How Much Does History Matter?

I had a conversation a while back with someone about the past behavioral history of a particular horse. It made me think about how much history should matter when we decide what horses are appropriate for what riders and what settings.

Behavioral history is often a deciding factor in what use a particular horse is put to. In some cases it can be the difference between a horse who removed from their herd to be sold or unfortunately even abandoned or euthanized. We assume that if a horse has demonstrated negative or dangerous behavior that they will reliably demonstrate similar behaviors again. This makes good logical sense, but I think we often forget to take into account the personalities and motivations of the horse involved and the particulars of the situations in which the previously demonstrated unwanted behavior occurred.

Horses are intelligent creatures who have their own personalities, motivations and ideas. Work with enough horses and eventually you will find a few that don't like you and you don't like them. These horses will go out of their way to test your limits, and only do as you ask begrudgingly at best. Yet they may be another person's favorite horse. Likewise you will probably find a few horses that you work exceptionally well with. Horses that will give you 125%, but may not give someone else the time of day. Sometimes I think we end up writing off horses as having "behavioral problems" when they simply have a personality conflict with a particular rider or handler.

Or perhaps the environment is to blame. Some horses due to past experiences or personality quirks are simply not reliable in a given setting. I knew one mare that hated arena work and would buck, kick, lie down and roll, bite and generally make life difficult for anyone who took her into an arena. Anyone who saw her only in an arena setting would likely label her as "dangerous or advanced rider only." But she was a completely different horse on the trail. She quickly became everyone's favorite when it came time to take the newbie riders out on the trail. She never spooked, never bolted, would do everything she was asked, and never showed the smallest sign of being barn sour or herd bound. Likewise I knew a fabulous lesson horse who was an angel in any arena environment. He was as bombproof as they come and perfectly content to go nicely along even for a beginning rider. He was the kind of horse that took care of his rider and made his rider look far more capable than they were. Take him out on the trail however, and you were in for a nightmare. He would jig the whole way out and back, panic and bolt for no apparent reason, and call for the other horses constantly even if half the rest of the herd including his best friends were already right beside him. If you had only seen him on the trail you might call him "spooky" or "nervous" but he only demonstrated that behavior on the trail.

My point is that just because a horse has bitten, kicked, or dumped someone in the past doesn't necessarily mean that every interaction they have with humans is doomed to end badly. Horses are by their very nature dangerous to be around. We minimize those dangers through careful management and mindfulness of each horse's individual personality and limits. Writing off the use of a particular horse due to a handful of bad experiences, half of which you may not know all of the particulars about does not necessarily do anyone any favors. It may in fact deny the horse and future riders and handlers some very valuable experiences.

Joke: If Horses Could Change Lightbulbs

THOROUGHBRED: Who ME?? Do WHAT? I'm scared of light bulbs! I'm outta here!

ARABIAN: Someone else do it. It might get my silky mane dirty and besides, who's gonna read me the instructions?

QUARTER HORSE: Oh for Pete's Sake, give me the damn bulb and let's be done with it.

SHETLAND: Give it to me. I'll kill it and we won't have to worry about it anymore.

FRIESIAN: I would, but I can't see where I'm going from behind all this hair.

BELGIAN: Put the Shetland on my back, maybe he can reach it then.

WARMBLOOD: Doesn't anyone realize that I was sold for $75K as a yearling, but only because my hocks are bad, otherwise I would be worth $100K? I am NOT changing lightbulbs. I will delegate the changing of the lightbulb to my personal groom after he finishes shampooing my mane and cleaning my saddle.

MORGAN: Me! Me! Me! Pleeease let me! I wanna do it! I'm gonna do it! I know how, really I do! Just watch! I'll even rewire the barn afterward.

APPALOOSA: Ya'll are a bunch of losers. We don't need to change the lightbulb, I ain't scared of the dark. And someone make that damn Morgan stop jumping up and down before I double barrel him.

HAFLINGER: That thing I ate was a lightbulb?

MUSTANG: Lightbulb? Let’s go on a trail ride, instead. And camp. Out in the open like REAL horses.

