she returned to the normal state of dependency on her.
If a normally well-behaved horse begins to have a seizure, first check for physical discomfort. Maybe the webbing is pinching you, there’s a burr on the saddle pad, or you’re being bitten by a horsefly.
If a horse has a habit of throwing attacks, then there is a chance that it has been spoiled and needs to be corrected and placed back into a submissive follower state. A horse that is in a submissive state of mind will not have a seizure. You can’t, it’s impossible. Only a horse that feels in control and the boss will get angry or try to dominate a misbehaving human. A pampered horse is an aggressive horse. It will try to push its owner, just like the bossy child. He tries to make his owner do what he wants by launching small attacks.
Pampering a horse is the main cause of behavior problems. Signs that a horse is spoiled…
aggressive attitude
In the mind of an aggressive horse, it’s okay to bunch up his owner, pull him, drag him even if he wants to too. It can be in the owner’s space, even knocking him down if he doesn’t move out of the way. It is okay to bite its owner when the owner does not follow his lead or takes too long to comply with his wishes. He expects a gift no matter what he does, he wants one just for showing up. If you don’t give it to him, he’ll stick his nose in your pocket and take it away. In his mind, he is the boss.
aggressive attitude
The aggressive horse will mature into an aggressive horse, it is only a matter of time. Soon he’s biting, charging and kicking anyone who gets in the way of what he wants. If he doesn’t want to be touched, he throws a fit, he’s completely out of control. There is usually a submissive person running around telling him to be a good boy and that mommy will bring him some apples.
Human beings simply cannot understand that a horse does not get a good reward for overindulgence. Everything is wrong. It’s the worst thing you can do to a horse. You must try to find the balance.
Sometimes we do it ourselves, sometimes it was done before the horse was ours. It doesn’t matter who did it, it has to end right now. If you’ve been pampering your horse, just stop and learn a new way to reward him that will have positive effects that you’ll both enjoy.
Rule #1: Never let the horse into your space unless it is in a submissive attitude.
Rule #2: Never accept any attempt to dominate you in any way.
Even the slightest violation of this rule must be corrected immediately.
Rule #3: Never use food as your only reward for good behavior.
Mix it up with body pats and ada boys.
Rule #4: Never give him a reward before he deserves it.
That constitutes bribery. The bribe doesn’t work for you, it works for the horse. A horse quickly learns that by not doing what you want, he also gets a reward. Think about that for a minute. If the horse doesn’t want to follow you with the lead rope and you give him a reward in the hope that he will move, he takes it because he refuses and gets a reward. He won’t get the reward and then say “wow she’s so nice she should do whatever she wants”.
Rule #5: Be aware of how you physically interact with him.
Body language is the only language a horse speaks. Be confident and show control in your physical behavior. If he’s unsteady, nervous, or submissive, you’ll hear what he says loud and clear. You’ll instantly jump at the chance to be the leader of the two-man pack. You won’t feel bad about it in the least, either. He is just doing what horses do.
I spend a lot of time with my horses every day. I am close to them most of the day. I do it because I want to maintain my leader status and I love you. I consistently practice these five rules and they have paid off for me personally and my horses as well.
Human affection is natural to us as humans. Love for a human being is demonstrated through affective acts. We express our love between humans by giving gifts to each other. So it’s only natural that we want to do the same with the animals we love. But truly it is not received in the same way that humans would accept our affection. It just confuses them and makes them feel like they are in control. They don’t understand that we do it because we love them, they take our “love” and understand it as “submission” and it can destroy their relationship with their horse, and the horses ability to be polite and obedient.
The importance of body language
Imagine if you were to spend 24/7 for 5 years living in a pack. Imagine that you couldn’t speak but had to totally trust your body to convey what you wanted. You had to learn what others wanted from you to avoid being kicked or bitten. Imagine that for a minute. Think about how you would adapt and be able to interpret the slightest movement of the horses around you. This is exactly how your horse has been trained first, by the horses of the herd.
I can see when a person is scared or even nervous when handling their horse. Fear is literally written all over his face. It’s in the way they nervously stand out and to the side. It’s in the way they hold their arms defensively. If I can see it, trust me, the horses can see it too. They have spent their entire lives learning the skill of conversing in body language. When a horse is nervous in the presence of another horse, it indicates submission. A horse or a submissive person cannot lead.
You MUST lead or you will have to follow. If you follow, you will be pushed, bitten, kicked, and treated with much less respect than if you were the leader.
This article is an excerpt from the book HERD Human Equine Relationship Development written by author Tamara Svencer