UNDERSTANDING EQUINE
BEHAVIOR
Instructor: Dr. Jennifer Williams
Lesson Eight
Behavior Problems and
Their Causes and Treatments
and
Horse and Human
Interactions
Lesson 8 covers two topics. The first topic is Behavior Problems and
their Causes and Treatments. In this
part of the lesson, we’ll look at several behavior problems that have been
reported to me over the years, discuss what may be occurring, and discuss how
to deal with them. Whether you plan to
work with horses as a career or as a hobby, it is important to learn how to
apply the principles of equine behavior to real world situations and come up
with solutions as this will make you a better horseman/horsewoman.
The second topic is Horse and Human
Interactions. In this topic, we’ll look
at how the horse-human bond has developed over time and what we can do to
establish a good bond and a good working relationship with the horses we
handle.
Previous Lesson Summary
First, as always, I would like to
review the previous lesson. We also
looked at two topics in lesson seven:
the horse’s use of his senses and stereotypies.
Horses, like all animals, use their
senses to gain information about the world around them. They then use this information to decide how
to act: whether to flee from danger,
investigate something new in their environment, or ignore something that
initially concerned them. By understanding
how horses perceive the world through their senses, you can better predict how
the horses you handle will behave.
·
Sight: One of the horse’s most
important senses. He sees the world differently
than you do because of where his eyes are placed on his head (far apart, one on
either side of his head) and how the internal structure of the eye differs from
ours. His wide-set eyes give him
binocular vision in an approximately 55-65 degree field in front of him and
monocular vision in an approximately 215 degree field to his side. The only place your horse can’t see is
directly in front or behind. The
internal structure of the horse’s eye differs in the number of rods (they have
more than humans do, giving them better vision in low light) and cones (they
have two kinds as opposed to the human’s three kinds and this means they don’t
see colors the same way we do).
Additionally, the horse has a tapetum lucidum in his retina which
reflects low levels of light around the retina, multiplying the light and
allowing the horse to see when light is low.
·
Hearing: The horse’s sense of hearing is
his second most important sense. It
works together with the horse’s sense of sight to help locate and identify
potential predators and dangers. The
outer potion of the horse’s ear, the pinna, can rotate more than 180 degrees to
help detect a sound’s location. A horse
may be good at locating the sound, but he isn’t always great at determining
what makes the sound. It is this inability that can make him particularly
spooky. Horses have a well-developed
sense of hearing, and they can hear higher frequencies than humans can. This is why your horse may sometime alert to
a noise or spook at a noise you can’t hear.
·
Taste: The horse’s sense of taste
hasn’t been studied very much, although we do know that it helps him avoid
eating toxic weeds. Such weeds often
taste bitter, and horses prefer sweet and salty flavors to bitter ones. We also know that horses don’t appear to
experience nutritional wisdom, the phenomena in which an animal will seek out
the vitamins and minerals he lacks.
Horses can, however, develop conditioned taste aversion: they will avoid foods or flavors that have
made them ill or uncomfortable in the past.
·
Touch: This is these sense you use
most often when training or interacting with your horse, and horses use their
sense of touch to communicate with and comfort other horses. Horses nuzzle and scratch each other for
comfort, and since they’re very sensitive to touch it does not take much
pressure for them to feel the touch of another horse (or a human).
·
Smell: Although horses don’t use their
sense of smell to locate food, they can use their sense of smell to identify
and avoid predators. They also use their
vomeronasal organ (VMO) to process pheromones and other chemical signals that
give them information about other horses and the world around them.
The second topic we covered in lesson 7 was stereotypies. Stereotypies
are repetitive behaviors performed for no apparent purpose. However many researchers believe that
stereotypies may enable horses to cope with the stress of living in unnatural
environments. Some of the potential
causes for the development of stereotypies are confinement, concentrated
feeding programs, isolation, boredom, health problems, and stressful
workloads. While it is nearly impossible
to cure a stereotypy once it starts, you can help prevent the development of
stereotypies of by eliminating the above mentioned sources of stress.
Behavior Problems and Their Causes and Treatments
We’ve discussed the nature of horses and their
behavior, and this lesson now looks at some real world situations. I’ll dissect the situation to explain what
the horse is doing, why, and how to fix behavioral problems that occur. Whether
you work with horses as your profession or a hobby, you’ll need to learn how to
analyze behavior and work with and through those behaviors.
