The Illusions of the Safe Horse

Many people I meet judge the horse based on how the equine's behavior makes the person feel (safe, scared, confident, anxious, etc.) rather than having any acknowledgement or understanding of the animal's communication to learn how to decipher what the animal is experiencing in real-time and howthat will affect his future behaviors.

This leads to a lot of "he seemed fine" moments followed by excessive, dramatic, reactive, or even dangerous  behaviors.

Illusions of the Safe Horse: Avoidant Horse Behavior

This describes a horse who is mentality unavailable to hear the human; frequently referred to as one that is "shut down, dull, dead sided, lazy, heavy or leaning on the bit, bombproof, kid proof, husband proof, etc. Orrrrrrr one that is, "always mentally anticipative and physically chaotic."

The misnomers come from a person's misinterpretation of the outwardly slow, still, and "quiet" behavior, thinking this is a reflection of the horse being okay with life.

The overly lethargic movement, postures and responses can actually be a build of emotions brewing inside that have been contained; until the day the human unintentionally presents something unexpected, and then the horse "suddenly" gets dramatic in letting out those pent up emotions and stress.

The contained horse will offer "quiet responses" to evade confrontation and to avoid conflict or reprimand. These are often displayed physically as:

Tucking the chin towards the chest to create slack in the rein, or evade the pressure of the lead rope, rein, etc. bit, but still moving in rigid, short steps.

Looking in the opposite direction from where something is bothering the horse or quietly fixating elsewhere to mentally avoid pressure (induced by the human's presence, activity, or anticipation of what might be asked of him,) while physically standing still.

The horse getting "stuck" on an idea; he offers only one behavior or response towards the human, becoming more and more bothered as he is asked to offer a different response.

The horse that you feel like you have to keep "starting over" with after you have previously presented something.

The horse that "always does ______..." in the same place, location on the ride, time in the ride, etc.

The horse whose response is to "do less" the more you attempt to communicate.

The horse who is overly "helpful," such as autopilot lining up to the mounting block, diving into the halter, automatically swinging his hind end around after going through a gate, over-enthusiastically loading into the trailer, etc. (These behaviors aren't a negative, unless you cannot interrupt, pause or change what the horse is doing while in the middle of the movement. There is a difference between a horse "asking you" and "telling you.")

The horse that "goes through the motions" without being mentally present; great example is the lesson horse that learns the pattern, the dude horse that knows which tree you turn at to head towards home at, etc.

Wednesday's post will share insight into recognizing and addressing avoidance.