The Punishment Epidemic in Horse Training

Milo having a stress reaction during a photoshoot as a 3y/o

There is an epidemic of mishandling of horses. There has been for a while. Now, there’s just less of an excuse to be complicit in the spreading of it due to the wealth of information being shared and spread easily by way of the internet. Alas, horse people are notoriously anti-change. I don’t say this in an “I’m better than you” mentality, I say this as someone who used to be the stubborn, defensive and anti-change type but who is now in a position to reflect on my past behaviour and training decisions.

Now, what do I mean by this? Well, allow me to elaborate. We are all well aware of the fact that we are working with thousand pound flight animals. We know this to be true. Even people who do not subscribe to science based methods will agree that horses are flight animals. Their instinctual behaviour and entire way of being is still very much connected to the fact that horses prefer to flee from conflict or danger. They would much prefer avoidance of stressful or aggressive circumstance than they would facing it head on and getting aggressive, because this is what has been necessary in their evolution to allow for their continued survival. Sure, some horses may choose aggression over avoidance, but generally speaking, those behaviours stem from prior experiences of being unable to flee from danger and instead being trapped and forced to defend themselves. It typically isn’t a behaviour that is ingrained in them from birth, they will only choose violence if they have to, horses are very much passive creatures.

Anyways, now that we have established that horses are flight animals, here is the next piece of information, some food for thought: If we know horses flee from danger and avoid fear inducing stimuli, why is so much of horse training contingent on the use of force and pressure to coerce horses into situations that they are afraid of? In what world does it make sense to “fix” horses’ issues with things such as trailering by scaring them more? Reader, I must ask you, even as a human, who is not a flight animal, would you be less fearful of one of your main phobias if you were just poked with a hot iron until you were in close proximity to said phobia? Would this make you anymore likely to comfortably deal with the phobia the next time you encounter it? Probably not. But, with the flight animals, this avoidance reaction is tenfold. If we up the amount of anxiety by adding pressure and force to chase an animal into a situation they’re uncomfortable with, we are just creating a more profound stress response and giving the horse more of a reason to link an unpleasant emotional state with the thing we are trying to acclimate them to.

I can sympathize with people who are hesitant to use reward based methods in riding and I do not think you are evil, but when we are trying to handle fearful reactions from horses, we need to utilize systematic and kind approaches to help lower the level of anxiety. Sure, immense pressure may get your horse into the trailer, but generally speaking, it doesn’t lower their overall anxiety in the trailer and make them significantly more easy to load or less stressed when they’re on. But, you know what does? That’s right! FOOD. I can get a horse who is a bad trailer loader loaded in a fraction of the time it takes with pressure when I use food. I have fixed notoriously terrible loaders using food. Prior to using rewards based methods, I found myself angry and exceptionally frustrated as I continued to get louder and add pressure by using a bum rope or broom behind the horse while someone yanked on their head. The horse would plant their feet and pull back or, in some cases; spin, rear, back up violently or come up to the trailer, put their front feet in before firing back in fear. It took longer. It was more physically taxing on both me and the horse and incredibly frustrating. All to have to deal with the exact same issue or worse the next time the horse needed to trailer. Chewing of food increases salivation which in turn helps to buffer stomach acid and soothe the stomach of the horse, it also is a relaxation behaviour. So, even reward aside, the act of chewing is a tactic to help calm your horse. You know what promotes chewing? You heard it! Food!

