31/07/2024
Too often we ignore what the horse is trying to tell us under the guise of normalisation, “that’s just how they are”.
Sometimes in my practice I come across an owner who wants to normalize something that isn’t normal.
This sounds like:
❌ My horse works out of the stiffness/lameness after 15 minutes under saddle.
❌ He always crow hops after a bigger jump.
❌She throws her head around in the arena but not on the trail (or vise versa).
❌He always makes a face when I do the girth up.
❌It usually takes me 15 minutes to catch her and I need food to do it.
❌The left lead is always harder to get.
❌She’s always weaved in her stall.
These kinds of statements are usually followed by “that’s just the way he/she is.”
This is your horse speaking to you, over and over and over again. Please listen, before they have to get louder. Stop and think about what behaviors your horse demonstrates that maybe don’t seem totally right to you but you’ve just accepted them as “normal”.
This is a question very much worth asking of yourself, then your horse, then work with your trainer/horse care professionals to get to the bottom of it.
Answer the question as best you can, and you build a deeper, more solid partnership with your horse. Why? Because you listened. And then you did something about it. And your horse knows it.
