02/04/2024
Equine Cranial Pain, it's not about my toes
Late one Saturday evening several years ago, with my wine glass filled nearly to the rim, I finally had a moment to breathe. The solitude allowed my body to declare where and how sore certain members of the aging body were. The week’s schedule contained horses who required bodywork starting early on Monday and didn’t end until Saturday night. There was no time to listen to my body. Only when I was seated in the recliner did I realize the number of toes that throbbed. An examination revealed that three toenails on the right foot would fall off, and two toes on the left were red and swollen. Feeling sorry for myself, I quickly concluded that the most logical solution moving forward was the purchase of steel-toed shoes. After another sip of wine, despite my toes still throbbing, I chuckled and acknowledged, “It’s not about my toes.”
As horses communicate with us, do we make it about ourselves? Do we muddy the lines of communication and miss the message delivered? Do we experience frustration and pain (accidents) because we fail or refuse to listen? How much additional stress and pain is placed upon the horse because we ignore what message is delivered?
While reflecting on each horse I worked with, I remembered what Tik Maynard wrote concerning horsemanship in the book In The Middle Are The Horsemen. “Horsemanship is more than riding. More than horse care. It is not about doing flying changes or learning to braid, although it may include these things. Horsemanship is an almost indefinable ability to understand and be aware of horses.” (96)
If I didn’t or refused to “understand and be aware of horses,” it would have been easy on that Saturday to blame the horses for my toes. We all know the words we hear them all the time. “You have to get after that horse; he doesn’t respect you.” “The problem is you haven’t set clear boundaries.” “Don’t be afraid to show her who’s the boss.” “You let them get away with it today and tomorrow; they will be worse.” The problem with these pithy responses that have developed into horsemanship logic is twofold. First, it fails to step back and ask, what is the horse trying to tell me? In other words, asking the simple question, why? Why are these horses stepping on my toes? Second, it assumes that a horse thinks and processes in the same manner as humans. A must-read for anyone who desires to improve their “ability to understand and be aware of horses” is Dr. Stephen Peters and Martin Black’s book, Evidence-Based Horsemanship. Dr. Peters writes, “The horse lacks the cognitive capability of having such thoughts as, ‘I know what this person wants me to do but today I don’t feel like it,’ or ‘I’ll pull a fast one on this guy and have a good chuckle at his expense’”. (33)
The first horse, a coal-black Friesen that stepped toward my body and landed on my right foot, resulted from my hand being too heavy on their poll. My fingers were too tight. I needed to soften. But as I softened and increased the gap between my fingers and the horse’s head, thereby creating less pressure, she continued to press against me. She continued to step closer. I remember I dropped my arm and moved away to give her space, and she followed my movement. Another sip of the dry red wine enabled the conversation with the owner to burst forth. I had asked, “Is this her usual behavior or something new?” Sounding apologetic, she responded, “She normally isn’t like this. She is so good about boundaries. But since she hit her head, it has been a challenge to keep her off of me.”
As that week progressed, I realized that my feet moved more quickly away from the foreleg of horses whenever I anticipated they were about to step to the side. Of the horses that stepped on my toes, all had significant stress/pain in the cranial region. Since that Saturday evening given over to critical reflection, I have documented horses that step toward my body during bodywork and horses, in general, in multiple settings that struggle with “boundaries.” I have also included horses that owners describe as loving and affectionate, as demonstrated by placing their heads on the owner’s shoulders. (I direct you to Peters and Black’s book.) To lift another quote from Maynard’s book, “The only truths I knew were that all horses had similarities and that every horse is unique.” I am not suggesting every boundary issue is rooted in cranial pain or pain from another location, but a clear pattern has emerged. In addition, observing horses in a pasture or paddock setting reveals a physical closeness between the horse experiencing cranial issues and the horse pressed against or upon which the head rests. As suggested in other posts, this may explain buddy or barn sour issues. These horses with cranial issues find momentary release, perhaps even comfort in the closeness.
Pain for horses, similar to humans, when not addressed, when cries for assistance are ignored or dismissed, can result in behaviors outside the norm and may cause pain to the toes. Behaviors that no one, including horses, should be required to demonstrate to be heard. The place to begin is obvious HORSEMANSHIP, “the ability to understand and be aware of horses.”