Situation
#1:
You had been caring for a horse that
had lived alone for several years, but it is time to add a second horse. The two horses become good friends
immediately, but they panic when separated.
This makes it hard to train or ride either horse.
Key factors: These two horses are experiencing separation
anxiety, which is a pretty common problem for a lot of horses. Horses are used to living in herds with other
horses for companionship and protection, and most horses don’t feel comfortable
or safe when alone. Since the first
horse was alone for several years, he may be especially prone to developing
separation anxiety: now that he finally has a friend/companion, he doesn’t want
to risk losing him.
What to do: You have a couple of options.
1)
You can try
adding another horse or two to the mix.
This way, the horses that remain in the pasture or barn won’t be alone
and may not panic.
2)
If you can’t
add another horse to the herd, you might add a goat or donkey as a
companion. For some horses, that will be
enough to keep them comfortable while their pal is away training – and goats
and donkeys tend to be a less expensive than horses in terms or purchase and
care.
3)
Unfortunately
this may mean that the horse you take away from the herd to ride or train is
unmanageable. To help that horse, you
can start with very short training sessions.
Separate the horse you wish to ride or train for just a few minutes and
do some ground work. Keep the session
short so he really doesn’t have time to get agitated; reward him, and then
return him to the pasture. Build on the
time you keep the horse separated each training session until the horse stays
calm and relaxed. If the horse you are working with starts getting upset, make
him work harder and reward him by returning him to pasture as soon as he calms down and focuses. The goal is to teach the horse that he’ll get
to go back to his friends after his training session. Some horses pick this up quickly while other
horses need many training sessions.
4)
If the horse
you are training really cannot seem to focus when he cannot see another horse,
you may need to bring the other pasture horse with you when you train. You can tie him to the rail in the arena or
keep him in a pen near the arena where the horse you are training can see him.
I don’t really like this option as I prefer horses to learn to work away from
the other horses, but it may be a temporary fix until you can wean the training
horse away from his companion.
Situation #2:
You are training a horse to ride,
but he has begun flipping or tossing his head when being ridden.
Key factors: Head tossing can be a training problem, a sign
of pain or discomfort, or a condition called headshaking.
What to do: Many behavioral problems under saddle are
caused by pain. So the first thing I would do is rule out pain. Have a
veterinarian who has dental training or an equine dentist come out, look at his
teeth, and do any needed work. Sharp teeth may be cutting the inside of his
mouth, and the bit and bridle could be rubbing those spots, causing him pain.
Long teeth may be hit by the bit while riding, also causing pain. Once he's had
the dental work done, give him a few days off to heal and then try longing and
riding him. He may flip his head a few times the first ride or two because he's
anticipating the pain he used to feel.
If he doesn't stop flipping his head after a few rides, then examine the
fit of your tack and equipment. Go over your equipment to make sure it is all
clean and nothing is protruding that could cause him pain. Then, examine the
fit: does your saddle fit well? Is the bit the right size for your horse and it
is properly placed in his mouth? Again, if you have to make some adjustments,
you may need to give your horse time to heal and then try riding him several
times.
If he's still tossing his head, I would ask a chiropractor or massage
therapist to examine your horse's back. He could have sore spots that cause
pain when ridden - again leading to head tossing.
Once you have ruled out the above physical causes, if your horse is
still flipping his head, look at training issues. He may be flipping his head
up so that he can avoid contract with the bit. Make certain your hands are
steady, and teach him to take contact with the bit instead of avoiding it. Make sure you don’t inadvertently reward him
for flipping his head by releasing bit pressure or letting him stop working
when he does flip his head.
If you are able to rule out training issues and pain, then you should
discuss headshaking syndrome with your veterinarian. Horses who are head shakers will toss their
head, they may snort and sneeze, and may rub their muzzle against things or
swipe at it with a foreleg. Researchers
have identified two types of head shakers:
photic head shakers who seem to be triggered by light and trigeminal
head shakers. Trigeminal head shakers
likely have an issue with the trigeminal nerve that causes them pain. If you believe that your horse may be a head
shaker, your veterinarian will perform several diagnostic tests to rule out
other conditions. He/she then will
discuss treatment options: there’s no
cure for headshaking, but some owners have luck reducing the frequency of
headshaking by identifying and minimizing triggers, and some medications may
also help.
Situation #3:
One of the mares you are training is queen of the pasture. She runs the
other horses around, buddies up to the geldings one day and kicks at them the
next, and she isn’t affectionate at all with humans.
