KF Equine Behaviour

Here's a big one: identifying stress in horses. It's not uncommon to see a horse running around in their field and think they're simply having fun. That's great!

But... if we look closely, is it really enjoyment, or are we actually seeing stress?

Could it be separation anxiety? If the horse doesn't have access to 24/7 forage, perhaps it's anticipation of a meal (this in itself is a topic for a whole other post)? There are plenty of behaviours a horse may display that appear positive to us as humans, but it's important to learn to recognize when it's the opposite.

Excess stress can cause problems such as ulcers or potentially even physical injury, as a horse who is running around in a panic isn't always making the best decisions! So the less stressed a horse is, the healthier they will be, and that makes everyone happy. 🤗

Knowing when to stop and walk away for a bit during training (or even that particular session as a whole) is a skill that requires far more self awareness than many of us realize.

It can be incredibly difficult to catch frustration in the heat of the moment, especially when the horse world has sort of created this "win or lose" mindset against the horse. We either get our way or the horse has supposedly bested us.

This has been something I used to struggle with a lot - in the past, I would sooner push the issue to get what I wanted than recognize that my horse was struggling; however, with time, being able to call myself on my frustration and step away from the situation has created far better resolutions than starting a fight.

Negative emotions happen. No matter what kind of training we do, none of us are immune to these emotions and there's no shame in feeling them when things don't go right with our horses. We just need to be mindful so we can pause to acknowledge what we're feeling and then let that go without bringing the horse into it.

Stop, breathe, then come back. 😌

In my previous post, I made note of the fact that dominance theory has been debunked with horses. Since it's such a heavily referenced topic in how many people work with their horses (i.e., establishing a "boss" in the relationship), I think it would be helpful to expand on this a bit more.

Ethologists have observed more complicated relationships that exist within bands of feral horses; they are not as linear or simple as many of us believe them to be, nor do they display excessive amounts of aggression within their respective bands. But! We aren't dealing with feral horses, we have our good old domesticated friends - so why does it appear that most domestic herds often have very evident and straightforward hierarchies?

Resource guarding!

Unlike horses who live out in the wild with ample access to resources, many horses living under the care of humans have limited access in some way or another.

Having those limitations puts higher value on the resource itself, which gives a horse more reason to feel the need to defend it against others. This can be applied to anything that holds value to a horse, like food, shelter or water. Heck, even the human themselves can become a resource horses will covet.

As I'm sure many of us have seen, some horses are more aggressive when protecting a resource and this is what creates those bullies we see in domestic herds. In reality, when provided with adequate access to resources, you're less likely to see that aggression. Circling back to food as an example, providing multiple ad lib feeding stations throughout a paddock helps eliminate resource guarding. One hay pile (or hay net, for those who still need to control/slow down how much forage a horse is getting) per horse, plus one or two extra, ensures that there will always be at least one option available for every horse.

Management is an incredibly common issue when it comes to behaviour problems, whether that's within the herd or when working alongside us. The good news is that's usually a super easy fix!

I've attached a link to a fantastic video of Lucy Rees, an equine ethologist whose books I have found to be incredibly helpful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt5BG0V5jnA&ab_channel=eponatv

Real ethology with Lucy Rees, part 5: Why people think horses are mean When scientists want to study how horses interact, they often do it by trying to figure out which horse is more aggressive and how this aggression is shown. ...