26/03/2025
I had the opportunity to attend a class called "Introductory To Lethal Force" this past weekend. It was a powerful class discussing the legal, ethical, and psychological consequences of using lethal force in a situation that has spiraled into violence. As I was listening to the instructor talk about the escalation path from anxiety to violence that has been studied by psychologists over the years, I was struck by just how relevant it all was to training horses.
The escalation path to violence in humans begins with the person exhibiting signs of anxiety. The instructor said there are two things one can do to change the situation before it escalates:
Disengage or Establish Control
Assuming you were unsuccessful or unable to do either of those things, the next step of escalation from the human is "testing;" yelling, cursing, threatening, getting in your face/space, etc. And there are two things one can do to change the situation at this point:
Disengage or Establish Control
Again, assuming you are unable to do those things, the final escalation step is to violence. At that point, there are only two things you can do:
Disengage or Establish Control
The key is having the tools to know how to do those two things at all phases of this escalation path.
It struck me that the escalation path a horse takes to explosive and/or dangerous behavior is Exactly. The. Same. If you are observant, you will see signs of anxiety before anything else happens. The horse may pin its ears, swish its tail, wrinkle its lips, put its head up in the air, tighten all its muscles, and even chew on its tongue. You have exactly two things you can do at this point to prevent escalation:
Disengage or Establish Control
If you are unaware of or ignore the signs of anxiety, the horse will escalate to the testing phase. It may toss its head around, threaten to kick or bite, sn**ch on the reins, refuse to go forward, try to back up, shy away from objects or noises, etc. Again, you have two options to prevent further escalation:
Disengage or Establish Control
Now, if you still ignore the horse's escalating behavior, or you are unable to arrest the escalation, the next step for the horse will be violence; rearing, bucking, bolting, striking, kicking or biting, or any other number of dangerous behaviors. Once again, your options are to:
Disengage or Establish Control.
I see a lot of riders and trainers who ignore this entire escalation scenario and then wonder why their horse is so explosive. Personally, I like to avoid violent interactions with horses, and I think the horses do too, so I spend a great deal of my focus on disengaging or establishing control at the anxiety phase, in order to give the horses an opportunity to de-escalate and have a different experience.
I have been very fortunate to have built a toolbox over the years that allows me to be able to Disengage or Establish Control at all phases of escalation, though, so if the horse has gotten to a point that they fly through the first two phases and jump quickly to violence because they have an expectation of not being heard at the previous two phases, I can still stay safe, salvage the situation and show the horse a better way. However, I much prefer to avoid that altogether, because... Why? Why risk the horse injuring itself or me, if that can be entirely avoided?
I call it "setting the horse (and myself) up for success." So next time you observe your horse starting to exhibit anxiety behaviors, maybe take a moment and remember to:
Disengage or Establish Control