Key factors: She sounds like an alpha
mare. In the wild, alpha mares are the herd leaders. While the stallions
protect the group by alerting them to danger, defending them from other horses
or predators, and keeping them out of harm's way, the alpha mare leads the
herd. She shows them the way to water and grazing, and she's the one who often
disciplines those horses who get out of line.
An alpha mare can be aggressive with horses - biting and kicking others
to get them to move where she wants. Unfortunately, sometimes those alpha mares
decide to include people in their herds and then began telling their humans
what to do. Because of this, you must be diligent when handling alpha mares and
keeping them in their place.
While there are exceptions, many alpha mares aren't overly friendly
towards their humans. They may accept petting, but they don't seek it out. I
have talked to several people who believe that alpha mares can make great
working horses - although they're often harder to train.
What to do: If the mare is disrupting pasture life, try
separating your horses into a mare herd and a gelding herd. Your mare pasture may have more squabbling as
the horses establish their hierarchy, but you won’t have the added combination
of mares’ hormones and the presence of male (although gelded) horses. Many farms prefer to keep their horses this
way.
If this mare causes disruptions even in a mare pasture, you may need to
separate her from the others and keep her with a fairly submissive mare. Having two alpha mares in a pasture can be a
non-stop argument as they continually struggle to dominate each other.
You won’t be able to make this mare become affectionate, so if affection
is important to you (or her owner), you may need to find her another home. Alpha mares can be very talented working
horses and show horses, but they often are content to do their job without a
ton of input from humans. Additionally,
they can be tough to train and should be avoided if you are not an experienced
trainer.
Situation #4:
A gelding in your barn paws at dinner time and while he eats.
Key factors: Pawing is a stereotypy. As we discussed in a previous lesson, a
stereotypy is a repetitive behavior that serves no obvious, outward purpose.
However stereotypies do serve a purpose – they are a coping mechanism helping
the horse deal with stress. Some horses start pawing when they eat because
they’re nervous about not getting fed. Sometimes that’s because they were
starved earlier in life and other times it is because they feel threatened that
other horses may steal their food.
What to do: Once a horse starts pawing, it is almost
impossible to cure, even long after the source of stress is gone. You can make him feel more secure by making
sure he gets his meal at close to the same time each day and by making sure no
other horses are around to threaten him:
put him in his own stall or pen to eat and don’t keep him next to
aggressive horses who lunge at him through fences or over stall doors.
Luckily if he only paws at dinner time, he won’t do too much damage. He
may wear a hole in his stall so keep an eye on it and fill any holes regularly.
If you feed him outside his stall, you can vary the place you feed him so he
won’t dig a hole as quickly.
Some people use “pawing chains” to stop their horses from pawing. These
are leather anklets with a length of chain that dangles down. When the horse
paws, the chain raps him on the hoof. Since it hurts, the horse normally stops
pawing while wearing the chains. However the chains don’t address the real
problem – the horse’s stress – so he may start displaying other stereotypies to
cope. Because of this, I don’t recommend pawing chains unless the horse’s
behavior is causing him harm.
Situation #5:
A horse you’ve had for years has suddenly become nearly impossible to
catch in the pasture. She runs away from
people, and if you get close enough to touch her she flinches and flips her
head if you move your hands toward her ears.
Once you catch her, she’s fine and you can handle and ride her.
Key factors: This mare wasn’t always hard to catch, and it
is a behavior that’s developed recently.
She’s also not an unmanageable horse:
once you catch her you can work with her easily. She’s especially upset when you put your hands
near her ears as you try to catch her.
What to do: In order
to make her easier to catch again, you need to figure out why she doesn’t want
to be caught. Some horses decide they don’t want to be caught because something
painful happens when they are caught.
Pain is a major motivator for behavior issues, so I start by addressing
most behavior problems by looking for signs of pain.
Since she flips her head and snorts whenever anyone
gets close to her ears, I would start by checking for ticks, growths, or
something else that may be causing her pain.
If nothing appears wrong with her ears, I would have the veterinarian
check her over. Have the veterinarian
check her teeth to make sure she doesn’t have an infected or broken tooth or
long, sharp points that cut into her cheeks. Have him check her legs to make
sure she’s not harboring a subtle lameness, and check her back to make sure
she’s not sore.
Then examine the tack you use. Make sure it fits well and that there are
no sharp points or rough areas that may be rubbing her poking her.
