First and foremost, the horse is, by nature, a flight not a fight creature. That is why he is built the way he is. He is also neophobic, which essentially means that he has a fear of new or unfamiliar things, people, or situations -real or perceived, and will run or shy away from whatever it is instinctively. He is hard-wired to do this and there is nothing that the rider can do to prevent it – but the rider can minimize it if his/her feel, timing and horsemanship skills are sufficient and correct.  

Second, The horse’s physiological needs must be met. The horse needs food, warmth, shelter and he needs to feel safe. When these basic criteria are met then the horse can be educated and trained. If any of these basic elements are missing, then the rider is compromising the horse’s security, stability, and freedom from fear.

Third, the horse is a herd animal. As such, he has a certain position in the herd and is generally comfortable with it and will follow the directions of the leader of the herd. The horse does not tolerant ambivalence very well. He just wants to know who is in charge. But, if he sees an opportunity to move his position up in the herd he will take it.

The same is true when the rider and the horse come together. The horse wants to know who is in charge. Who will be the leader. If the rider does not exhibit the required leadership traits at the outset of their relationship then the horse will assume the leadership role which would be disastrous for the rider and their subsequent relationship.

The horse does this in subtle ways. He is very attuned to spatial relationships as a part of his language. So, if the horse encroaches into the rider’s space without an invitation or refuses to move forward on a lead line when asked  and the rider does nothing to correct this behavior, then as far as the horse is concerned he is the leader. He thinks he can do whatever he wants.

Using the invasion of the rider’s space as an example, the rider can prevent this type of unwanted behavior by establishing ground rules early on in the human-horse relationship that, in part, include clearly defining the space between the rider and the horse that the horse must not enter – except by invitation of the rider.

The establishment of these ground rules will, of course, cause stress in the horse. Stress, in simple terms, is the body’s method of reacting to a challenge. If the stress cannot be favorably resolved, the horse will panic and lose his ability to think – like tying him tightly to a hitching post rail in a manner that prevents him from moving his feet. But if the stress can be resolved by allowing the horse to work through different solutions until the correct one is found, in this case, release from pressure by staying outside the rider’s space, then the situation will be resolved and the stress will subside.

Other factors, such as maintaining the horse’s attention and curiosity as well as recognizing their achievements when they do the things we ask them to do will build their confidence in both the rider and, most importantly, in themselves.

The rider has a great responsibility to observe the horse as requests are made of him and if any signs of fear or panic appear, then the activity should stop for the the time being and the horse should be given some ‘dwell’ time (giving the horse a short time-out) so that he can reset himself.

‘Dwell’ time `is important in anything the horse is asked to do so that he can think about what has just happened and have time to process it.

Whenever the horse gives an honest ‘try’ at whatever the rider is asking him to do he must be rewarded with a soothing word or a light touch (scratching, for instance) within a second of the event to let him know that he is on the right track. These actions will give the horse a dopamine release and he will become more relaxed. Then the rider can build on that ‘try’ until it becomes an established habit for the horse.

Horses cannot be ‘bomb-proofed’ (unless they are dead), but they can become a ‘zombie’ horse with learned helplessness. Horses are genetically hard-wired to graze and walk for long periods of time, so they have a strong desire to move. To compel the horse to remain motionless or to tie him to an object so that he cannot move his feet is counter-productive and will cause the horse to become stressed.

Horses like their world to be in balance. If a horse is not balanced he will become anxious which leads to stress which leads to tension.

Horses that are not correctly educated through a progressive series of musculoskeletal developmental exercises (one can read here either dressage or gymnastics) will always be unbalanced and to some degree stressed.

Horses are great at forming associations, but are not great at reasoning or solving complex problems.

Horses don’t generalize immediately. They must be habituated to their environment before they become comfortable.

Ask one thing at a time from the horse – horses cannot learn two things at once.

The horse’s brain is about the size of a walnut. The thinking part of the horse’s brain is roughly the size of a pea. The rest of the brain is devoted to self-preservation. So it takes very little for the horse to get into trouble.

Always consider the horse’s point of view when working with him.  

Throughout all the rider’s interactions with the horse, the horse will always be learning and forming habits either good or not so good. What the horse does or does not do is a direct result of the rider’s actions or inactions with them.

Good training is largely about forming habits. Timing of the rider’s actions when doing groundwork or presenting cues when mounted is critical to establishing good habits.

The rider must be effective in his/her presentation to the horse to be understood and to be understood he/she must be effective.
The rider must not give in to spectacle at the expense of substance or fall into ego-based horsemanship – it is a dead end.

While some training methods may produce results, this does not make them correct, ethical, sustainable, or necessarily effective in the long run. The rider, keeping the mental and physical well-being of the horse in mind at all times, must always challenge the value and efficacy of the methods used by anyone working with horses.  

A lot of people make two kinds of mistakes when working with horses, either on the ground or in the saddle. They either commit acts of commission or acts of omission. Acts of commission mean doing something when they should not be doing something. Acts of omission mean doing nothing when they should be doing something. In either case, it is the horse that suffers.

True horsemanship is not a destination. It is a continuing progressive process of learning and refinement with a clear realization that there will never be an ‘arrival’ time. The rider will always be in a ‘work-in-progress’ mode.

If the rider sits passively on the horse without directing him coupled with an attitude of waiting for something to happen, the horse will sense this and something will happen, but it likely will not be to the rider’s advantage.

If the horse seems to be getting tense, either on the ground or when under saddle, touching and scratching the horse for three or four seconds in front of his withers can reduce the horse’s breathing rate and reduce his stress level.