The Horse World's Cognitive Dissonance

Photo by Quinn Saunders

Starting out in the horse world as a young child during a time where internet access did not hold a candle to what we have today was weird, to say the least. All of my education was entirely reliant on the belief that my instructors were infallible and the information they gave me was correct and fair to the horse. Knowledge of equine behaviour from scientific perspective was not as mainstream as it is now and the vast majority of trainers were just doing the things they were taught and had learned worked, on an anecdotal and practical basis. We didn’t have the same number of studies we do today and the ones we did have weren’t as easy as looking them up on Google Scholar and getting the full PDF, so for much of the beginning of my education as an equestrian, I relied entirely on what I watched and noticed around my barn and the show ring. This led to a very skewed perspective that neglected an awful lot of science in terms of what was fair care to the horse.

I was taught all about showing the horse who was boss and demanding respect from them, or having their behaviour and “manners” suffer as a result. I was also taught that the softness of my horse in the bit was dependent on how much they liked said bit, not as a result of training of proper carriage and softness. This led me to believe that when I bitted up, my horse softened as a result of enjoying that bit more, rather than the bit itself being more aversive so that it took less hand to soften. So, essentially, from day one, I was raised with the belief that any resistance to training was the horse’s fault, not do to holes create by myself and others who handled the horses. Being so young and seeing so much of the harsher types of bits and other equipment in the horse world so normalized by people I trusted and respected made it seem normal and until I hit the age where my access to the internet was enough to really interact with other equestrians, I didn’t have an awful lot of means of education other than blind trust and lucking out on picking the right type of book to teach me common sense horse knowledge instead of it being twisted to justify the common practices we participated in.

This meant, for years, I was ignorant on the importance of things like turnout and herd communication for horses. I knew some basics about it but I was never taught how much stalling contributed to all of the vices I frequently saw in horses nor was I taught about the physical detriments of no turnout. On top of this, I was misled about the severity of the mechanics of bits and gadget set ups that I used or how they may conflict with each other. One of my saving graces as a rider was when I moved to a cheaper, non-showing oriented barn that had 24/7 turnout. Witnessing the clear change in my horse’s behaviour when we altered this one thing started me on a path of self reflection and looking for the truth online. In connecting with other equestrians online and being able to read a variety of scholarly articles as they were shared by others on the horse niche of Tumblr or “Horsblr” as it was called, I started to ask more and more questions and sway further away from what I’d known to be right for so many years.

This change happened over the course of months and years and a lot of it required me hitting a point of personal growth and understanding where I could start to come to terms with and address the previous wrongs that I was taught and participated in for so many years. As I made my way through high school and became more educated on how to decipher credible sources and what the best platforms were for learning, I was able to more easily put some level of trust in the information that I was given. Despite this, there always was still some level of resistance and discomfort with throwing away a previously school of thought that I’d grown so comfortable with, so this change took time. It took relearning different management techniques for horses and seeing the good change that it brought to my equine partners. It took educated myself further on how to produce a good foundation without utilizing shortcuts in terms of bigger bits, gadgets and otherwise. It took me realizing that much of the problems I ran into over fences or at shows were a result of my leaving holes in my horses training, not the horse being too strong or needing a different piece of equipment.

Mostly, though, my major saving grace was getting a post-secondary education on equine behaviour via equine science courses through Guelph University. These courses gave me access to the newest studies from the most respected behaviourists and equine scientists in the industry. These courses taught me how much of equine behaviour is misrepresented or completely fabricated. The entire idea of achieving “respect” from horses or employing the dominance theory had to be completely thrown out because the research simply did not support the idea of being able to instill respect in horses. In fact, it was impossible to, given the fact that horses lack the neocortex which is the part of the brain associated with human concepts like respect. So, in doing what so many traditional trainers taught me to, I had been anthropomorphizing my horses’ behaviour and doing them a disservice by viewing their reactions as disrespect as though they were decidedly defying me out of malice or in an attempt to “be the boss”. The idea that this was possible, in turn, bred more bitterness in my responses to their behaviour since I viewed it as them being out to spite me or doing things with the purpose of intentionally defying me. Then, the horse, who wouldn’t understand my frustration and even more so didn’t understand the task being asked of them, was the one to suffer.

