Lauren Fraser Equine Behaviourist

12/03/2025

WHY DO HORSES PIN THEIR EARS?

A horse may lay their ears flat back along their head for several reasons. Why horses do this, and how best to respond is covered in this latest article for My New Horse.

If you struggle with this behaviour with your horse, help is available.

Learn what a horse with pinned ears might be trying to tell you so you can take steps to stay safe and address the root cause.

07/02/2025

LEARN ENOUGH SO YOU CAN ADVOCATE FOR YOUR HORSE

If my clients could give other horse owners one piece of advice (sadly learned in hindsight) it would likely be this: behaviour problems, like fear of the farrier, can be created in the blink of an eye.

But when you understand how to recognize signs of fear, anxiety and stress, and you know how to respond when you see them, you can greatly minimize the chances your horse ever develops these types of problems in the first place.

My philosophy with clients is to give them the skills not only to be able to solve current problems they face but to be able to prevent or resolve future problems on their own, as well.

05/02/2025

EFFECT OF HOUSING TYPE ON HORSE HEALTH

Horses are frequently housed alone. This may be done in an effort to keep the horse safer and more healthy. But are horses who are housed alone less likely to be sick or injured?

A field study looking at health issues of managed horses found that those housed in open barn groups showed fewer incidences of colic and lameness compared to stalled, isolated horses. While horses housed in open barns had an increased incidence of wounds, the wounds were minor enough to not interfere with the horses ability to work. You can read more here:

https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/evj.14054

27/01/2025

BLINDFOLDING HORSES TO GET THEM TO SAFETY?

Despite what Hollywood - and anecdotal evidence - says, a recent MS thesis study has shown that blindfolding horses may not be the best way to get them out of a burning building or into a trailer in an emergency.

In general, the blindfolded horses in the study required more time and greater lead rope pressure when handled: being haltered, blindfolded, and led from a familiar stall. The horses also showed more behaviours consistent with avoidance, or active refusal.

These findings suggest that in emergency situations, blindfolding is likely to increase the time needed to move or handle horses, and make them more dangerous to handle too. This could be in part because when horses are blindfolded, their vestibular and proprioceptive systems (how they balance and orient themselves in their environment) have to work much harder. The horse will struggle to find and maintain their balance, which is frightening - even for an animal in a calm situation.

You can read the full 2024 study 'Compliance or confusion? The usefulness of blindfolding horses as a handling technique' here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159124000285

26/01/2025

HERD BOUND HORSES 101

Herd bound is a term used to describe horses who become distressed when asked to leave other horses or when they are left by horses. They may call, sweat, run the fence line, weave, paw, or even hurt themselves breaking through fences or pulling back when tied, and so on.

It's important to understand a few things when dealing with the horse who behaves this way. The most important thing is that it's normal. It is normal for horses to get stressed when separated from other horses. Horses have evolved to live in groups, and outside of when a mare gives birth to a foal, healthy horses choose to be with others.

But when we humans want to do things with horses, this normal behaviour can become a problem. When horses are not sympathetically and progressively taught to deal with temporary social isolation, they will become distressed when separated from others.

Other factors such as certain weaning practices, particularly premature weaning at 4-6 months of age, and a lack of early and appropriate socialization experiences can profoundly affect how a horse will behave when separated from others. Traumatic events or lack of socialization can greatly worsen normal distress over separation. It can also make it much more challenging for horses who have experienced such trauma to ever be comfortable with temporary separation.

When helping horses overcome this distress it's critical that owners understand what to look for and how to respond. For example, during retraining, horses should show ‘attention without tension’; they should be aware of what's happening but should never be distressed. Also, the use of functional reinforcers – the very thing the horse is trying to gain by behaving this way - can be helpful.

Horse behaviour professionals do not recommend techniques such as flooding, which is fear-triggering full exposure to the thing the horse fears--in this case separation from others. Not only is it unnecessary to solve the problem, but it causes the horse great distress, makes it much harder for them to learn, and can even create new problems.

17/01/2025

SCARED HORSES ARE PRETTY HORSES

My friend Katie and I share a love of horses, good discussions, and, as you'll come to learn, photo opportunities.

A while back, my old cattle dog, Fiver, needed to wear a 'cone of shame' after having surgery. Not thinking too much about it, I let Fiver out to come up to the arena with me. Fiver wandered off while I caught my mare Viveza. As you may have guessed by the picture with this post, Fiver wandered back into view just as I was bringing Viveza into the arena.

