A Safe Horse Is A Safe Horse

A Safe Horse Is A Safe Horse

What does that mean exactly?

It means, if a horse can resist their natural instincts to react for self-preservation, which then keeps humans safe, that horse will be safe from the horrible shit humans will do to them when they are of no use to them (humans).

That is harsh, I know. But it is reality and we need to stop putting our heads in the sand ignoring reality because it makes us uncomfortable.

Once a horse becomes a bucker, rears, flips over, bolts, kicks, etc. They are no longer safe from a horrible possibility of ending up on the slaughter pipeline, bouncing from home to home to home, start trainer hopping from one trainer to the next using harsher and harsher methods to “fix” the problem or neglected and forgotten in someone’s field. 

Yes, this can happen to good citizens too but it is far less likely, far far less common.

We want the impossible. We want the horse to behave perfectly despite our participation. They need them to put up with our bad timing, lack of knowledge, poor seat and heavy hands. If they are in pain and try to tell us, we don’t care. We want to go on our trail ride because it’s our “therapy” and destress time. Yet we want a relationship and partnership with them. As long as that relationship and partnership is a one way street of do what I say when I say it and if you have anything to say about it you are “misbehaving”.

Then the flip side is tiptoeing around the horse and treating them like glass. Never riding or asking anything of them because it may upset them or you are just plain scared of them. You inadvertently reinforce the behavior that will lead to you getting bucked off, ran over or worse. You don’t want to be a bad person, or scare your horse or stress them in any way. So caught up in your own fears, baggage and ideals that you cease to see the completely separate sentient being in front of you and what is truly best for them in the situation YOU put them in. Many times you are just a well meaning fairly green horse person who wants to do the right thing and fell for the guru fantasy talk.

Let’s be perfectly honest here though. Your horse doesn’t WANT you to ride them. They want to eat, sleep, hang out with their friends, play and enjoy their life. Work was never part of the bargain nature gave them. They are incredibly amenable beings though and we have taken full advantage of that. Can people develop such a wonderful relationship with their horse that they meet them at the gate ready for some adventure together? Absolutely! How did they do that though?

What is the answer?

Truly loving horses means to put them first before our desires, ideals and be self aware of our biases. Let’s look at some ways to do that.

1. They are not your therapy animal. That is not fair to them. They had no choice in being caged in your life. You do your own therapy work. If the whole reason you have horses is to help yourself destress and feel better about the rest of your life - do your horse a huge favor and find some other way to work through that which doesn’t involve relying on an animal with no choice.
2. Embrace the realization that you are their caretaker, their custodian/guardian/keeper. As such, you must do everything in your power to ensure they have the best quality of life possible. Do what is best for them as a species. Not what is best for your pocket book, what makes you feel good or what is convenient. Do your work to learn how to properly care for them and not rely on your vet, farrier or anyone else to provide you with that information or placate your decisions because they are biased. You pay them and they will tell you what you want to hear to keep your business or avoid an argument. There is so much information out there online and use your common sense. Ain’t no horse in the wild eating cane molasses and beet pulp - neither should yours.
3. Learn how to work with your horse. Develop your timing, feel and how to read them. Yeah, it’s hard and it takes a lot of practice. They deserve this effort from us.
4. Realize horses need balance and consistent boundaries to navigate for their mental and emotional health. Balance is not tip toeing around them terrified to scare them but also not sending them so far over threshold they become traumatized and become scared of you. Boundaries are setting realistic rules to keep you safe and for them to navigate but not changing them based on your feelings or lack of attention.
5. Keeping an open mind. Do not pigeon hole yourself into one ideal of how to work with horses. Learn as many different approaches, methods and techniques as possible. ALL of it will help you with your skill of observation, timing and feel.
6. Develop your riding ability and fitness. The amount of people who think they are a good rider but have a horrific seat and balance off their hands still surprises me. When I taught beginner lessons twenty some odd years ago, you had to earn your reins. You got no rein lunging lessons until your seat was good enough that you had independent hands and leg aids. Expecting your horse to ignore the pain your poor riding is causing them is cruel. This includes fitness as well. Riding is athletic and not riding like a sack of potatoes requires some level of fitness. Just because someone is overweight doesn’t mean they aren’t fit either. I’ve seen plenty of thin people with zero core strength sore a horse worse than a fit overweight rider.

But I just want to trail ride, nothing fancy.

Trail riding is the most difficult and dangerous thing you can do with your horse. It is the hardest thing mentally and emotionally to expect your horse to do as well. They deserve all your effort to become the best horseman possible too.

We cover how to do all these things in our courses and help you navigate these skills with coaching. If you want to learn more please visit the courses page on our website or shoot us a message!