As this new information started to set in and alter my role as a rider and trainer, there obviously was a lot of guilt for things I’d done in the past, or even things I’d just witnessed, and allowed to happen. I felt stupid for not learning sooner and not being able to adjust my methods sooner so my horses wouldn’t have had to suffer for so long, but at the end of the day, I had to come to terms with the fact that growth and realization of prior ignorance was always going to be preferable to cognitive dissonance and allowing myself to maintain unfair methods just because it would be easier to pretend I was never wrong.

More so than my personal guilt, though, it was hardest to come to terms with how many people I enjoyed as regular humans, deliberately would defy logic to excuse what they did to their horses. It was hard to witness people’s reactions as I started to share some of the information I’d learned from my courses, complete with larger scale studies with very clear findings. The insistence that their horses were different or that the research wasn’t their. That I simply didn’t understand because I’d not shown at a high enough level or trained with big enough trainers. That part was and is always the hardest to deal with because at the end of the day, as hard as it is for me to see it happen, it’s the horses who suffer. The horses who are stuck with people who refuse to self reflect and consider newfound, credible info will always suffer the most. Even horses in less than ideal circumstances will benefit from open minded owners with a desire to offer the best they can in their situation rather than deny it.

Anyways, the horse world is a place that really rejects change and it’s unfortunate that we are still comprised of large groups of people who value status more than well being. What I mean by this is that there’s way too many people who value the opinions of those with good competitive results above those who’ve educated themselves on a scientific basis and have the means to participate in and produce studies on larger scales. We value the opinions of Olympic level riders and big name trainers above those of professional behaviourists and scientists that study horses both on a psychological and biomechanical basis and as a result, have the sample sizes to make more bold claims than a trainer ever can based off of anecdotes.

The sad thing is, until this changes, we aren’t likely to see the masses demanding for better ethics in the horse world. At it’s core, the longer we normalize demanding respect from animals who can’t comprehend it and that large animals need to be hit and coerced into submission, the longer it’ll happen. It’s still way too common online to see horse trainers and riders alike mocking anyone who suggests the idea that punishment isn’t necessary at the scale it’s commonly used at in the horse world. From there, these types try to move to discrediting any idea of positive reinforcement, a concept that is commonly accepted in dog training and highly regarded in efficacy through major studies in both animals and humans, under the guise of it being as simple as “feeding a treat when they’re bad”. As if the solution to less punishment is rewarding bad behaviour directly by praising them for a treat and marking the bad behaviour. In oversimplifying what positive reinforcement even is and making it out to be granola-esque backyard trainers treating horses for running them over, people perpetuate the idea that being nice to horses is bad and a concept only used by riders and trainers who have no real standing in the horse world… And, unfortunately, people buy into this nonsense because they want to, it means they don’t have to change their ways and it’s easier for them to cope with. The types who eat this stuff up when they read it online are likely the ones who’d never click to read further into one of the many studies re: efficacy of punishment based programs in comparison to positive reinforcement based ones, but they need to read it the most.

This isn’t to say I’m against any form of gadgets, punishment in absolutely any situation including ones where the handler is massive danger, bits, horseshoes etc… It’s just that we’ve been using a lot of the same schools of thought over and over again regardless of whether or not said training schools are even backed by science or proven to be the kindest or most effective. In fact, lots of the commonly accepted practices in terms of high punishment based programs, no rewards because they’re “bribery” are a lot less effective than the positive ones. Punishment, at its core, doesn’t allow for any insight on why the behaviour arises, all you’re doing is punishing the behaviour itself rather than addressing the cause of the behaviour. This means that the cause may never get addressed and the symptoms change instead while the horse flounders with the best way to cope with whatever the actual problem is, all while getting little insight on what the correct thing to do is. As a result, an awful lot of horses who lack the resilience to cope with such confusion fall through the cracks and are labelled as dangerous, crazy and so on and so forth. The horses who have the resilience and are able to shut down rather than continuing to loudly exhibit their pain, frustration or confusion have to live in learned helplessness, a state that doesn’t foster a happy horse with the actual ability to be a real “teammate” or factored into a partnership. And, aren’t we all supposedly involved in horses for the love of the horse, not just the desire to dominate them and blatantly force them to fit into the cookie cutter lifestyle that we’ve grown so comfortable with?