If you can rule out any kind of pain issue, then you need to look at how
you handle your horse. A lot of horses are only caught when their owner wants
to ride them, have the vet treat them, or have the farrier trim their feet.
Horses who don’t want to work or don’t like the farrier or veterinarian learn
that being caught is no fun, and they start avoiding their owner. So, you have
to change how you interact with your horse.
To begin, change your routine. Go out and catch her, pet her and let her
go again. Or go out and catch her, give her a treat, and let her go. Catch her,
take her in and groom her and let her go. Mix up your routine so she doesn’t
know if she’s going to get a treat or go to work – show her that sometimes
being caught is good and fun.
If she doesn’t improve, then catch her every day before you feed her.
Make that a requirement – if she wants to eat her dinner, she must be caught
and come in with you. If she refuses to be caught, then don’t feed her. Go back
in a little while and try again, and if she still refuses to get caught, then
skip dinner that night. Most horses aren’t going to miss more than one meal
before they decide that they’ll let you catch them. And once you are regularly
catching her to eat, then catch her, groom her and let her go or catch her,
give her a treat and let her go. Only ride her infrequently so she doesn’t know
which days are riding days and which days are fun days.
Situation #6:
You have a horse in training who had several months off due to an
injury. When you are able to put him
back to work, you take him out on a trail ride alone. He did great on the way out, but when you
headed back toward the barn he began rearing, side-stepping, and prancing. You worried he might rear or buck. Although he’s a high strung horse, you had
never been scared to ride him before.
Key factors: The horse has always been high
strung/energetic, and he’s been off work for several months. The first time he was put to work, he was
taken on a trail ride without any other horses around.
What to do: High strung/energetic horses often do best on
a consistent work schedule. While more
mellow horses may be able to go months between rides with no change in behavior
or personality, high strung horses often do best when ridden frequently.
You may have
made things more difficult for yourself by taking this horse on a trail ride
for his first ride back to work. He had plenty of pent-up energy and the trail
ride gave him the perfect thing to use it on: spooking at things and
misbehaving.
Bring horses
that have had time off from work back into work slowly. Start with riding in an arena or small field
and then progress to riding on trails again. Give the horse a few rides to get
back into a working mindset before expecting too much out of him.
Time off might
not be the only culprit, though. Pain is a pretty powerful motivator, and it
could certainly make a horse behave badly. I would start by checking his tack,
especially his saddle, to make sure it still fits. Because the horse had time
off, the musculature in back could change and a saddle that once fit may not
fit well anymore. It could be sitting too close to his spine, causing pressure
when you are in the saddle, or it could be pinching or rubbing somewhere. If
that's the case, he may have behaved in the beginning because the saddle wasn't
too uncomfortable at first, but the longer you rode, the more uncomfortable it
got until he started acting out in an attempt to tell you he hurt.
If you check
your saddle and it still fits well, then have your veterinarian do another exam
on the horse to make sure he’s completely healed from whatever injury forced
his time off. It may be that he appears
sound without a rider, but the extra weight causes him pain. A comprehensive
lameness exam with your veterinarian watching your horse move both in hand and
under saddle can help rule out lingering effects of the injury.
I would also
have your veterinarian check your horse's teeth. As horses get older, their
teeth may need to be checked and floated more than once a year. If he has sharp
points, they could be cutting into his gums and the pressure of a bit in his
mouth may be uncomfortable.
If you can rule
out all of these possible causes of pain, then this horse just may need some
more regular and consistent riding to slowly bring him back into shape before
embarking on another trail ride.
Situation #7:
An older mare came in for some ground work and training. She learned quickly and was started under
saddle. She’s fine when ridden alone,
but is nervous when trail riding with other horses.
Key factors: We discussed horses that are worse when
ridden alone earlier, but this mare is worse when ridden in a group on a trail
ride. She is also an older mare who was
only recently started under saddle, and this is probably part of the problem.
What to do: This mare may act out when trail ridden for
one (or more) of several reasons:
·
She was
recently broke to ride and has not been ridden around other horses.
·
She's a very
timid mare and other horses make her nervous.
·
She's been
kicked, injured, or otherwise hurt by another horse and she's scared of having
them close to her.
In any of these cases, the mare is nervous about other horses near her
so she's acting out. You'll need to take a step back to fix this problem and
take a little time, but the results will be worth it.
