HorsesExplained

I call this the healthy body, broken spirit phenomenon.

We tend to care for our horses so well. We buy new saddles, rich hay, supplements and, of course, those fancy boots. We spend hours looking for the perfect blanket or the newest piece of equipment because we genuinely want the best for them. But sometimes we forget that our horses don't value those things the way we do. The colour of a blanket or the number of stitches on it means nothing to them. Those are small pleasures—for us.

That's why we can see depressed horses in beautiful barns. That's why horses can struggle mentally even in high-end facilities. Because what matters most to them is having their natural needs met and living free from chronic stress. To truly care for a horse, we first have to understand what he actually needs—not just what has become accepted as good management or what makes sense from a human perspective.

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If you're interested in this topic, stay with me. Over the next few months, I'll be sharing what research and years of experience have taught me about Horse Depression, chronic stress and emotional wellbeing. My hope is to bring a little more light to an issue that is often overlooked, yet very real.

- Joanna

Anja Beran is one of today's best-known classical trainers, with much of her work focused on rehabilitating horses.
This quote is one of the reasons I keep coming back to classical horsemanship. The goal isn't to get through a training session. The goal is for the horse to leave it better than he came in—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

-Joanna

I don't think force disappears because horses become easier. It disappears because we become better.
The more you understand horse behaviour, emotions and learning, the fewer situations there are where force feels like the only option. You start noticing things earlier. You see tension before it becomes resistance. You recognise confusion before it becomes "disobedience." You change your timing, your expectations, or the way you explain something.

That doesn't mean there are no boundaries or that horses should never hear "no." It means that force stops being the foundation of the relationship.
To me, that's what good horsemanship looks like. Not having more ways to make the horse do something, but needing fewer of them.

- Joanna