09/05/2025
This is so important. This is why we have a āno phones while mountedā rule at the barn (although people sometimes ignore that). The horse is ātalkingā all the timeā¦if the rider will just listenā¦
Learn to think like the horse!
Iām not a gifted rider. I ride with my stirrups too short and my feet shoved all the way home. When things get happening, my elbows can start flapping like Iām free-styling the Chicken Dance!
I know enough to see that I am a fair-to-middlinā rider who has plugged away at the same old stuff for a long enough time, she is starting to figure things out.
What I do, that a lot of people miss, is I see things.
By āseeing thingsā, Iām saying that I have learned to pay attention and see things that are either bothering the horse, or that he is telling us in that split second before anything more notable happens.
If my horse is turning his head sharply to look at something, I'll be turning my head to look, too. It always looks unnatural to me, the sheer number of photos where horse and rider aren't focused on the same thing.
But when we notice, itās a bit like seeing the future, if you will, except that there is no fortune tellerās tent, no crystal ball. We're just paying attention.
A lot of us arenāt doing this when weāre around our horses. Heck, a lot of us are driving our cars while weāre texting and scrolling Instagram. I know this because probably half the people I meet on our country highway are resolutely looking down at their laps, when we meet. I donāt know about you but it bothers me when a guy driving a fully loaded transport truck doesnāt notice that Iām also on the road.
Weāre hurtling towards each other with a combined speed of 200 kph and one of us is driving blind.
Horsemanship is a lot like that guy driving the truck with his eyes averted. Weāre kind of half-invested and the other half is hoping itās not our day for a 'random' wreck.
How many of you have been run over while leading a horse that suddenly shied and mowed you down? What were you looking at, or paying attention to, that you missed that the horse had raised his head, or put his ears up toward that uninteresting area of the shrubbery?
What made you miss noticing that he was bothered, or on high alert, about something over there? Failing to see that the Boss Hoss is now on the other side of your more submissive horse, when you're leading in from the herd is a real big no-no that people miss.
If I see this, Iāll promptly move over so that I am between the distracting thing/herd bully and my worried horse. This is twofold: I am getting myself out of harmās way by refusing to act as a human plug to his escape routeā¦ AND I am showing him that I have his back. That I have noticed thereās a problem and Iām prepared to protect him.
Same thing with a horse who suddenly jumps ahead, with his head up. Iām not pulling him up, asking, āWhat the heckās the matter with you?!ā No, Iām turned around, eyes scanning to see whatās going on with my dog. Nine times out of ten, the dog has goosed the horse when my back was turned. The horse appreciates us minding our dog, rather than scolding him without reason.
What about the fellow who just pulled back when he was tied? Did you not see that as you were getting ready to tie him, he grew concerned and imperceptibly, his energy started to shrink backwards? If youād noticed, you could help him out by guiding him to think forwardly again, before you tied him up. This, whether we are tying, cross-tying, or using a blocker tie ring.
See the horse, feel the horse, before mooring him like a boat.
Itās the same thing with the one who doesnāt want to stand still for mounting. Whether Iām using a mounting block, or having to climb up from the ground, if he doesnāt stand for me, he is telling me he doesnāt want me to get on yet. Iāll believe him! If he doesnāt want me up there, I probably donāt want to be up there, either.
Iāll be figuring out why he doesnāt stand still. Has he said that he needs more warming up from the ground? Iām not proud; if heās got a minuteās worth of buck in him, Iām absolutely okay with giving him a minute on the lunge line. Or has he said that heās not been ridden in quite a while? Is he too fat, to the point of being uncomfortable and his saddle isnāt setting him right? Is the back end of his saddle tipped up because he's hu**ed up? That's something I'm going to want to notice.
Maybe, heās telling me that nobody has ever bothered with showing him how to stand still for mounting and he doesnāt know that thereās any other way.
Iāll watch. Iāll pay attention. Iāll see if I can help him with any of these things, before we ride off.
The horse who is unresponsive about giving of his feetā¦ Did you pay attention to which of his legs is supporting his weight? If you moved him a step forward or back, would you be making this a no-brainer? Did you see that heās standing with all his weight on the foot youāre trying to pick up, because his other knee is swollen with arthritis?
You say heās better for the farrier, than he is for you? Well, have you watched closely enough to see where your farrier leans, or touches to ask for the feet, that causes your horse to respond so well? If not, then why not?
We can learn to see really well from those people who make their living by working with and observing other peoplesā horsesā¦ and staying alive while doing it.
The biggest tip off, to me, that I'm with inexperienced horse people is their failure to see what's going on around them. It's not their equitation that first gets my notice, or their studied techniques. It's that they grow self-absorbed, inward, rather than constantly reading the room.
