11/05/2025
Part of our job at Bluebonnet is educating folks about horses, horse rescue, and nonprofits, and I always welcome questions for discussion. One of our followers submitted this one a few weeks ago: I see so many amateur (and some professional) posts about working with horses that really assume that all horses are the same or that all horses can learn the same. What are some of the biggest challenges with rescue horses that people may not know when they pick one up, or areas where you’ve found you need maybe a different approach to training?
I think I could write a book about this topic – maybe one day I will. My education/training is in equine behavior, learning, and welfare (MS and PhD). My horse background is varied: I rode Morgans, Arabians, and Saddlebreds as a kid, and I rode mostly saddleseat. I even interviewed at a Tennesee Walking Horse show barn as a teenager (and then promptly turned them down due to the treatment of their horses). I later moved into western pleasure and hunter pleasure on Arabs, and now I ride dressage(ish, still learning) and pleasure ride.
Over the past few years, my approach to horse training has really softened (for lack of a better word). There are behaviors I will not tolerate – biting, kicking, striking, rearing – because they are safety issues. But I am far more interested in a respectful partnership with my horse.
I say all that to explain where I come from when I answer the question.
Years ago, I heard a clinician who was talking about rescue horses say: People talk about rescue horses like they’re some different kind of horse. They’re not, they are just a horse. People will say, “Oh, he was abused so you can’t raise your voice at him or he’ll be scared!”. I say to you, are you abusing him today? If not, that abuse was in the past and you need to look at the horse standing in front of you today.
I’ve handled hundreds, probably well over 1,000 now, rescue horses in the past almost 30 years and I find that there are many horses who have been neglected or starved. There are some horses who have been handled roughly (maybe je**ed or slapped occasionally). And there are far more horses who just haven’t been taught well. Either they have not gotten much training at all or the training has been inconsistent. Or they’ve been allowed to be pushy and rude and obnoxious because no one has shown them any better.
True physically abuse – by that I mean horses who are beaten, who are bloodied, who are really hurt – is rare. Of course, it does happen – I’ve seen the results – but it isn’t that common. It takes a lot of anger, a callous attitude, malice, a disregard for life to be physically abusive.
Back to the question, I think the attitude that all horses learn the same or can follow the same program is detrimental to good horsemanship, whether the horse is a rescue horse or not. Really good trainers may have their preferred methods, but they understand that sometimes a horse doesn’t read the book (or watch the Youtube channel) and doesn’t follow the same path the other horses do. And they have a lot of tools in their toolbox for when those horses come along.
For me, that manifested with a horse named Zed. When he got to me, you couldn’t touch him and if you tried to corner him, he would lash out. I think maybe he had actually been abused and then not handled for a long time. He would rather not eat at all than come near me to get fed (my normal first step with horses like that). I did my dissertation on clicker training but I don’t really like it. But you know what I did? I tried a few of my ‘tried and trues’ with Zed, and then I broke out the clicker training. And that’s what helped him start coming around.
So the first thing we all need to do when we handle horses is throw out the idea that all horses learn and react the same way.
Then part 2 of the question was, “What are some of the biggest challenges with rescue horses that people may not know when they pick one up, or areas where you’ve found you need maybe a different approach to training?”
I don’t think they need a different approach to training, but I do think you should keep a few things in mind when bringing one home.
He or she might need a little extra time to settle in. Sometimes these horses have been neglected, picked up by law enforcement and taken to a holding facility, then transferred to a local foster home, and then transferred again to you – so in a month or two, they move several times. They have to learn a new herd, new handlers, new routine. And horses are creatures of habit. So give him or her a few days to a week to settle in. At my place, they spend a few days in a stall so they can get to know the other horses safely and get to know the routine. Then they normally go out in a paddock next to the pasture so they can get to know the other horses better and I can make sure I can catch them.
Some horses might need a little more time on my plan, some might be ready to go out in a herd faster, I go at their speed. I don’t think, though, that most horses need months to settle in.
Once they’re settled in, you can start getting to know what they know. Even if your new horse is emaciated, you can find out some things. Such as, can you halter him in a stall? In a paddock? In pasture? Can you safely pick his or her feet up? Does he lead next to you, stop when you stop, back up in hand, not crowd? Does he know how to tie?
You can work on teaching a horse to pick up his feet, teaching a horse to lead well, teaching a horse to tie even when he or she is emaciated. Just keep your handling sessions very short.
You can work on those things plus teach them to stand for fly spray, baths, saddle pads or blankets, and bridling while they’re still thin. Still keep your handling sessions pretty short.
I think I’m getting to be about book length so I’ll close for now, but I’m happy to answer questions or keep on discussing this in the comments. I really should get more videos of me handling the foster horses I have – I’ll try to do that if you all want to see that.
And I’m happy to take more questions about horses, horse rescues, and/or nonprofits for future posts.
