Is there such thing as a 'naughty horse'?

I imagine this is something we’ve all heard when we were taught to ride and handle horses …

 

‘Don’t let him do that, he’s just being naughty!’



Nowadays almost everyone will say ‘there’s no such thing as a naughty horse, only a horse who’s in pain’

 

Which I don’t entirely agree with …

 

The new thinking now seems to be that every horse is in some degree of pain or has some kind of trauma which is causing them to act a certain way.

 

Obviously, this is the case with some horses & absolutely must be addressed and treated with care and consideration.

 

But I honestly believe that there are plenty of horses who are not in pain, but are potentially confused, unfit, scared, or simply not in the mood!



I tend to find that the concept of a horse ‘not wanting’ to do something seems to unsettle some

 

There seems to be the thought that horses are always willing & eager to please

 

Yet, there is also the well-known fact that horses are intelligent beings & can fully make their own decisions

 

So, surely it stands to reason, that sometimes a horse will decide that they do not want to do something, so they will do what they can to not engage with said activity

 

I know some people will say that animals have no concept of forethought.

 

But

 

If horses are capable of trauma response, they must be capable of forethought

 

They must understand that if X happens now, Y will happen later



 Therefore, I believe it is entirely possible for a horse to be ‘naughty’

 

I say naughty in quotations because I do not believe that horses will actively do things to be disobedient or difficult

 

They do not have the mental capability to be intentionally ‘difficult’ or ‘naughty’ as they have no concept of these behaviours

 

It is only our idea of what is naughty that we then apply to our horses

 

This is a difficult subject, because horses are also always learning, and they will realise which actions results in what consequence, especially if its of benefit to them

 

So lets say the horse does not want to go in the school, so they rear, they spin, they nap and are just generally difficult

 

If you then get off them & pop them back in their stable or field, then you’re reinforcing that that behaviour will result in that consequence –

 

And I truly believe that most horses would rather be in a field than at work, making it a positive consequence!  

 



So this is where having an understanding of your horse & a bond with them is essential for an optimum relationship

 

Why does the horse not want to go in the school today?

 

As mentioned – they’re not doing it to intentionally annoy you …

 

So why?

 

Are they tired? Too full? Too hungry? Dehydrated? Too hot? Uncomfortable? Hormonal? Did they find the pervious experience too difficult? Or boring?

 

If you can be aware of these things before working your horse, you can sometimes alter your plan to what will be more suitable that day

 

And again, this is a tricky area – as we all have days where we’d rather not do something, but we need to press on with it anyway

 

So this comes back to the understanding of your horse, when do we push on & say ‘sorry fella, you’ve got to’ and when do we say ‘okay, we’ll do something else today’

 

And I’m fully aware that I’m coming at this from the land of the idealistic, and real life is rarely like this

 

But I want to give food for thought, in both the positive and negative way

 

Positive in that just because a horse is being ‘naughty’ doesn’t mean that you’re now in for months of vet tests, saddle fitters, physios and farriers trying to pinpoint where the mystery pain is coming from – because it cant possibly be anything else!

 

And the negative in that sometimes if a horse is behaving in an undesirable way – it’s because of your actions or misunderstanding

 

And absolutely every single one of us, from the very beginner, to the Olympic standard rider has misunderstood their horse and got it wrong

 

And that is okay

 

Because although horses can feel testing to us at times, they are actually very forgiving, and will allow us to try again

 

And it is so often up to us to try harder to understand and cooperate, rather than dominate  

 

So I’d suggest we change the initial thought process to:

‘there’s no such thing as a naughty horse, only a horse who’s trying to communicate’



(I can’t take credit for that, I’m fairly sure I’ve heard it somewhere else before!)

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog.

 

I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments about topics you’d like me to write about, or any suggestions to improve my blogs.

 

For any other information, or to book a veterinary physiotherapy appointment, please contact me directly.

 

All the best,

Emma, The Biomechanic.

BSc(Hons), FdSc, MIRVAP, RAMP

07861195709

emma@the-biomechanic.co.uk

www.the-biomechanic.co.uk




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