21/08/2024
Immature Horses
We all know large families with 8 kids who grew up in a modest home. That oldest child, by the time they were 12, could do laundry, cook supper, change diapers, make sure their siblings were doing their homework, and feed babies. They had expectations and responsibilities and rose to the occasion. They probably had really good grades too and were immediately successful when entering the job market. They matured.
The youngest child of that same family didn’t have to take care of others, they were taken care of. They didn’t have to MEET expectations, they HAD expectations that they demanded to be met. The oldest moved out and made a home quickly. The youngest lives with mom and dad until they’re 32.
Obviously, I am poking a little fun here, but there’s enough truth here to have some meaning. The expectations and responsibilities placed upon you, or NOT placed upon you, have a direct effect on the level and rate of maturity. Horses, dogs, and llamas are no different. Would you like to know how many 8-14 year old horses I have worked with over the years that are still green and immature?
What you expect from your horse you tend to get. If you expect to have trouble bridling them, you will. If you expect a c**t on its 4th ride to handle the chaos of a branding pen and drag a dozen calves to the fire, they will. If you’re ok with your horse not taking the left lead, or going too fast most of the time, or not standing still when you ask them to stop, they will. If you place some weight and responsibility on what you ask, they’ll respond to it.
There’s a whole lot of progress that’s been made in the animal welfare department over the last decades. Not everything we have arrived at is good though. The average horse owner these days is pretty passive about their horse’s behavior. I see horses that have been “rescued” from a bad situation and then given 2 years of no expectations to decompress? Why? What’s that going to do?
My particular journey and place in the world of trainers is a little odd and lends itself to a somewhat unique perspective. Time and again I have had the spoiled horse brought in to learn to become a solid citizen. They might bite, buck, run over you, or any number of other issues bad enough to bring them to me. I don’t let them decompress. I establish some boundaries and consequences immediately. Many of these horses have a pretty dramatic turnaround, and pretty quickly.
I’ll be pretty firm and flip on its head the level of expectations placed on that horse. Time and again, the owners who spoiled that horse will come to see them and the horse will pay them no mind. He’s hooked on me.
If you think you're going to ruin your relationship with your horse by being firm or having high expectations, you're wrong. If you need permission to do enough to get results, permission is granted. Do enough. Get results. It's ultimately the kindest thing you can do for your horse.
Two things that I wish everyone who owned or rides horses knew are demonstrated above. First off, have high expectations for your horse and do not shy away from giving them tasks and responsibilities. They will learn that there are goals, tasks, and jobs to accomplish. That leads to partnerships and maturity. Secondly, free rein is not what horses want, figuratively. They want structure. They are herd animals, which is to say that they expect to live within a hierarchy and one with rules. They are innately wired to follow rules. They do not like or feel safe in boundless worlds. They want structure. They require it to feel safe and know their place. Shy away from those truths and you do your horse a disservice.
