11/12/2024
A couple of months ago, Carl and I boarded a plane headed to Utah and it just so happened to be the day before the eye of Hurricane Helene was supposed to travel directly over our little town in Georgia. It’s no secret that I deal with a little anxiety and flying isn’t my favorite thing to do so boarding the plane caused some anxiousness, the threat of the storm added more, and then to add insult to injury, my normal seat of choice with a window had no window. And it was hot. And we had to sit a while. And the plane was full. So…I panicked. I became very claustrophobic and couldn’t breathe. I seriously considered getting off of the plane but we had a job to do and I couldn’t. I was trapped. I had no way out and it was one of the most crippling moments of my life. I was eventually able to get a grip and tolerate the flight but my discomfort and feeling of being trapped continues even to this day. At that point, it occurred to me that this must be how horses feel when they are put in situations they are uncomfortable with and they have no way to escape. For example, desensitization.
What does it mean to desensitize a horse? The psychological concept is to ‘flood’ the horse, by adding certain fearful stimuli in high and frequent doses. The horse cannot escape through flight, fight or freeze (as Mother Nature tells them to do) so they eventually move into a state of relative calmness. In other words, they shut down to the stimuli because they have no other choice. I guess you could call it ‘emotional numbing’.
Desentizing a horse can have negative consequences such as:
*dullness
*mental resistance, which can lead to a horse not wanting to move, kicking, biting, bucking and rearing
*loss of trust with the handler
*hypersensitivity to the stimulus
In reality, relaxation and curiosity cannot be created through these methods and over time they can shut down the horse’s nervous system and the horse will be traumatized, or more challenged than less.
What’s the moral to my story? Just because our equine friends seem to be accepting of all we do, doesn’t necessarily mean they are. Have some compassion and empathy for these magnificent creatures that we have been gifted. “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” I think your horse will thank you for it 🤠
