It seems like the theme this last week has been the topic of emotional self-regulation with horses.
I’ve had several conversations this week with clients and colleagues about horses and their ability or, more so, the lack of ability to self-regulate. It’s a widespread issue I come across. I feel that often, a lot of effort is placed into teaching horses compliance or to perform certain tasks/behaviours, but not enough effort is placed on emotional welfare, mental fortitude and teaching horses how to emotionally regulate themselves in the world we place them into.
Ask yourself: how many anxious horses do you know? How many spooky horses? How many that don’t do well in new situations? How many that can’t settle down once they’ve been riled up? How many feel like a ticking time bomb or appear to have big mood swings?
These are all problems with emotional self-regulation!
Horses that can self-regulate will be able to work through moments of anxiety. They come back to a calm state after a spook in a short time, won’t spook at every little thing in the shadows, and will handle new situations without, as we’d say, “losing their marbles.”
Now, keep in mind that there is a difference between a horse that can self-regulate and one that is simply shut down. The goal isn’t to have a horse that never reacts to anything, or that doesn’t show any worry or fear! If I have a horse that doesn’t show any response to being in a stressful situation, then I’d be seriously worried!
Instead, we’re looking for a horse that can, even if a situation is worrisome or even scary, think through that situation, place trust in their handler, and come back from that situation into a calm state.
Unfortunately, so many horses aren’t ever allowed to learn how to do so, and they end up overwhelmed in the situations humans place them into.
It’s our responsibility as their trainers, owners and guardians to set them up for success in our world!
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I believe part of the reason why self-regulation is so often not addressed in horses is because most people don’t know how to address it. Additionally, it is difficult for trainers to teach it, because It’s something that takes patience, intuition and feel.
Even though trainers can help owners with by providing insights, by offering different approaches and pointing out the right moments, the reality is many people simply prefer to be given a simple solution. “Do this, and you’ll get a horse that will self-regulate” and the reality is, that’s just not how it works.
Now teaching the horse self regulation isn’t complicated, but it requires consistency over longer periods. You cannot expect the results in a couple sessions of “training”.
Instead, what’s required is good welfare, a healthy environment, the 3 F’s fulfilled, trust from the horse in people, trust from the handler in the horse, the patience to allow the horse to process things, empathetic training, and the willingness to wait for the results to show.
This is especially true for older horses. A horse that had the chance to develop this skill from a young age will have learned this quite a lot easier than one that has lived for a while in a constant dis-regulated state.
But then again, this is partially because we tend to have less expectations from a younger horse than an older horse. Even though a older horse that has never learned to regulate themselves, would be emotionally not as matured as a younger horse that has learned to regulate themselves.
Coming full circle, this leads back to people’s expectations for their horses and how training should look like.
It is why so many horses struggle with self regulation, and why so many equestrians don’t know how to manage it.
The solution? Changing the mindset of the equestrian world.
You can have a responsive, willing, confident and happy horse, with ethical training methods, and it doesn’t even require hours and hours of training.
BUT, you need to change how you view horses and their behaviours.
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