It’s about time we start to reward good riding, good results and good welfare instead of just what we view to be good riding and results. We need to normalize more of the nuances of equine behaviour, because horses are such subtle beings which means their cries for help are often all too easy for us to ignore. Far too many experienced horse handlers are actually naive to what specific behaviours are telling them. That swishing tail, grinding teeth and biting at air when you do up your girth isn’t just your horse being “mareish” , they’re trying to tell you something. The best types of riders who deserve the most glory should be the ones actually considerate of their equine partners, not the ones willing to do essentially whatever it takes to allow them to maintain a winning lifestyle on the circuit, even to the detriment of their own horse.

It makes it hard for people to improve, though, when we misrepresent specific behaviours of horses and also what they’re mentally capable of comprehending or how the herd dynamic even works. The belief that horses operate through a hierarchy of dominance and respect is something that needs to go, along with the idea that horses regard us as other horses, rather than being able to easily tell that we are not among their species. We also far too often equate our treatment of horses using how horses sometimes kick or bite at each other in the herd, however, we also fail to acknowledge the fact that we’re not herd members ourselves, as well as how much more the typical rider will use punishment in a training setting than compared to horses within a herd in the first place. Horses also naturally know how to coexist in a herd, they do not drop out of the womb with an explicit understanding of their owner’s goals for them and where they need to ascend to in the show world by a specific time before the rider gets frustrated with lack of progress.

This is why it needs to become more commonplace to teach equestrians how to be horse people, rather than just riders. We need to take the time to actually learn enough about equine welfare and equine behavioural science prior to regarding ourselves as trainers. At its core, if people are commonly and easily missing behaviour cues for the animal they’re supposed to be training professionally, they probably need more of a behaviour theory knowledge prior to continuing to climb the ranks of their career. Good animal training should always keep the animal’s welfare in mind otherwise we are merely using an animal as a vehicle to our success, rather than including their well-being in our journey to success in the same way we value our own. It’s hard, though, to expect more barns and trainers to instill these values in students when so many lesson barns are reliant on exploitation of lesson horses without offering them the care, maintenance and time off they need because they want to profit. There’s way too many places that make their business off of educating young, passionate riders on the backs of soured and sore lesson horses, so there would be no benefit to teaching correct understanding of equine behaviour if it would mean their students picking up on all of the troublesome cues given by the horses they ride. And so, it’s a vicious cycle, one that our horses are just kind and tolerant enough to put up with, and so we let them and pretend its because they’re equally as invested in the sport and love the shortcuts in care we commonly take and justify.

Whenever I point out any basic welfare concerns, no matter how proven or obvious they should be, I upset people. I make them feel attacked or make them feel like I’m placing myself on a moral high ground solely by pointing out the aspects of the horse world that I find troubling. The thing is, though, my hands aren’t clean, either. I participated in many of the things that I reject now. I also continue to grow and learn as a rider and trainer and I’m sure in a few more years, there will be more aspects of my riding and training that I alter as I learn more about what is fairest to the horse and what is most effective in fostering a good horse-rider partnership. I also will still sometimes have rides that I look back on and regret not cutting the ride sooner or not doing something a bit differently. But, the best I can do is to continue trying to learn and adapt and criticize myself when I get too greedy in my expectations in my horses’ training. Humans are not infallible and we will all continue to occasionally make mistakes or realize where we’ve had poor judgment calls, no one is perfect, but the willingness to learn is what is most important.