Viveza, to the best of my knowledge, had never previously seen a dog wearing a bucket collar, and she viewed this new beast as a potential threat. Her sympathetic nervous system, the 'flight or fight' response, was triggered, preparing her body to escape what her brain had just determined to be a potentially dangerous situation:

• adrenaline was released, increasing blood flow and nutrients to her muscles so that she could flee or fight as needed
• her pupils dilated to allow more light to enter her eye, so she could better see the threat
• her heart rate and breathing increased, better allowing for the delivery of energy and oxygen to her body during this encounter
• the unpleasant emotion of fear was triggered, causing her only to be concerned with getting away safely

While we couldn't see the physiological changes occurring inside Viveza's body, we could see changes in her body language. Her muscles became taught, she stood squarely, her neck arched, her head elevated, and her gaze fixed on the dog.

I managed the situation (I had accidentally created) as best as I could, getting Fiver in a building to minimize the chances Viveza suffered either a physical or behavioural injury.

After the metaphoric dust had settled, Katie and I looked at the picture she had snapped right as Viveza saw Fiver. One of us said something we have discussed previously, 'scared horses are pretty horses'. This wasn't meant to minimize the fear Viveza felt, nor do we think frightened horses are prettier than calm horses. Rather, we have talked previously at length about images shared on social media where the person sharing feels the image shows a 'pretty' horse--but all we can see are the signs of stress or fear.

Images of stressed or frightened 'pretty' horses aren't a new, social media phenomenon. Wander around a city, and you’ll see a statue of a long-dead general on a stressed horse. Visit a museum, and view centuries-old artistic depictions of frightened horses. For hundreds of years, people have been desensitized to images of stressed or frightened horses. It's totally normal, and accepted, for stressed horses to be seen as pretty.

When we learn more about horse behaviour and begin to train our eye to recognize signs of fear or stress, such images begin to lose their pretty status. And that's OK.

15/01/2025

HORSE MISBEHAVING? HOW TO FIND HELP

I thoroughly enjoy writing monthly articles for My New Horse. It is amassing a comprehensive library of practical information for new horse owners, and I'm thrilled to be one of the contributors.

The latest article discusses why horses misbehave and where to find qualified help.

If you're dealing with a 'misbehaving' horse, it's important to understand why he's reacting that way and how to get professional help.

21/12/2024

'HOW CAN I TELL IF MY HORSE LIKES ME?'

A seemingly simple question, with a somewhat complex answer!

A burning question for many new horse owners is, does my horse like me? This seemingly simple question has a somewhat complex answer.

04/12/2024

HELPING HORSE OWNERS IDENTIFY PAIN IN HORSES

Musculoskeletal disease (having to do with muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, joints, and cartilage) is a common cause of chronic pain in horses. Unfortunately, owners frequently struggle to perceive this pain in their horses, leaving it untreated.

Pain is an unpleasant experience, one from which horses are not exempt. Pain can also cause horses to behave in ways people don’t like. Thankfully, recognising pain is a learnable skill, and a new validated pain scale hopes to help with that. The musculoskeletal pain scale (MPS) was tested on 154 horses, and it was demonstrated that both horse owners and veterinarians were better able to identify musculoskeletal pain in horses when using the new pain scale.

While pain scales pose a promising way to hone the observation skills of both horse owners and veterinarians, most pain scales have not yet been tested extensively in clinical settings. As in human medicine, feasibility and reliability are critical factors in determining if a pain scale can be helpful in real-world settings. Some scales require more time than may be available to use in critical situations, while others require prior training by staff to achieve repeatable results.

However, given pain's negative impact on horse well-being, it's always better to err on the side of caution and try and determine if pain is present, rather than brushing it off and blaming the horse for misbehaviour.

You can read the full paper, Development, refinement, and validation of an equine musculoskeletal pain scale, here: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pain-research/articles/10.3389/fpain.2023.1292299/full

03/12/2024

LOVE YOUR HORSE (OR DONKEY) BUT NOT THEIR BEHAVIOUR?

This donkey recently struggled with feeling afraid to get a drink from the water trough. Even without winter coming, this posed a serious threat to his physical health.

But my client was able to implement the suggestions I gave her, and he is now feeling much more comfortable—and staying hydrated.

Sometimes all it takes is a little triage advice to make big changes and help horses (and donkeys) feel better.

02/12/2024

MISBEHAVING HORSES: TRAINING PROBLEM OR BEHAVIOUR PROBLEM?