LIPIZANNER: Hah, amateurs. I will change the lightbulb. Not only that, but I will do it while standing on my hind legs and balancing it on my nose, after which I will perform seven one tempis and a capriole. Can you do that? Huh? Huh? Didn’t think so.

MINIATURE: I bet you think I can’t do it just cause I’m small. You know what that is? It’s sizeism!

PAINT: Put all the lightbulbs in a pen, tell me which one you want, and my owner will bet you twenty bucks I can get it before the quarter horse.

POA: I’m not changing it. I’m the one who kicked the old one and broke it in the first place, remember? Now, excuse me, I have a grain room to break into.

PERCHERON: Guys? Um, guys? I hope you don’t mind, but while you were all arguing I went ahead and changed it. Then I changed all the other light bulbs in the barn so I don't have to hear you all whine about it for a while.

Top 10 Reasons I Am Thankful For Horses

Today is Thanksgiving and I have so many things to be truly thankful for, not the least of which is the horses in my life. So after watching David Letterman the other night (love his top 10 lists) I sat down and made a list of why I am so thankful for horses (in no particular order).

1. They constantly show us that it isn't how big you are on the outside, it is how big you are on the inside that counts. Yes, ponies can be very naughty and trying to one's patience; but they never cease to amaze me with the huge size of their personalities, their bravery, and their sheer determination.
2. They remind me to be present in each moment. To lay my worries at the barn door, and simply experience each moment with them. Horses have pasts and futures, and while they remember their pasts, and act to influence their immediate futures, they do not get stuck in either as we humans do. Horses simply are what they are in the present moment.
3. They inspire me to believe in the impossible even when the world gets me down. In those moments when I ride and the horse and I achieve perfect harmony, if only for a few moments, everything in the world becomes perfect, and it is entirely possible to fly.
4. They never lie, and they never manipulate. With horses, what you see is what you get. In a world full of people with endless agendas who will say and do anything to further those agendas it is refreshing to deal with creatures who will always be honest with you. That doesn't mean that you'll like what they think or "say," but at least you're never left trying to read between the lines.
5. They have the ability to heal wounds no human can. From many years of involvement in therapeutic horseback riding, hippotherapy, and equine assisted psych I have gathered probably a hundred stories of the awesome power horses have to heal. Whether it is a troubled teen who finally found the difference between agressiveness and assertiveness with a horse; the ten year old autistic child who had never spoken saying "horse" clear as a bell after a summer of riding lessons; or perhaps the child with spina bifida who could not stand or walk gaining the strength and balance to start doing so on the back of a horse; the stories are many and varied. One thing however is clear, horses simply by being horses have the ability to help heal what we humans have failed to.
6. Horses constantly teach us the meaning of patience. Trying to rush a horse through a learning experience is like trying to stop a tsunami. If you loose your temper you might as well go home, because you are likely to make things worse rather than better.
7. Horses judge based only on what really matters. They don't care if you are wearing perfectly polished dress boots, or a beat up pair of sneakers if you're a dependable leader and caretaker. They don't care if their pasture mates are shetland ponies or percherons or if they are bay, black, grey, or chestnut. As long as everyone can find their place in the heard and play by the rules, they are content.
8. I will never grow bored of the paradoxical nature of horses. They are incredibly strong and fast, but they are also amazingly graceful, and capable of great gentleness. They tend to be cautious, but can also exhibit great bravery under the right circumstances.
9. Horses don't understand love the way we do, but they understand something far more powerful: trust and respect. We don't know if a horse loves their human, or if that would be sufficient motivation for them to do as the human asked. But we do know that if you gain a horse's trust and respect and give him the same and you will have a lifelong partner you can always depend upon.
10. Horses never think they are too old, too beautiful, too important, or too busy to play. Whether they go roll in the mud, see how far they can fling the nearest bucket, or race the gathering storm around the field, horses do what feels good. They don't get self conscious or inhibited about a little harmless fun. We humans could stand to learn something from them.