Go back to riding in an arena or small field and enlist help from
someone with a calm, quiet, and non-dominant horse to ride with you. Start by
having your horse stand in the center of the field or arena while the other
rider walks around the ring/field. Make sure the other rider gives you and the
mare plenty of space. If the mare you are working with is nervous, dismount and
stand next to her until she quiets and settles down. Pet her and reward her for
quiet behavior and then mount up. Ask her to continue standing in the center of
the ring for a minute or two. If she's quiet and calm, then go to the rail and
ride on the opposite side of the arena from the other horse/rider. Over time,
let the other horse/rider get closer to you.
The first ride or two, keep at a walk. As long as your mare is quiet,
reward her with petting. If she gets upset, ask your friend to stand still and
put your mare to work trotting or cantering - ask her to leg yield, side-pass,
circle, etc. until she's got her mind on you. When she does, let her go back to
a walk. Make the right behavior (being quiet with another horse in the
field/ring) easy by letting her walk. Make the wrong behavior (getting upset)
harder by making her work harder when she's not listening.
If she handles the first ride at the walk well, then have her and the
other horse take turns trotting on the second ride. Again, give her some space,
but let the other horse drift closer and closer to her. Over the next few
rides, you can let her trot and canter more.
When she's doing well with one horse in the ring or field at a walk,
trot and canter, add another horse and over time add several more horses. Once
she's comfortable in the ring with several horses, you can venture back out on
the trail.
When you start back to trail riding, go with just a couple of friends
who have helped you in the arena. Your first ride should be at a walk only, and
your friends need to give your mare space so she won't feel crowded. If your
mare stops listening to you, do circles on the trail, leg yield back and forth
or side-pass and make her work. When she's quiet, pet her and give her a loose
and relaxed rein.
Over time, build back up to faster trail rides with more riders. Just
remind riders to give your horse space to relax and make trail riding a good
experience for her.
This mare needs both confidence that she won’t get hurt, as well as,
experience under saddle and on the trail.
Investing the time in training now will pay off for the horse’s owner
and rider down the road.
Situation #8:
You have a young horse in for training that’s constantly trying to bite
anyone who handles him.
Key factors: Biting is a way that horses communicate with
each other, and it is also a way that young horses explore the world.
What to do: Biting is one of those behaviors that some
people think is trivial, but it can be truly dangerous.
Nipping often starts in young horses who are exploring the world with
their mouth. It seems to be more common in colts, especially those who are not
yet gelded, but fillies may also nip. Some people ignore the behavior, thinking
it'll go away on its own. Others even think it is cute when a young horse
nibbles their shirt, hair, or skin and pet them, talk to them, or otherwise
give them positive attention when they do it. This encourages the horse to
continue nibbling and then the owner or handler is surprised when one day the
horse bites them, breaking the skin. The horse is surprised when the human
yells or scolds them. In his mind, he was just doing what he had been
encouraged to do in the past.
In my barn, if a horse nibbles or nips, he is immediately reprimanded.
If he's wearing a halter and lead, the reprimand is normally a loud “NO”
followed by a jerk on the lead or by backing the horse some distance.
If the horse is loose, I give a loud “NO” and walk away and ignore the
horse. If the horse repeats the behavior, I will smack him or hit him in the
chest, neck or shoulder in additional to giving a loud “NO”.
Some people think it is cruel to smack or hit a horse. I do not advocate
hitting a horse with a whip or other "tool/implement", repeatedly
hitting a horse, hitting a horse for no reason, punching a horse. or hitting a
horse in the head. However a firm smack or hit on the neck, shoulder, or chest
is similar to the punishment horses give each other for inappropriate behavior.
Watch a mare with her older foal or a group of horses in the pasture: if the
foal bites his mother, his mother may bite him back, gently push him with her
hoof, or even kick. If a grown horse bites or nips at another, the punishment
is often more stern: a hard bite or kick from the horse who was bitten. A single
smack from a human is a pretty mild punishment compared to a strong bite or
kick from another horse.
If you discipline a horse this way, you need to keep a few things in
mind:
·
The
punishment must be immediate. If the horse was loose and runs away, you cannot
chase him down, catch him, and then smack him. By the time you've done that, he
doesn't understand why he’s being punished. Likewise, you can't walk off, grab
a whip, and smack him with the whip when you get back because too much time
will pass and he won’t make the connection between biting and getting smacked.
