Listen to what you're saying...

The journey of horsemanship is all a learning journey. When I say horsemanship, I’m not referring to just the riding piece. I’m referring to the care and stewardship of our equine friends. Learning to listen to our horses. Learning to listen to ourselves and putting it all together. I strongly believe the adage “When you know better, do better.” Sometimes, we need to pause and listen to what we are saying. What does it actually mean? Does it even make sense?

The horse industry is notorious for being about tradition. This is the way we have always done it, and this is the best way. I have noticed that also applies to mindset and in return the things we say.

I should preface this by saying that the owner and trainer in this scenario are very well intended. I do believe they want the best for the horse, and they are simply presented with a new learning opportunity (as we all have been and will be).
Let me set-up a scenario for you. A horse has been reactive on the ground near the right side of the girth. Under saddle, that horse is irritated, not able to turn well to the right, and has presented to crow hop and buck some. The horse spends some time with the trainer and is ridden a handful of times. The trainer reports to the owner that after a couple rides, the horse finally gave up and would bend to the right and not buck.

Let’s break that down a minute and think about what was said. The horse finally gave up. That would imply that the horse was intentionally behaving a certain way and decided to comply. OR the horse decided to comply because it was defeated and did not feel heard. Which is it? To determine that you must look at the whole picture. The horse was reactive on the ground in a specific area and behaved a certain way only when specifically asked to bend or move that specific area. That is a red flag that there is a physical issue. There are times when differentiated between physical and behavioral can be tricky. However, this was a clear-cut case. The main influencer here was the fact that the horse was reactive on the ground and the behavior was consistent under saddle only on the same side of reactivity. On this journey, I have come to determine that the fairest mindset to have is to always assume it is a physical issue first.

The horse indeed has physical restrictions that would indicate the type of behavior he was presenting. Behavior is communication. He was communicating that it was painful to move a certain way and was asking to be heard. The types of restrictions he had included fascial adhesions preventing abduction of the right shoulder and nerve impingement in the brachial plexus and phrenic nerve. In addition, his entire ribcage was compressed on the left side and pushed out to the right.

I was grateful the owner asked me to come look at the horse. She was open to learning the information about the horse and supportive of helping him heal.
Horses are so kind and gracious with us. The truly try to do the best they can, but they will communicate when something is hard. It could be hard for them emotionally or physically.

When you know better, do better. Listen to what you are saying. 

Thank you for your commitment to helping our horses be happy and healthy.
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Blessings,
Amy

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