Horse Question Helping The Fixated Equine

 Thoughts on using the Human's Body to "intervene" with a scary object.

Answer:

One of the members of my Facebook coaching group asked me about the video with a dog where the owner used their body to "show" that a triggering object for the canine was "safe." They asked if a horse had a similar response and if I would approach it using my body the same way as what they tried to do with the dog.

The simple answer is no not at all.

There are many aspects of delving into this topic. I'm going to share in my writing a brief synopsis.

Until we can consistently engage the horse's brain, every time they are fearful scared, anticipated, or fixated, they have very little room to acknowledge our communication or our physical presence and we are then at the mercy of how they respond.

If during a fixated or fearful state, the only thing that we do is ask the horse to move closer to a concerning object, and then use our body to theoretically "shield" them from the fear-inducing object or the side in which the pressure of the object is coming from, we do not have the "tools" in our communication to help them mentally process the unfamiliar.

The only thing that would be occurring is whether or not we can get the horse to tolerate the unfamiliar object (i.e. "desensitize). But as soon as the object showed up somewhere new, it would feel like we were starting all over again trying to get the horse used to it. So we never changed how the horse felt about the object, which then led to a cycle of unwanted behaviors.

When the human is fixating on the "task" of getting the horse close without him thinking through the scenario, they are at the mercy of however the equine chooses to react. Which often starts with rigid stillness followed by rapid fleeing.

In my experience, in watching humans and horses together for the last 30 years, and observing how many horses will seemingly be what people call "curious," (which often is a fearful state with no curiosity,) if the horse seems to willingly offer to move forward, people assume the animal is okay with it. This comes from a lack of the human checking in with the horse mentally and little to no draining of his physical tension BEFORE moving closer (i.e. adding pressure.)

So the horse fearfully and rigidly moves towards the concerning item, and then "all of a sudden jumps" (usually at the human,) literally, and people act surprised.

I do not agree with asking a horse to move towards or near something if their mind is not available for my communication. If I cannot interrupt and redirect their fixated thoughts, and help them release physical tension to offer adaptable movement, then I have no way to help them through a scenario in a manner that builds their confidence, trust, and try.

The goal is not to move near the scary object, but instead to have the tools to communicate to support the horse during the unfamiliar experience so that he can mentally think through it, process it in real-time, and then offer reasonable behaviors.

Without having the tools established ahead of time, that have value and meaning to the horse, without triggering his fear, the more that we are asking of the horse to go towards or impose upon the unfamiliar item, we are then leaving it up to the horse to "survive" the experience and take over in however he decides to handle something. Then usually people criticize his often fleeing, avoidant responses.

I see so many people who want to wait and see, as they are watching the horse become more and more fixated, with his emotions escalating, even if his feet aren't moving quickly. Think of the horse in a fearful state as a ticking bomb, if all that you do is stand there or ask them to go towards the triggering concerning item (i.e. adding more pressure,), it is like adding fuel to the fire, you are teaching him to be defensive and distrustful during future interactions.