Equido Articles:

EQUIDO – YOU CAN LEAD A HORSE TO WATER….

Case Study One

There are disappointments in the life of a trainer, especially when it comes to working with remedial horses. However, surprisingly enough it is rarely the horse that disappoints you. I was asked to go out and help catch a 4yr old mare that had not been caught in 2yrs. She was in a 2 acre field on her own and was happy enough to come over to a bucket but don’t even think about touching her let alone putting a headcollar on her or she would disappear in a cloud of dust.

Working in a 2 acre field is not ideal but as I had no other choice I worked the little horse carefully using advance and retreat methods. She began to respond so I gave the owner some exercises to do to allow the mare to tolerate being touched. I left the owner working on these exercises for a week. My next visit seemed to show that the owner had been doing exactly what I had asked her to do and the horse would now tolerate being gently touched on the neck whilst eating a feed. I worked with the horse using a bit of a sneaky technique of placing the noseband of the headcollar over the top of the bucket so she basically put the headcollar on as she ate. After a few attempts I managed to slip the headcollar on and she was caught!

Surprisingly enough she was biddable and calm once the headcollar was on and I realised that this was the object of her fear. So I advised the owner to leave the headcollar on (not ideal in a field but essential in this case) and work with the horse every day. A week later I got a call again, disaster, the mare had apparently escaped into another field which was much larger and had got the headcollar off. Back to square one I thought! When I went out the little horse came right up to me without hesitation and after around 1/2hr I managed to put the headcollar back on (we had no food bribe) not a mean feat in a 8 acre field with a bad to catch horse. The horse’s behaviour and the owner’s story were not really tying up. It was then that the owner said she wanted her backed to sell her. I advised the owner to bring the horse over to the livery yard I was working from and I would back her there.

She duly arrived (she had been led to the yard as she would not load or travel) and we began our work. Within a very short time the little horse accepted saddle and bridle and was able to long line. I found her easy to work with and eager to learn. She accepted her first rider without fear or incident and was working along happily in walk, trot and canter. Her fear of headcollars remained though and you had to be very careful how you put one on, but she was improving. The owner watched everything we did and we taught her how to work with her horse. By the time our training was complete the little horse could be turned out in a herd in a 15 acre field with no head collar on and be caught with no difficulty. She would walk, trot, canter and hack out alone or in company and at this point I gave her back to the owner. Much to my surprise the owner did not take her back to her original field or sell her, but kept her on the yard as another livery. This gave me the chance to see just how easy it is to undo all of the hard work put into a horse.

Despite the owner witnessing herself what had worked best for this horse she very quickly went back to her usually way of handling and working with her. Everything we told the owner she should not do with this horse she did and all the advice we gave her for working with the little horse was not carried out. As a result, within a very short time (a matter of weeks) the horse was becoming bad to catch again. It was a difficult lesson to learn as I had to walk past this little horse every day who would whinny at me almost pleading for the help and understanding that she thought she had found with us. As it was not my yard and the owner was not my client I could do nothing. I did however not hold my tongue when I walked in one day to find the owner beating her horse up in the stable with the headcollar (I now understood the reason for the horse’s fear). The crowning glory to the disaster came when my husband was out cycling past the field the horse’s were in and saw a group of four or five people (the owner and her friends) herding all 10 horses (my own included) into a corner of the field with lunge whips and schooling sticks. The herd was frightened and the little horse was terrified. She had been turned out with catching straps (ropes/straps around her neck to grab hold of) and they still could not get near her. When my husband politely inquired if they would like him to bring the other horse’s in to make things easier they were mortified, some were pathetically trying to hide the whips behind their backs, they had not recognised my husband because of the cycling gear he was wearing.

The owner moved the horse not long after the incident and I remember being at a show one day and spotted the little horse being ridden by someone at the other end of the field. The horse was excited and she accidentally unseated the rider. The owner tried to grab her as did some other people but she would not be caught. I shouted her name and she saw me on my horse and came running straight over and stood with me. I quietly dismounted and gave her a nice stroke for being good then led her back to the owner. I will never forget the look of betrayal on that little horse’s face when I handed her back. I have since heard that the owner has been told by several instructors that the horse is not the problem, she is and she should sell the horse.

Why did the owner behave as she did? The only reason I could think of is that some people are so afraid of change or what they deem to be failure that they will continue to use their way (even if it is obviously not working) because they don’t want the horse to beat them. These people just don’t understand that the horse does not think this way and only wants to be understood.

Case Study Two

A lady asked if she could bring her horse over for schooling as he was being naughty and she would like him “sorted out”. When she arrived I sat down and took a lot of notes about their partnership. It became obvious that this lady seemed to take her pony to be “sorted” every few months or so to trainers and the previous two trainers she had been to I knew very well and highly respect.

Within a day or so of working with the partnership and after lengthy conversations with the owner it became very obvious that this was simply a mismatch of personalities. What had happened was that the owner’s remit had changed. She had originally sought a horse for simple hacking once or twice a week, but now, as her riding improved, she wanted to do more, to school, maybe even do a little show. As her retirement approached she had visions of the two of them spending lots of time together and being the best of friends.

