09/05/2025
This is so important. This is why we have a ‘no phones while mounted’ rule at the barn (although people sometimes ignore that). The horse is ‘talking’ all the time…if the rider will just listen…
Learn to think like the horse!
I’m 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 I’m free-styling the Chicken Dance!
I know enough to see that I am a fair-to-middlin’ 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 ‘seeing things’, I’m 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, it’s a bit like seeing the future, if you will, except that there is no fortune teller’s tent, no crystal ball. We're just paying attention.
A lot of us aren’t doing this when we’re around our horses. Heck, a lot of us are driving our cars while we’re 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 don’t know about you but it bothers me when a guy driving a fully loaded transport truck doesn’t notice that I’m also on the road.
We’re 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. We’re kind of half-invested and the other half is hoping it’s 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, I’ll 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 harm’s way by refusing to act as a human plug to his escape route… AND I am showing him that I have his back. That I have noticed there’s a problem and I’m prepared to protect him.
Same thing with a horse who suddenly jumps ahead, with his head up. I’m not pulling him up, asking, “What the heck’s the matter with you?!” No, I’m turned around, eyes scanning to see what’s 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 you’d 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.
It’s the same thing with the one who doesn’t want to stand still for mounting. Whether I’m using a mounting block, or having to climb up from the ground, if he doesn’t stand for me, he is telling me he doesn’t want me to get on yet. I’ll believe him! If he doesn’t want me up there, I probably don’t want to be up there, either.
I’ll be figuring out why he doesn’t stand still. Has he said that he needs more warming up from the ground? I’m not proud; if he’s got a minute’s worth of buck in him, I’m absolutely okay with giving him a minute on the lunge line. Or has he said that he’s not been ridden in quite a while? Is he too fat, to the point of being uncomfortable and his saddle isn’t 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, he’s telling me that nobody has ever bothered with showing him how to stand still for mounting and he doesn’t know that there’s any other way.
I’ll watch. I’ll pay attention. I’ll see if I can help him with any of these things, before we ride off.
The horse who is unresponsive about giving of his feet… 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 he’s standing with all his weight on the foot you’re trying to pick up, because his other knee is swollen with arthritis?
You say he’s 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 peoples’ horses… 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 horse’s eye… and often, their horses’ eyes, too. It’s 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 I’m thinking about and I notice that.
I see that it’s not a problem right now, but that it might well be, in a moment. I don’t mind that he’s interested in his surroundings but now, if he reacts to something that suddenly jerks him back to the here and now, I’ve had a warning.
Do you see that horse getting tight, getting shorter from front to back, for no apparent reason? He’s bothered by something and he’s telling you. That ear he’s cocked out the left side? He’s watching you while you step down and he’s thinking about whether that’s an issue for him, or not.
If it is, he’s going to shy out, jump ahead, or kick at you, while you dismount. He’s being fair about it and he’s letting you know, so that you’re not blind-sided. A lot of horses are telling us that they have a problem with ‘changing eyes’ on whatever it is that we’re doing. We’d be smart to notice that and to pay attention.
Seeing is actually step one of asking, “How can I help you?” Seeing is caring.
I can see when a horse isn’t going to pick up the canter transition, or if he has no intention of reining back. I don’t need to kick him harder, or start pulling on the reins in desperation, because I could see beforehand that he wasn’t 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!
I’ll watch people saddling a horse who is clearly telling them that he has a problem with girthing. They’ll continue on without so much as a fare-thee-well, ignoring the horse’s dirty looks and pinned ears. What are they needing the horse to say and do?! He’s practically shouting that they’re pushing ahead with something that isn’t okay with him. It’s up to them to figure out what it is, what they’re going to do about it to help him with that… or not.
I don’t 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 doesn’t need to be that way, any more. That what was once necessary in his life just isn’t, 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 don’t always have to do anything when the horse tells you a clue as to what he is thinking but if you’re wise, you will pay attention, so that he doesn’t 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. I’m 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.
I’m not surprised because I ‘read the room’ 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 don’t 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 horse’s 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.
It’s one of the reasons why I won’t 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 wasn’t 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 wasn’t aware of an equipment malfunction… but each time, I wasn’t seeing what I needed to see.
We don’t need to be scared. We don’t need to be all watchy and amped up. We don’t need to be filled with dread, as though what we’re thinking is going to magically transpire into a real-life wreck, like a dark and twisty version of The Secret. That’s not how horses work; they’re 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. We’re constantly told to ‘listen to the horse’ 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, there’d be a lot fewer bad surprises, ‘right out of the blue’.
Photo: Cait Bascom.