I never chat to the folks around me, without keeping my eye on my horseās eyeā¦ and often, their horsesā eyes, too. Itās an easy matter of turning slightly to include my horse in the conversation. That way, I can see when he raises his head and looks off at the tractor moving slowly along the horizon.
As long as he is watching that faraway tractor, he has literally checked out of Dodge. He is no longer thinking about what Iām thinking about and I notice that.
I see that itās not a problem right now, but that it might well be, in a moment. I donāt mind that heās interested in his surroundings but now, if he reacts to something that suddenly jerks him back to the here and now, Iāve had a warning.
Do you see that horse getting tight, getting shorter from front to back, for no apparent reason? Heās bothered by something and heās telling you. That ear heās cocked out the left side? Heās watching you while you step down and heās thinking about whether thatās an issue for him, or not.
If it is, heās going to shy out, jump ahead, or kick at you, while you dismount. Heās being fair about it and heās letting you know, so that youāre not blind-sided. A lot of horses are telling us that they have a problem with āchanging eyesā on whatever it is that weāre doing. Weād be smart to notice that and to pay attention.
Seeing is actually step one of asking, āHow can I help you?ā Seeing is caring.
I can see when a horse isnāt going to pick up the canter transition, or if he has no intention of reining back. I donāt need to kick him harder, or start pulling on the reins in desperation, because I could see beforehand that he wasnāt into it.
I can usually see the horse who is going to stop at the jump, from about three strides back. I can see the one who has no intention of getting onto the trailer because he has given us signs that this was what he was planning, long before he got to the door. I can see the horse who is going to kick the horse following too closely behind him, before he actually does. I can warn that rider, I can circle back, or I can just yield his haunches to the outside wall. Thing is, so can you!
Iāll watch people saddling a horse who is clearly telling them that he has a problem with girthing. Theyāll continue on without so much as a fare-thee-well, ignoring the horseās dirty looks and pinned ears. What are they needing the horse to say and do?! Heās practically shouting that theyāre pushing ahead with something that isnāt okay with him. Itās up to them to figure out what it is, what theyāre going to do about it to help him with thatā¦ or not.
I donāt know about you, but I want to help my horses be happy. I want to help them do good work and to live good lives. Sometimes, I just have to tell a cinchy horse that he doesnāt need to be that way, any more. That what was once necessary in his life just isnāt, any more.
Seeing is believing. Seeing is a gift, perhaps, but I happen to think it is just another skill that can be learned, if one wants it.
Now, you donāt always have to do anything when the horse tells you a clue as to what he is thinking but if youāre wise, you will pay attention, so that he doesnāt have to tell you any louder.
You will learn to not only see what is really going on with your own horses but also, with the horses around you. Iām not usually all that surprised when I am riding in a group and suddenly, everyone is on a bronc and people are getting bucked off, left right and centre.
Iām not surprised because I āread the roomā within the group. I could see that some already jangly horses were nearing threshold when those last two really green horses joined us. I could see that the energy was shifting like storm clouds. Therefore, I could feel it, too.
I could see that there was going to be some excitement happen when that other guy on the working cowhorse decided to fine tune his sliding stops and turnarounds. Because to these already alert horses, that advanced horse running and skidding must surely be frightened! They donāt know yet that sand being kicked against the boards is just an everyday part of western performance.
So, I can see that a group explosion is brewing, long before the arena manager suddenly throws open the big overhead door at the scary end.
I can see this but what can I do? I can get my horseās attention, as best I can. I can move his feet in a well-known and comforting pattern. I can stay clear of the most worried of the horses, or the most oblivious of the riders, so that my horse has some time to watch and react to me, before they all blow.
Itās one of the reasons why I wonāt be riding while listening to tunes on my ear buds. My ability to hear has a lot to do with how well I can see.
I will say that the wrecks I have had generally came about because I wasnāt paying attention. I ignored a sign (or multiples signs!) the horse was giving me, or I was out of tune with what was going on around me. I maybe wasnāt aware of an equipment malfunctionā¦ but each time, I wasnāt seeing what I needed to see.
We donāt need to be scared. We donāt need to be all watchy and amped up. We donāt need to be filled with dread, as though what weāre thinking is going to magically transpire into a real-life wreck, like a dark and twisty version of The Secret. Thatās not how horses work; theyāre not watching and waiting for us to trip ourselves up. They only want to know that you and I see, too.
For all the people who don't like to ride with their eyes up and softly scanning their surroundings, this is the biggest reason why. 'Eyes up' is no show ring affectation. By seeing, you're talking your horse's language, without things getting lost in translation.
Teach yourself to see and to really pay attention. Weāre constantly told to ālisten to the horseā but I think it would make more sense if we learned to see and take note of what they are saying to us.
If we just did that, thereād be a lot fewer bad surprises, āright out of the blueā.
Photo: Cait Bascom.
