About problem horses and personality disorders

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By: Anjanette Harten EA NCAS Level II Coach

I’ve just finished teaching a great lesson to a lovely lady who has only recently started having lessons. She said to me today “ so if I stop thinking of my horse like a person and more like a horse who just doesn’t understand me my training will be better? “ Of course I said YES! 

She had started the lesson saying to me her horse was ‘lazy’ did not ‘respect’ the whip and was the most ‘stubborn’ creature she had ever met! This was in the first 10 minutes!

I then went on to explain to her that horses don’t have personality traits as she described (lazy, stubborn etc) that they simply react to the signals we give them. If you interpret your horse as being “lazy” you are labelling him and never expecting him to change; but in fact if you simply change how you think of it and say to yourself that he simply doesn’t have a good 'GO' response - that is behaviour you absolutely CAN change!

This prompted me to discuss certain problems that riders have with their horses and try to break it down into basic problems in communication.

Firstly it is important to remember that all training revolves around the horse’s responses to 6 things.

1. Pressure from 2 legs will always mean go, lengthen or quicken.

2. Pressure from 2 reins will always mean stop, shorten, slow or step back.

3. Direct pressure from 1 rein will mean turn (right rein means turn right, left rein means turn left) .

4. Indirect pressure (towards the neck) from 1 rein will always mean turn (indirect right rein means turn left, indirect left rein means turn right).

5. Pressure from 1 leg (e.g. right) will always mean yield the hindquarters (e.g. to the left).

6. Pressure from (e.g. left) leg will always mean yield yield the hindquarters (e.g. to the right).

If the association between these pressures and the correct responses is not clear and consistent, the horse will become confused and this will lead to tension and ultimately conflict behaviour. The most common of these is the use of two aids at once (such as using leg and rein pressure at the same time).

So getting back to problems...

Often riders will say their horse is lazy to the leg. NO, he just has a poor response to the 'GO' aid. We can improve this response through simple exercises that remind him to choose to respond to the light aid. All horses feel pressure and pain in the same way. They can all feel a fly land on their sides! Spur marks, continual whip use and unrelenting leg aids are a result of poor training and don’t happen because the horse chooses to be ’lazy!’

Some riders will identify problems with their horse being heavy in the hand and pulling on the rider’s reins continually. I promise you no horse chooses to have such strong pressure applied to his tongue, lips and bars, by a piece of metal!! He simply has habituated to this pressure and sees no alternative but to tolerate this unrelenting pressure. Those that don’t tolerate it try to escape the pressure by exhibiting a conflict behaviour such as head tossing, opening the mouth, tongue problems, rearing, bucking, bolting etc. These horses are labelled dangerous simply because they were trying to evade unfair pressure put on them by their riders.

The next common problem is “he’s so stiff on the right (or left) rein!”. When broken down to basics, this is simply a poor response to a turn aid. The extreme example is the horse with his head on the rider’s boot that is still running off across the paddock in the other direction!

A much more subtle example is what we see as falling in and out on the circle. It’s important to remember that turning is fundamentally about turning the horse’s legs and not just his neck! If you continually bend a horse’s neck without turning his legs you will simply un-train the turn response and create dullness to the turn aid. You will commonly hear trainers say you need to bend his neck more to “unlock him” or to make him more supple. The ironic thing is that the neck is the most bendy and flexible part of the horse and shouldn’t need extra suppling, the horse simply has poor responses to the turn aid. When the horse turns from a light aid you can gradually 'shape' lateral flexion without using heavy pressures. 

The yield aid generally has fewer problems associated with it but again if the horse is “lazy” to the yield aid, it simply means that he does not know how to respond to a light sideways pushing aid. Through the use of simple techniques this can be improved to the point that the simple sliding back of your leg will produce a light willing response.

The horse is one of the most beautiful and noble of all animals. They continually try and try to decipher the messages we are giving them. Always remember that problems arise because they are confused with the signals we are giving them...... they do not plan to be lazy, wake up in the morning determined to be stubborn or to intentionally behave badly, they are simply a product of the training they have had. The good news is that we can improve ourselves and then give our horses a chance!

About the author: Anjanette Harten is a full time Equestrian Coach, operating the long established and well regarded Tooloom Equestrian Centre in the Brisbane Bayside suburb of Thornlands. The Tooloom Equestrian Centre has been in operation for the last 18yrs where Anjanette coaches riders, takes horses for retraining, specialising in rehabilitating horses with problem behaviours and hosts clinics with visiting National and International trainers.

Anjanette and her current horse UQG Alladin are competing at Grand Prix with huge success placing Top 10 in their first year of competition at International CDI competitions. UQG Alladin is one of only a few Grand Prix horses currently in the Australian Top 10 solely trained and owned by one rider and bred in Australia. In 2012, Anjanette and UQG Alladin were invited to compete at the Equitana Australian Dressage Grand Final Grand Prix event, one of only 12 combinations throughout Australia invited to do so.

Anjanette is a current member of the Qld Elite Dressage Squad a position she has held on 4 different horses over a 14 yr period. She has trained 4 horses to FEI level, taking them from the very beginning of their education through to being successful FEI horses at State and National level.

Committed to coaching riders of all levels, Anjanette has regular clients and also conducts clinics throughout Qld.  She is a graduate of the Equitation Science International Diploma Course which enables her to confidently and accurately deliver information directly related to training both in hand and under saddle using scientific evidence based training. Anjanette believes in a training system which is based on the welfare of the horses and sustainable and ethical training practices. For more information call 0402 971 812 or email: aharten@outlook.com

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