·
If the horse
is loose, smacking or hitting him may not be safe as he may whirl around and
kick you. If he is loose, make a loud noise, shoo him away, and then walk away
and ignore him.
·
Learn the
signs that your horse is about to bite (pinned ears, swishing tail, tightness
in his mouth) and move away from him when he displays those signs. Don't give
him a chance to bite.
·
Rarely,
disciplining a horse for biting makes him more aggressive. If your horse reacts
this way, you need to examine his behavior and you may need more experienced
help in dealing with him.
When dealing with a horse that nips or bites, you must be consistent.
Any time he nips or bites you (or even at you), you must discipline him.
You can't ignore the biting sometimes because you are tired or it was cute or
it was minor or he really didn't mean it. You must stay on top of this behavior
if you want it to stop.
Horse and Human Interactions
Those of us who love and admire horses
often cite the special relationship between our two species as the reason we
enjoy spending so much time with them.
Our current relationship, though, is a product of centuries of
evolution. Horses and humans initially
avoided each other, most likely fleeing whenever one group glimpsed the
other. For horses, humans were
frightening: our stance, our look, our
movement and even our smell all screamed “Predator”! Early humans probably didn’t initially see
horses as anything other than wild animals that could easily trample a person
who got in their way.
At some point, though, our early
ancestors realized that horses could be a plentiful source of food and began
corralling and killing horses.
Archeologists have found cave art from approximately 30,000 BC that
depicts drawings of the horses that were initially used for food. Initially, humans probably hunted horses
(much as modern day humans hunt deer or elk), but at some point humans figured
out it was easier to run horses into rough corrals and keep them there until
they were needed as food. Archeological
evidence also suggests that during this time, horses and parts of their bodies
(bones, skin, etc.) may have played an important role in ritualistic ceremonies.
At the end of the Ice Age (about
10,000 years ago), wild horses died in the Americans and their herds dwindled
in Western Europe. However, they
continued to thrive in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, making that area the
most likely place in which horses were first domesticated.
Archeologists aren’t sure exactly when
early humans made the shift from seeing horses only as a source of meat to
seeing them as potential workmates.
Currently, most scientists believe horse domestication occurred around
3,500 BC, but there are two competing theories that attempt to explain how it
happened.
·
The first
theory says that horses were domesticated at about the same time, but by
different groups of humans in several different parts of
·
The second
theory argues that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes around
modern-day Ukraine, southwest Russian, and western Kazakhstan. As humans moved with their horse herds across
the continents, they acquired additional wild horses, increasing the genetic
diversity of their domestic horses.
There are several factors about the horse’s nature that made horses a
good choice for early humans to domesticate.
·
Herd
structure: We’ve discussed herd
structure in detail in previous lessons so I won’t rehash it here. The important facts are that horses form
small groups with the harem being the goal:
a stallion, a few mares, and their immature offspring. The relationships in the harem are structured
and long-term. Horses are used to
developing relationships, having a leader and working together. This made it easier for humans to fit into
their scheme of the world: humans can
become the leaders in the horse-human relationship and develop long-term bonds
with individual horses.
·
Horse
adaptability: Horses are able to adapt
to living in a wide variety of climates (you find horses living in the frozen
steppes of Mongolia to the deserts of Egypt).
They also adapt to living in corrals, stalls or pastures. This enabled early horses to adapt to living
in corrals and being surrounded by humans.
The constant presence of humans around their corrals also helped to
desensitize horses to the sight, sound and smell of humans.
·
Horse
curiosity: While horses are leery of new
things in their environment, they’re also incredibly curious – especially young
horses. If given a chance to calm and
settle down and adapt to a new environment, many horses will soon start exploring
the things and creatures around them.
This curiosity gave early horses the drive to get to know humans as
humans were also getting to understand horses.
·
Foals: When foals are born, they’re on their feet
within an hour or two, but they’re very curious for the first few days of
life. This gives humans an
advantage: if they could capture a mare
before she foaled, the foal would initially be curious and friendly toward
humans. This would give them the ability
to begin working with the foal and taming him.
Additionally, horse foals are small enough to physically restrain.
·
Non-verbal
communication: As we discussed in
previous lessons, horses use verbal communication on occasional, but they excel
at non-verbal communication. They read
each other’s body language and respond quickly, and this gave humans another
advantage when taming horses. Humans
could observe how horses communicated with each other and begin to understand
what horses were saying. Since horses
are so adept at non-verbal communication, they could learn to read humans’
intentions and needs and respond to them as well. Non-verbal communication has remained a
critical component of horse training even today.
