What are spoiled horses?

In a word "disrespectful"

Spoiling your horse, in training terms, has nothing to do with how we care for it, but how we allow it to behave. Allowing horses to be pushy, walk all over us, rub on us, hunt in our pockets for treats, refuse to be led, nipping or biting, walking off when we are working with them etc are all behavioural traits of spoiled horses. Unfortunately these traits are seen as cute in foals and weanlings. Horse owners often mistake them for love and believe that these babies are less fearful and will therefore make better horses.

As these babies grow and this behaviour becomes more entrenched reality strikes. These cute funny babies become dangerous!!!!!!

Feeding time becomes an ordeal in which the owner is forced to drop the feed and stay out of the way.

Leading the horse through gateways etc without being knocked over or having our ribs broken against the gatepost becomes a real concern. Grooming or working with the horse without being bitten or knocked down means we have to be on our guard constantly.

Spoiled horses become extremely unpleasant to be around. Ask any farrier.

We Owe It To our Horses Not To Allow This Behaviour!

Disrespectful horses quite often end up either neglected or at the local pet food works.

Spoiled behaviour can never be truly reversed.

Although disrespectful behaviour can be managed in the hands of an assertive trainer or owner it will return the instant the horse is put into the hands of someone who does not have the experience or attitude to maintain it. Horses can, and will distinguish between humans who will allow this behaviour and those that wont. Just watch a mob of horses and how they behave around each other. The lead horse would never stand for this behaviour and the other horses know it. This does not stop them picking on the less assertive horses in the herd.

Horses that are taught to be respectful of all humans from an early age certainly have better prospects of a prosperous future.

I once had an emergency call from a very upset lady who asked, "Could I come to her house immediately?" She and her elderly mother were too frightened to leave the house as there very spoiled weanling had taken over the back yard and thought that knocking anyone down that entered was a great game.

Upon arrival there was an extremely well fed and obviously cared for weanling who just wanted to play as it would have with another horse its own age. The poor owner said that she just couldn't work out why it would treat her like that as "I have given baby everything it could ever want". How often do we hear that about humans who have not been brought up to respect others.

So What Is Respect?

Horses respect an assertive confident leader who appears to be in control during any situation. Because of the natural instincts a horse is born with to be a follower it feels most comfortable when it is around a strong leader. When in the company of a strong leader the onus is taken off the horse to be responsible for what is best for their well being and safety. Showing a horse the need for respect is the natural way of demonstrating to it that you are a strong leader.

This does not mean make the horse fearful of you!!!! Fear presents a whole new range of problems to overcome which I will cover in another article.

How Do I Gain The Respect Of My Horse?

Gaining a horses respect takes patience and understanding and should start from the very first time you handle your horse.

When handling any horse for the first time I always like to test its respect levels before I ask for anything else. This gives me the opportunity to immediately overcome any issues I may have with the way the horse handles.

To explain in full how I go about this here would turn a small article in to a small book so I will generalise.

Good groundwork is the key to respect. A horse that will yield its hind quarters, front quarters, move around you on the rope, maintain a pace until asked to change, back away from you (your body not the halter) with its head down, stand still until asked to move and put its head down when asked is generally respectful in all other situations.

Learn to teach your horse how to do all these things softly and without question and you will find that other respect related problems will disappear.

Remember that letting your horse stand still for responding correctly during groundwork sessions is a reward. If your horse moves send it back to work. Soon it will learn to stand without moving.

Reward your horse for the smallest tries when starting out so that it clear to it that it has responded correctly to what you have asked. You can build on this later and ask for more.

When using standing still as a reward always let the rope hang loosely so the horse can relax.

Ensure that your horse stands off you if you want to pet them, pick their legs up etc go to them do not let them invade your space.

Do not let your horse pick grass etc. during training sessions. A respectful horse will maintain its focus on you and will be attentive at all times. It has plenty of time to pick grass and look around etc when it is not being trained.

Walk and work around your horse with a quick confident attitude. Your horse will pick up on this and become confident and quick to respond.

Be patient and never try to out muscle your horse. They are bigger than us and will win. If your horse tries to run backwards to avoid going forward, follow it until it jumps forward, then stop and reward it. It will stop trying if it gains nothing from it.

Always reward softness with softness.

Respect Is Love and Trust

I have had many in depth discussions with horse owners on this subject.

If we can learn to gain our horses respect without making it fearful it will become evident that the horse trusts us and wants to be with us. Situations that previously a horse would have done its best to avoid will become much more manageable. The horse will gladly follow us across a creek or other spooky situation that previously would have been a problem.

Our horses will handle softly and be willing to try for us.

Anyone who has witnessed a previously disrespectful horse following a trainer around the yard off the lead, and with its head down after a good groundwork session will understand this.

Our horses will become a pleasure to be around, and in return, being around us will become pleasant for them.

Horses and handlers will enjoy the company of, and be comfortable with each other.

If that is not love then what is?

Put it into human terms. Remember when you were at school, the teachers you liked or disliked. For most they would have disliked teachers they did not respect.

The teacher that burst into tears when they could not control the class became the subject of ridicule and laughter and may have been an easy class because of their lack of assertiveness. Where they loved or respected? Did their students learn from them?

The teacher that was heavy handed and relied on fear to keep the class under control. They gained neither respect nor love. The students that did what they had to in order to avoid trouble but never the amount they would have done had they enjoyed that class. Did this teachers students really flourish?

The teacher who was, assertive, knowledgeable, patient, fair and made the class interesting and fun. This teacher provided stimulation for the student whilst making them comfortable with what they are doing. This teacher rewarded effort. This teacher was loved and respected by their students.

Remember if respect is not mutual it is fear.

You read and hear lots of rhetoric about partnerships in horse training and to a degree it should be a partnership of mutual respect and trust but we must be in control to a degree. That is our responsibility to our horse. To feel confident, comfortable and safe your horse needs a leader

Ian Leighton