Understanding Horse Behavior

by Elaine Polny
(Palgrave, Ontario, Canada)

Does this sound familiar?

The first time you ever got a chance to sit on a horse you were hooked! It happens all the time mostly it seems to little girls!
Why? I'm not sure, except I think maybe it's in our DNA!!, possibly science will explain it someday!

Needless to say after that experience, you beg your parents to send you for riding lessons. Of course that's after you have pleaded your case as to why they should buy you a horse. You are convinced that your back yard is the perfect place to keep him because Dad is always complaining about cutting the grass! Problem solved you think.

Finally, you give in to a weekly riding lesson and here's what often happens:

You go to the barn where the horse is all tacked up. The instructor gets you up there and starts to describe how to pull the reins to stop, kick him to go, and pull one rein to go left and the other to go right. You think horses are born to understand these concepts.

That may be fine and dandy on a perfect little school horse that has been through this drill a hundred times before. That horse even makes you look good and covers for your mistakes even when you didn't know you made them. After a time, everyone thinks you have become a good rider, except maybe that little school horse!

Now, that other horse in the barn that's so pretty is starting to appeal to you because she has so much more energy and loves to jump. Your confidence is strong and the challenge awaits you. So you convince your instructor that you are ready to move on and learn more. So up you get...... but wait........this horse doesn't seem to do the same things! This horse spooks at one end of the arena, tosses her head, canters when asked to trot, and doesn't back up, let alone have any breaks! Yikes!

You wonder if you are in over your head. Here is some examples of what most people do, get a bigger bit, use a martingale or tie down, tie the horses mouth shut and by golly make her go to the end of that arena! (To name just a few!)

That may work for a short while but if you have ever forced a small child to do something they either don't want to do or can't do (because they are afraid or are physically or emotionally unprepared to) you know that the negative ramifications are inevitably on the way! For example, have you ever seen a horse or a child have a temper tantrum?


I could go on and on about the dangerous situations people find themselves in because they were place on top of a 1000 pound horse without a full understanding of how horses think, react and process information.

THE SECRET? Simple, a complete education that begins with SAFTEY first from the ground. I know this because I experienced that traditional way of learning how to ride. Yes I too was an expert, in my own mind thanks to those well schooled horses. However, in reality what I know now....... I could have been killed at least three or four times! As luck would have it I was spared, if for no other reason but to share this information with you.

As a riding instructor and horse "teacher" trainer I feel that I would do a great injustice to both horse and rider if I simply teach how to get on and steer. After many years of witnessing the ill affects of this method, I choose to teach people from the true beginning. Where is that, you ask? It must begin with understanding horse psychology starting from the ground. After all you can't build a strong house on a poor foundation, can you?

Here's something to ponder..........

Have you ever traveled to a foreign country where you cannot speak the language? What do you do? Well, first you ask a question, and then you ask again this time much louder (as if by speaking loudly that changes the information!). You then start using body language. Ah! Ha! Now you’re getting somewhere. Welcome to horse country! They don't know our language but boy can they read our body language and feel our energy. And no, shouting louder at them doesn't make the information any clearer! If anything, it just makes them more fearful. Can you remember a time that someone yelled at you? Did it scare you a little bit? I know that if you yell at your child, they may come to attention but they also took a big gulp of fear induced anticipation for what may be coming next!

So the next time you are riding a horse, pause for a moment and ask yourself,"Do I understand what this horse is thinking or do I just think I think I know?!" Wow, that may hurt a little!

If you want an opinion, ask all your horse friends. If you want an answer, ask your horse!

Here's to bouncing around, but never on the ground (because that just hurts!),

Elaine Polny
Horses by Nature