[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvfLmrZCrC0]
While the video doesn’t depict what one would call an aggressive horse, this video was shot at just his 5th training session. That’s all – just a little over 5 hours of working with him over a 5 week period of time. In hindsight, he had lost the sight in one eye and this made him defensive to the point of fight first. He had been a horse-for-hire at a local trail riding facility and was not treated kindly. The trail barn’s answer to his aggressiveness? Take a 2 X 4 to his head – that’ll fix ‘im. Right. So his new owner had called a local ‘horse gentler’ to come work with him and she was a bit more aggressive than this horse could stand. So, after one session with that person the owner called me.
Now, I’ve been called a ‘mamby-pamby’, been accused of wearing ‘kid gloves’, been highlighted as ‘one of those tree huggers’ and more. But, what most people don’t understand is the difference between “aggressiveness” and “assertiveness” in their own world.
Horses turn aggressive at the hands of man – aggressive hands. When a horse gets pushed too far he begins to by-pass his natural inclination to flight and goes right into fight – thus, labeled ‘aggressive’. The NATURAL BEHAVIOR of horses is based on their ‘flight or fight’ INSTINCT.
If they can’t flee when feeling threatened they will fight.
Understanding this basic, simple concept when working with horses goes a long, long way to helping the horse feel comfortable again in his world. Simply allowing the horse to flee when he feels the need (a horse HAS TO MOVE HIS FEET WHEN FEELING THREATENED!) can de-escalate and defuse what easily can become a total wreck with very dangerous consequences.
Watch the short clip above and see if you think this horse is ‘aggressive’. Comments and questions are welcomed.
As a follow-up, the horse was moved to a new barn shortly after this clip was made and, unfortunately, lost the sight in his other eye soon afterwards. This caused him to revert back to his aggressiveness and he was no longer safe to be in a boarding barn. He was euthanized last fall, 2008. The owner has since connected with a new horse and I’ll post photos of him shortly.
Hey wildstorm – thx for your comment. You are absolutely correct. It’s never about the horse. *grin* … its always about the human.
The owner was doing an awesome job with him. He learned to trust her implicitly and she could ride him anywhere – just the two of them. He learned to trust me in a very short period of time so was comfortable when around both of us.
Unfortunately, not everyone in a boarding barn is of the same mind-set when it comes to working with horses or even agreeing on the type of ‘relationship’ one has with his or her horse.
That being said, A horse is always a horse. And horses are uniquely empowered to read the intent of his or her environment. That, of course, means they can read humans very well and while someone may be smiling on the outside their insides may be in a jumble and the horse is always going to read the inside scoop.
I was sad to see him sent on to ‘the Rainbow Bridge’. I feel that he was not dealt a fair hand in his life until his last few months with his new owner. She was able to give him the gifts of compassion, sensitivity, honesty and love. So his passing was surrounded with GOOD intent …
She (the owner) has since gone on to get a new, young horse with whom she’s established a marvelous partnership! I would love to see ALL horses have such thoughtful, caring and understanding humans.
Ugh, I hate to hear of those stories dealing with “aggressive” horses. It’s the human that is the problem. A little extra time with that horse and he would have been fine.
Sorry about my rant comment! I enjoyed your post.