It is amazing how much more willingness you will be offered when you remove pressure. When the horse no longer feels like they are being chased towards the boogie man, they can take a deep breath, stop and assess the situation and then offer any small approximation towards the end goal behaviour (in this case, trailer loading) and be rewarded for it. Quickly, they will realize that there is a fun and positive association with the thing that they once feared, this will result in lowered anxiety and increased willingness overtime. Due to the nature of things like trailering being so far opposite to anything horses view as safe and comfortable, there is an inherent anxiety related to them. For a flight animal, a small and dark confined box that rattles and is noisy and, more often than not, moves them to a new highly stimulating and stressful place is the epitome of danger. Their instinctual response is fear, to keep them safe. In a confined area, there is no option to flee, and as mentioned prior, this is the main defense and safety mechanism for the horse. So, think like a horse. They have a valid reason to be afraid of many of the things that we expect of them, so help them learn to soothe their anxiety and keep anxiety at a low enough threshold that the horse can actually effectively learn. We know for a fact that in humans and horses both, when their anxiety and stress response increases past a certain threshold, they cannot learn and retain information as effectively or in some cases, at all. This is because the body is now in fight or flight response and their energy output is now focused on being poised to save them from perceived danger. This is not an effective head space for learning.

Trailering isn’t the only training issue where force is frequently the preferred method. My sentiment regarding lowering the amount of pressure applies to basically any circumstance where the horse is responding fearfully. Reducing pressure is far more likely to get you further and incite lasting change than increasing pressure and increasing the stress response will. Again, this is due to the phenomenon of the stress response resulting in a reduction in ability to focus, learn and retain information. Lower stress will get you further in every situation you encounter, even for yourself. When horses are difficult, our stress response also undoubtedly increases, whether we realize it or not and far too often, riders are taught to respond with frustration. In turn, this means that punishment of the horse is reinforcing to the human because it allows you to release said frustration by applying physical pressure to the horse and “disciplining” them for their “bad behaviour”, which is really just a fear response. Retraining yourself to not have aggression as your first response to perceived bad behaviour takes time and dedication but it is never too late to start to adapt and soften your methods.

Horses are incredibly forgiving and passive animals. The amount of mistreatment they can put up with and forgive in training and management is truly incredible. We often have them isolated and deprived of direct contact with other horses, in living situations that don’t offer enough forage and result in stomach ulcers from acid build up as well as keeping them far too confined, which doesn’t allow them to effectively release pent up energy and practice normal play behaviours. But, despite this, horses forgive us. They learn to trust again even after training with people who abused them. They forgive again and again for the mistakes we make and will continue to make in riding and handling of them, because no one is perfect. Horses are truly incredible animals and I believe it is this inherent docility that makes them so likable and so fun to work with. But, it also makes them much easier to exploit because they seldom ever fight back and people take this passiveness as license to continue applying increasing pressure because “if they didn’t like it they would make us stop!”

So, here is your reminder that horses are not people. They are flight animals and are wired to react with fleeing from danger, in the same way you have that knee jerk reaction to draw your hand back from a hot pan, they may have that knee jerk reaction to flee when something surprises them and can act without fully realizing it. Similarly, horses differ from us in their ability to understand complex concepts such as respect. They do not have the highly developed prefrontal cortex that we as humans have. This means that when they do misbehave, it will never be with the intent to deliberately spite and disrespect their handler. Just because you cannot put your finger on what incited said behaviour doesn’t make the behaviour itself malicious. Viewing them through this lens helps to justify some of the harsh treatment we see as commonplace in horse training as it allows handlers to presume that the horse knows better and is choosing to act out despite this, which increases handler frustration and further justifies excess use of punishment.

Your horse is not out to get you. They aren’t just being stubborn when they refuse to load on the trailer. They are just scared. Missing their signs of stress and fear doesn’t negate or lessen their feelings. If you don’t believe me, try putting a heart rate monitor on your horse next time you do a task that you feel they respond poorly to out of disrespect or stubbornness. You’ll probably notice an increase in heart rate pretty quick and I would wager that it would continue to increase with amount of pressure applied. Heck, even go about testing for blood or salivary cortisol levels if the heart rate isn’t enough. The answer may surprise you.

Your horse isn’t spiting you. They aren’t disrespecting you. They are probably just scared and confused and looking for your leadership and empathy, instead of blame and punishment.