Before you add more gear or gadgets to your horse…

A human unwanted behaviour from your horse is most likely your horse trying to communicate to you that something isn’t quite right!

If your horse is showing you, trying to communicate with you through his or her behaviour, muscle development or lack thereof, or posture when being asked to carry out a task, that you are asking them to do, or even when standing still, you need to pay attention.

Horse owners, riders, and handlers do not have the right or privilege to rule out pain, discomfort or weakness in horses.

We have no right to assume that horses are not in pain or discomfort or have a weakness that makes it harder, if not impossible for them to perform a task, movement or jump.

It would be similar to me telling another person they aren’t in pain or should find a task easy and pain-free. My experience of the task or how my body feels could be completely different to another person's experience.

Maybe I have blocked out how painful it was or I have forgotten how much I struggled with learning or completing a task in the beginning.

I have no right to assume that their experience will be the same as mine. I don’t live in their body just like we don’t live in our horse’s body. We do not know what our horses have to endure to achieve what we want them to do for us.

Horses are masters of compensatory patterns to hide their pain, discomfort, or weakness it is how they survive!

Horses are masters at disguising their pain, discomfort or weakness, if you choose to mask your horse’s behaviour with gadgets and gear, well-fitted or not, you could be forcing your horse into a frame that he is not able to maintain at this stage, if ever.

You could be creating your next problem, your horse’s next injury or even your own next injury! 

We cannot categorically dismiss pain, discomfort or weakness in our horses.

Your horse’s behaviour is your horse trying to communicate with you.

Are you prepared to create your next horse behaviour problem? That could be the consequence of you not listening to your horse’s initial signs that something is amiss.

Do you want to be the reason for the horse’s next injury or your next injury? Your horse may have to escalate his or her behaviour in an attempt to get you to listen!

What gear are you prepared to use to mask what is going on with your horse?

Improve your knowledge, research has been carried out on the effect of certain gear and gadgets on the horse’s ability to perform. Bear in mind not all research is good research. 

Take a step back and look at your horse’s muscles, compare the tone and symmetry between the two sides of your horse. How your horse’s muscles are developing or not is a sign, a form of communication.

How your horse is put together (conformation) could be hindering your horse’s ability to carry out what you are asking them to do.

What are your horse’s facial expressions trying to communicate to you?

How many times and when does your horse pin its ears back or swish his or her tail (and not in an attempt to shoo a fly away)?

Get more familiar with the signs of pain in horses, it has been researched and there are books on the subject for example - “Harmonious Horsemanship by Dr Sue Dyson and Sue Palmer”

I have experience with horses whose performance has improved when the gear or gadget has been removed. 

There are more things you should take into consideration…

Your horse’s vision, and how they see the world is different to how we do. What if your horse is sight impaired? What if he or she needs to adjust their neck and head position coming into a jump but can’t because there is a gadget or gear restraining them?

And then there is the possibility of emotional discomfort as opposed to physical discomfort.

Yes, it is complicated and mostly there are no quick fixes, only time and patience to assist your horse to get to the place of functional movement that is as pain-free as possible. 

If you’ve found value in my rambling today, feel free to leave me a message and maybe contribute to my next coffee.