Most riders at some point have had a challenging horse. I would go so far as to say that there are no “perfect” horses, there are only horses that are perfectly suited. For the record, I don’t believe that there is “perfect” anyone; horse, human, anything.
When you have one of these challenging horses, you will likely find yourself in an interesting place. You have a horse where things are not going smoothly for you in one way or another. There are those who say that if you ride for fun, riding should be just that; fun. If it is not fun then you’re better off moving that horse on and finding one that is. There are others that point out that no horse is perfect, and that perseverance through struggle is part of the journey. Odds are that you will have some people telling you that you are crazy for keeping this horse, and other people telling you that there is no way you should sell it.
I personally sit in the middle. I do believe that we learn a lot from the challenging horses. For myself, I know that a lot of the tools in my metaphorical toolboxes have come from time spent with the quirky horses in my life. There are those that have taught me to sit a good buck, those that have taught me how to deal with spooking, stopping, pulling back… you name it, they’ve pretty much done it. Some I have persevered with, and some I have cut my losses.
The truth is, I don’t believe that there are any bad horses (or people!). I do believe that there are unsuitable horses, but I also believe in taking every measure before deciding on that. Partly in order to give the horse a fair chance, partly for the learning opportunities, and partly because knowing that you tried everything prevents the next 20 years of “what if’s”.
The great thing about the challenging horses is that they force us to look outside the box. My more challenging horses have had me look into other forms of gear, different styles of riding, in hand work, equine psychology, equine biomechanics, alternative training methods, equine neurology, hoof care, nutrition etc.
It is these horses that have led me on such a beautiful path outside of just how to ride, or even how to compete. It means that I can approach horses from such a range of varied perspectives, and pick and choose what best suits the horse in front of me.
One of my challenging, but most rewarding horses was the horse in this photo. My beautiful Fox. My heart horse, who took me places I never dreamed I would go. Who also made me pull my hair out and stand in the paddock crying.
Fox is the most generous soul, and so I rarely had any behavioural issues with him. The one thing he did have in a big way was separation anxiety. When left on his own he would jump out of paddocks, break down stable doors, pull back, weave, and generally panic. Over the years this led me to try so many ways to calm him down.
I tried training, using groundwork and basic responses to help him stay rational and listen to me when other horses left. In some ways this worked, when he began to get stressed I would ask him to move forward and back, to turn his shoulders or his hind quarters, to basically keep his attention on me. I would do the same while riding, make the work more difficult or engaging so that he didn’t have the mental bandwidth to worry about his friend. It sort of worked - it meant that if I was riding, or holding him, that I could basically keep him with me. It meant that he no longer mowed me down in a blind panic. The disadvantage was that it only worked for me. If someone else tried to hold him they had no chance.
I bought a goat - having been told by multiple people that goats make great pets for horses with separation anxiety. The goat was cute, and Fox seemed to like him, but he didn’t like him more than the other horses.
I was given horses to be his friends so he wouldn’t be so attached to my other competition horses. In his case this didn’t work. He is very particular about his friends, and usually buddies up to one horse in particular.
I tried mirrors, with the idea being that when he was in the float, or in a stable (when we were forced to stable at competitions) that he would see another horse. This went down like a lead balloon. For some horses, this works, for Fox, not so much.
Finally it resulted in me taking him to a horse rescue so that he could choose a friend to take home. This earned us an ugly little grey pony, and a very happy Fox. I also gave in and just paid extra at the big competitions so that I could take a friend for him and stable them next to each other.
Not all horses are as severe as he is, but it also sent me down the path of researching separation anxiety. The sad fact is that all horses suffer from it. It’s just that we either don’t notice, or don’t really worry about it unless they display particularly troubling behaviours. As a result of owning Fox, I am very careful to never leave a horse tied at the truck on their own, to always wait for the last competitor if there is nobody left near the arena, and to make sure that every horse on my property can see another horse at all times. It has made me a far more considerate human (in my opinion) and someone who is highly conscious of the horses’ needs as herd animals.
in Fox’s case, there was no doubt that the heart ache, the time, the money and the effort were worth it. He is my best competition horse to date, and my equine soulmate. It makes me grateful that he gave me so many reasons to stick with him, even when other people thought I was mad (sleeping for 4 nights in a stable at a 3 day event springs to mind).
The next few posts are going to be some case studies from horses I’ve either owned or in some way helped to manage over the years.