Complicated Horses

I have worked with thousands of horses and riders over the years, including some fairly complicated horses. Although more difficult and sometimes seemingly impossible to train, the complicated ones teach us the most and challenge us to work the horse as an individual.

Complicated horses do not respond the way most “normal” horses do. They sometimes look for things to react to, making them flighty, over-reactive, distracted, scared, and confused. They are either very withdrawn or explosive. There will be moments when we think they have it figured out and they are back to normal, but then something will happen that sets them off again. It doesn’t seem to matter that we are taking things slowly and giving them lots of time to learn; they just aren’t consistent in how they deal with their lessons from day to day. If you have one of these horses you know how difficult they can be.

It is generally not the technique that isn’t working. There are more factors at play than we may be aware of. To reach these horses you must be prepared to dig deep, put your ego aside, seek help when you are stuck, open your mind to other possible methods, have empathy for your horse, work one day at a time, and not give up.

I will list a few of the possible issues that a complicated horse may be trying to deal with. Some of these things are very intangible, and too easily discounted. Do not overlook anything as being unimportant. Because there are many factors, we do not know which one is critical. Think of your horse’s training as an onion with many layers; the outer layer is there to protect the layer beneath it. The coarse outer layer is easy to peel away but the softer layers underneath are tighter and more connected.

Each plays a supportive role to the layer both below and above it. If one layer is damaged it could have consequences on many levels; this can cripple the horse’s ability to learn. Because these layers are connected, when we address them as a whole they will all improve. If we overlook them, they all work against us and, more importantly, against our horse.