However, when she first looked for a horse she needed a tough little laid back character that was happy to fend for himself living out in all weathers in a field and only being attended to and asked to work three times a week at the most. This required a very independent character that was not reliant on humans or craved human company. The pony needed to be tough and laid back to the point of being lazy so that if the owner could not ride for a couple of weeks (which often happened) he would be neither up nor down about it the next time she got on him. He was quite simply, a happy hacker. The pony she had bought was perfect for the job and had been fantastic for the first few months of ownership. However, the lady had a difficult job full of responsibility and decision making and as such when she rode she simply did not want to have to think too much and was happy to let the pony make much of the decisions and “take care” of her.

I know from experience that if you go down this route then you better be willing to accept that the horse just might go on making the decisions even down to when it is time to go home and you simply cannot blame them for doing so.

It was when the lady realised she wanted more from the relationship and was pouring affection onto the pony (human affection, kisses, cuddles etc) that she noticed the change. Human affection does not make sense to a horse, they are horses not humans and not all of them tolerate such behaviour. This little horse was one of them, he tried to tell her as plainly as he could by nipping her, barging her out of the way, shoving her away with his head, or simply refusing to be caught. But she just didn’t get it. Then she started to ask him to school! That was the final straw he must have thought! He began to be nappy, to buck, to make it clear to her that he did not want to be a school horse, it wasn’t what he wanted to do.

When I explained this to the lady she was very upset. She had this romantic picture in her head of a “black beauty” scenario and I explained that there were plenty of horse’s out there willing to fill that role but not this little guy, he was more of a “Jimmy Cagney” character more likely to punch your nose than give you a cuddle! She couldn’t understand why she had been advised to buy such a pony, but as I pointed out he was exactly what she was looking for at the time, it wasn’t his fault that she had changed the goal posts. He was a great little trekking pony and would be ideal in that situation where he didn’t care who rode him as long as was hacking out with his equine buddies. He didn’t crave human company and was a real equine survivor, why should it be his responsibility to change?

The lady went home and pondered her predicament. I heard through the grapevine that she took her “problem” horse to another trainer who surprisingly enough has advised her exactly the same thing. So she has spent a lot of money to get the same answer. I hope for her pony’s sake that she will now take the advice and sell him to a home that is more suited to him. He is an extremely safe pony who would work all day on a hack if asked to, is surefooted and keen and who will ensure his rider gets home safely. What more can you ask of a pony? (Just don’t try to kiss him!)

Case Study Three

It is hard being a trainer and either watching your work undone or having to advise someone that they should part with their horse, but there are many more cases where everything just goes perfectly.

I had been asked to help this lady with her horse who had just bucked her off and fractured her ribs. She had taken the horse to several “top” instructors who had simply advised her that she needed the buck beaten out of her. I was the horse’s last hope for if I could not fix her she would be put down (no pressure then!).

I was expecting to see a bad tempered, belligerent, single minded, obnoxious horse who simply did not want to work but what I found was the sweetest, gentlest, most willing and biddable mare I had encountered for a long time. Again, two and two were not making four! I carefully examined her on the ground and handled her and she was polite and willing to carry out my every request. As I watched her walk away from me I was shocked at how uneven her quarters were, I asked the owner to stand behind her and see how crooked her pelvis was. As I ran my hand over her back she almost sat down when I reached her loins. At this point I advised the owner she needed to consult a specialist veterinary surgeon as I felt there may be a problem in her hindquarters that was causing her to buck. She advised me that several vets had examined the horse and nothing had been found. I showed the owner again the horse’s reaction when I put pressure on her loins just in front of the pelvis and this time the mare politely (but pointedly) lifted her hind leg and waved it at me in a warning. The owner was mortified as the mare never kicked out at anyone, I explained that the horse was justified in what she had done as I was obviously hurting her quite badly.

The owner took my advice and in the meantime gave me a video to watch of a lesson she had received from a top instructor not so long ago. I was horrified by what I saw. The instructor had got on the horse “to sort her out” as she was bucking every time she went into canter. He was beating the horse continuously with a schooling stick (used like a jumping stick) and she was obviously very lame in the back legs, a point that he was missing completely. The owner was crying and begging him to please stop hitting her horse and it was so appauling that I wanted to send the tape to the proper authorities.

I received a call from the owner a week later thanking me so much for my advice. A different vet had examined the horse and found she had very bad bone spavins in both hocks. The pain, he said must have been unbearable, especially when asked to canter with the pain shooting up her back into her pelvis. She had been trying to compensate by holding her pelvis crooked and as a result had caused herself even more pain. He was not surprised she bucked in canter and was amazed she would even carry a rider in walk or trot, what an honest little horse.

Six months later I received a call from the lady to say her horse had completed her treatment and had been given the all clear. She understood that the horse would still be afraid of the remembered pain and asked if I would take her in to re-start her in her training and help her overcome her fear. This we did and she trusted us completely and tried her hardest. She was perfect in her behaviour and never offered to buck once. The owner came with her for lessons and rode her according to our instructions and carried out our every request to the letter. About a year later I received a call from the same lady to say how grateful she was for saving her horse’s life and to say that she was now a very successful dressage horse and they were both having a wonderful life together.

Thankfully there are more positive stories than negative simply because there are many more positive owners who actively listen to advice and are willing to make the changes needed to ensure their horse’s success. It is up to the owner to work with the horse and to listen to their needs. As the old saying goes “You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink”, so would you be willing to take a drink if it was offered?