Domestic
horses also gave their humans advantages over other humans:
·
Source of
food: One horse could provide a great
deal of protein-rich food to many humans.
·
Travel: The horse’s stamina and speed enabled him to
travel further and faster than humans.
Once humans domesticated horses enough to ride, the horse gave its people
an advantage over humans who did not have horses.
·
Moving
supplies: Once humans domesticated
horses and began training them to pull loads or carry packs, they were suddenly
able to move a great deal more items from place to place. This meant they could travel and move more
easily, and it also likely helped humans develop a system of trading items over
great distances.
·
War: The horse’s strength combined with his speed
made him an ideal war machine for humans.
Those humans who had tamed horses were able to raid other groups of
humans and defend themselves more easily.
Early captive horses were likely raised for food and possibly kept for
pets, but at some point humans realized that if they could sit on the back of a
horse they could go further and faster than ever before. Archaeologists disagree about exactly when or
how that happened: many believe that
humans initially tried to hang onto the backs of wild horses (probably without
much success!), but over time humans began to create rudimentary tack and work
to control and direct the horse’s movements.
Archaeologists have discovered evidence of bit wear as early as 3500
BC. They’ve found horses buried with
items that may have been used as bits, and they’ve discovered wear marks on the
teeth of these ancient horses that are consistent with wear marks on the teeth
of modern day equines which have been ridden with a bit.
Many archaeologists believe that humans rode horses bareback for
centuries. Early saddles were likely
just blankets or animal hides laid across the horses back or strapped down, and
additions to saddles developed over many thousands of years.
We’re not sure exactly when humans began to develop harnesses and use
horses to pull things, but scientists have discovered evidence of horses used
to pull chariots in about 2,000 BC.
Using the horse in this way enabled early equestrians to wage wars and
cover great distances quickly.
For centuries, the horse’s primary
contribution to human development was likely in his ability to help wage
war. However horses also gave humans the
ability to travel, explore, and expand further across almost every
continent.
Horses also played a critical role in
humans’ ability to move from a nomadic lifestyle to one in which we settled on
a piece of land and farmed. They were
used to clear fields by pulling out trees, stumps and rocks. They could pull farming implements used to
plow, plant and harvest food, and they could pull wagons loaded with crops to
villages and towns.
It is hard to imagine how different
human development would have been without the help of horses.
Humans also aided in horse
development: we brought horses to every
corner of the globe. We created a huge
variety of horses when we bred for different characteristics (speed, pulling
ability, war-making ability, docility, etc.).
We developed better health care, foot care, and nutrition for horses
that has enabled them to live longer, healthier lives.
In the last one hundred years, our
relationship with horses has changed again.
We no longer need them for transportation, exploration or farming. Instead, we now enjoy competing with horses,
relaxing with them, and developing a better relationship with the horses in our
lives. Instead of intimidating horses
through fear and physical injury, we now work with their natures to train them
and work together as partners.
Assignment
Please send essay to Dr. Williams at equinebehaviorinstructor@gmail.com
Be sure to include your full name and
email address on the document – not just in the email.
In email subject line, please type:
"Lesson 8 Assignment".
Part
1:
Pick one of the situations from the
Behavioral Problem section of this lesson and describe an alternative way to
handle the situation. I firmly believe
there’s no one way to handle each situation, but I would like you to describe
how you might handle the situation and why you would handle it differently.
Part
2:
Pick two
of the below horse behavior problems and identify the key factors. Then describe what you would do in this
situation and why you picked that course of action.
Scenario #1:
You’ve had a mare and gelding in a
pasture together for the past two years.
The gelding has been very protective of the mare, but it didn’t cause a
problem until you recently added a second gelding to the pasture. The new gelding is submissive and the other
gelding bites him, kicks him, and chases him around the field.
Scenario #2:
` At feeding time, one of your horses
turns into a monster. He kicks, bites,
and chases the other horses away from their food. This makes it difficult to safely enter the
pasture to feed the horses as you fear you may be caught in the middle.
Scenario #3:
A horse you have been training
suddenly refuses to allow you to bridle him.
He’ll throw his head into the air when you try to slide the bridle over
his face and put the bit into his mouth.
If you persist, he begins rearing.
Scenario #4:
You have a horse in for training who
has started bucking when you ask him to canter.