16/09/2025
"If all you have in your toolkit is a hammer... everything starts to look like a nail"... The 'Dangerous Horse' fallacy;
In my career so far, I am yet to meet a horse displaying "dangerous" behaviour, that is not exhibiting one or a combination of the following:
Pain - potentially overt, easily observed lameness, or perhaps something more insidious and less recognisable.
(Statements like, "they've seen the vet and they're fine" really don't wash for me - prove your horse is not in pain - how can you really tell?)
Anxiety around human interaction - maybe you have not recognised the horse's behavioural indicators, maybe you have not set them up for success in a training situation (I often find myself saying if you make stupid choices, you get stupid consequences), maybe the horse feels fearful, maybe you are not predictable in your behaviours...
Ethological needs have not been met - lack of adequate forage, lack of time with conspecifics, inappropriate housing... etc.
What I come across, with what can only be described as a scary regularity, is the horses which have been deemed "dangerous" and as such have been exposed to a very niche - but apparently popular - training methodology:
A training methodology whereby aversive methods are used to 'fix' undesirable behaviour(s).
But what might be worse is that the label "dangerous" is used as an excuse for the aversive methods. A sort of "you've left me no choice but to be unethical" mentality.
A scapegoat if you will.
Where the trainer in said situation will likely adopt anthropomorphic verbiage - they will describe the horse's behaviour using human descriptors (your horse is being vicious/lazy/rude/ignorant).
These descriptors will be used to justify the methodology of choice.
It will not consider equine ethology - and if the trainer references it, it will likely be outdated (dominance hierachy, here's looking at you!)
The methodology puts negligible importance on the human end of the bargain outside of applying more pressure/force/aversives. And comes with a side salad of really poor coaching!
And off the back of this training methodology, maybe you end up with a compliant horse,
But can you honestly, in good conscience say:
You got to the root of the issue? - Does pain go away with aversives? Do aversives meet your horse's ethological needs?
Your relationship is better because of it? - Does the use of aversives make you a safe entity to be around? Is obedience a value in a relationship?
And then finally, the methods you used to "fix" your horse - would you do the same to your partner? Or a child? Or a dog?
It's my life mission to ensure that ethical practice becomes an industry standard - because determining the root cause of an issue is a lot easier when the horse isn't also completely traumatised by poor training ❤️
📸 Olivia Rose Photography