There is definitely more than one way to train a horse, but as we study these amazing creatures more, there are certain aspects of horse care and training that people cannot continue to deny if they’re truly here for the best of their horse. Some of these things will call for uncomfortable conversations and realizations of where we need to alter our own lifestyles to be more fair to our horses. So, while there are various ways to use different training theories in your day to day life working with horses, there is solid evidence showing that punishment largely disallows the horse the chance to understand the “correct” way to do something and it also silences their ability to communicate with you, because way too many “bad” behaviours are them trying to let us know about their pain, confusion or frustration. If what we have with our horses is to be called a partnership, then they need to have a voice, plain and simple. This is why the frequency at which we justify punishment, often to the point of excess, needs to be something that’s addressed a bit more because while there may be uses of punishment that are justified, it’s simply way too easy to use in a manner that requires our horses to stop trying to find answers in fear of having their answer be punished.

To finish off this blabbering post, I want to reflect on some of the notable changes in my horses the last several years. Online, people commonly remark on how much personality my horses have as they’re often playing with each other or going out of their way to interact with the humans in their life. The increase in desire to communicate was directly associated with my allowance for communication, or better put, a reduction in the frequency I used punishers or labelled certain behaviours as “disrespect”. My horses more and more have vibrant, funny personalities that are almost dog like. Because, I let them communicate with me. This has also made it an awful lot easier for me to tell when things aren’t quite right with them and we’ve caught a whole lot of problems faster than we would’ve if I’d assumed the behaviours were disrespectful from the get go. I’ve also been fortunate enough to have learned to look at bits and other equipment from a mechanics basis and not so quick to use the excuse of these things being “only has harsh as the hands”. Looking at the mechanics of equipment and how much harsher they can make even the softest hands forced me to come to terms with the fact that the truly soft riders don’t look to use equipment to bully a horse into softness. This isn’t to say that all bits and gadgets are bad, but we definitely need more discretion in what we view as an okay normal because as it stands, we are pretty relaxed about some of the set ups we put horses in, regardless of how the horses likely feel about them.

I also realize, especially with Milo, that if I’d allowed more of a voice in our partnership sooner, we would have progressed an awful lot faster. Milo isn’t a horse who easily allows humans to bully him and lucky for me, he always exercised his voice when I was being unfair and this forced me to self reflect more than I would have if I had a horse who shutdown sooner. A lot of more timid horses would defer to whoever has the loudest voice (namely, their trainer) and stop talking as much as a result, thereby becoming more compliant, but withdrawing within themselves far more. And that’s where we get these deadheaded, expressionless horses who get the job done but lose parts of themselves as a result of the stress associated with fitting into modern training practices. I am so thankful, for this reason, that I started to adapt to accommodate Milo rather than just getting louder myself because I’m confident he would be one of those “dangerous” horses people would view either as a write off or one that needed to go and be “put in his place” by a cowboy.

I’m thankful for everything Milo has taught me. He has single-handedly saved more horses from putting up with the BS he used to, solely because of his demands of justice in how I handled him and refusal to defer to violence. I continue to learn everyday how to do better by him and at the end of the day, my entire life as a trainer is devoted to trying to understand horses more and more so I can help horses who’ve found themselves in the position he was as a rescue horse, or even worse. I still make mistakes, as everyone does, but I really am motivated to continue to look forward to more and more research on what we can do to make our horses happier, safer in sport, and allowed to live the most ethical lives we can offer for them.

The day I will have peaked in success as a horse trainer is not the day that I go to the Olympics, but the day that I’m able to offer a farm situation for my horses as well as horses in training that is catered completely to their individual needs. The ultimate dream is to have a massive plot of land filled with happy herds of horses in training as sport horses, but also able to be individuals with opinions and their own lives outside of training. The dream is to be able to have a place that I could set up not only for the betterment of horses but to allow up and coming riders from the beginning to see the right way to do it, producing horses without stall vice related stresses and other undesirable behaviours they exhibit to cope with the stress we put them through. That is the ultimate dream and at the end of the day, I don’t want glory in the show ring if it requires sacrificing the ultimate dream of good hodsemanship.