Does Your Horse Need a Job or a Vacation?
What does your horse do for a living? Does he need a change from your routine to keep him mentally fresh and physically rested, or does he need a challenge mentally and physically to make him safe to be around? In this article I will concentrate on horses that are working regularly and horses that are seldom working. Both of these scenarios can be detrimental to the horse’s mental and physical well-being. Horses can get bored, physically tired and sore; they may not enjoy their routine and develop problems because of this. Some horses need miles and not training while others need training time rather that just riding time.
Many people who own horses feel obligated to ride or work with them nearly every day. I agree that as horse owners we have a responsibility to interact with our horses. But we get days off from our jobs to rest and relax. I think that horses need the same.
Horses are highly intelligent animals and get bored easily.
If a program is too routine the horse will lose interest and will start to fly on auto pilot. A program should be systematic not routine! A horse that does nothing except eat will get bored because he has nothing to do. He can become difficult to manage just because of a lack of handling. He has too much time to think up ways to get in trouble.
When horses work too much they can become physically fatigued. A sore or tired horse will not perform well and runs the risk of injury. If your horse is tired he will not have the energy required to learn what it is you are trying to teach him. A horse has a finite amount of energy and if you use it all up physically there is not enough left mentally. He needs a vacation! The horse that never works runs the same risks but for different reasons. He is likely soft and fat and not fit. He will have no stamina due to the lack of exercise. He could injure himself because he has no muscle tone and he will not be as responsive as he could be because he is not expected to do much. This horse needs a job!