Sometimes, horses behave in ways that negatively impact the owner’s goals. They may not perform as desired, or they may do things that are confusing, frustrating or even dangerous. In order to work towards a resolution, a good first question to ask is, “Is this a training problem, or a behaviour problem?”

My latest article, written for Horse Canada, is now online.

A good first question to ask when a horse is misbehaving is, 'Is this a training problem or a behaviour problem?'

16/09/2024

PULLING BACK WHEN TIED

Pulling back when tied is a common, and dangerous, behaviour that some horses perform. In my latest article for My New Horse, I discuss this behaviour, and some of the do’s and don’t’s of addressing the problem.

If you still have questions about your horse’s behaviour after reading the article, check out my new service designed to help owners get answers to their horse behaviour questions, fast. The Horse Behaviour Help Hotline:

https://www.equinebehaviorist.ca/horse-behaviour-help-hotline

If you have a horse that pulls back when tied, here’s what to do (and not do!) to manage this particular problem.

12/08/2024

'HERD BOUND' BEHAVIOUR

Many owners complain of herd-bound behaviours in their horses. A “herd-bound” horse is one that becomes upset or agitated by any change in proximity to other horses. For example, when a rider attempts to lead a horse away from the barn, the horse balks (plants his feet), spins toward home, or even rears. Or, a stalled horse weaves back and forth as a neighbouring horse is haltered and begins to run circles in the stall and vocalize loudly when the neighbour is taken away. This behaviour can occur with other horses in general or with one specific horse.

Why horses behave this way and what can be done about the behaviour is the topic of my latest article for My New Horse.

Do you have a herd-bound horse that experiences separation distress from other horses? An equine behaviorist explains why this happens.

07/08/2024

INDUSTRY STANDARD PREMATURE WEANING PRACTICES

Weaning is naturally gradual, whereby the physical and psychological bond between mother and offspring is ended. To date, there are numerous studies, across a wide range of species, showing the physical and mental harm that is done when animals are prematurely and forcibly weaned. The act compromises an animal's welfare and goes against best-practices for raising a physically and behaviourally healthy animal. Therefore, it should be avoided.

Premature weaning of horses (~4-7 months of age) is sadly still a common practice in the horse world. While young horses can physically be kept alive when weaned at this age, the practice is harmful in the short-term. It can also result in the creation of unwanted behaviour problems in the long-term.

While we have selectively bred horses to perform a wide range of activities for us, we have not been able to breed out the basic needs which they still share with their wilder relatives. Studying how horses behave under natural conditions gives us valuable information on how best we can provide for our domestic horses. For example, horses have evolved to need fulltime access to what I call the 3 F's of Friends, Forage, and Freedom: living in direct contact with other horses, having continual access to forage so that they can trickle feed, and having the ability to freely engage in a wide range of normal behaviours in their environment. When horses are denied access to one or more of these three F's, or when we interfere with their ability to engage in normal behaviours it results in stress, decreased welfare, and can result in the creation of unwanted behaviours.

To better understand the effects of weaning practices, researchers in France and Iceland examined how and when foals wean themselves when living under natural conditions. Of the 16 mare-foal pairs they observed, they found that all of the foals spontaneously weaned themselves at around 9-10 months of age. Two weeks prior to self-weaning, the mares and foals remained closer to one another than they did to others in the group, usually within 1-5 horse lengths of one another. Suckling bouts also didn't decrease in the two weeks prior to weaning, and the foals made no attempts to suckle once weaned. This self-directed weaning also caused no signs of stress to either party.

A frequent rationale for premature weaning is to preserve the physical condition of the mare. Interestingly, none of the mares in this study lost physical condition, despite the length of time mares and foals were together.

In summary, to quote the authors:

"Modern breeding practices generally impose strong constraints as compared to the conditions of development of foals in a more natural environment. One major aspect is the early artificial weaning, which is not just a stage of diet transition but also a stage of social separation. There is increasing evidence that such a practice, although carried out on a routine basis by horse breeders, leads to short- and in some cases to long-term severe negative outcomes.

There is therefore a clear need to better understand the factors at stake (e.g., cessation of milk intake, immature digestive system, maternal deprivation, absence of adult models, additional changes in feeding or housing…), to improve the domestic management of weaning and animal welfare."

You can read the full paper, 'Domestic Foal Weaning: Need for Re-Thinking Breeding Practices?' by accessing it at this link: https://tinyurl.com/PrematureWeaningHorses

Image by Hans Benn from Pixabay