Undermining the Mentality of your Horse

Horses have not always been domesticated; they have been herd animals. They have been hunted, but have never been hunters. Humans on the other hand have been hunters. Therefore, horses have an instinctive fear of humans. However, "Equine society and human society had enough in common to make domestication possible-a common 'language' of dominance and submission that was intuitively and mutually intelligible" (Budianski 61). When a horse is part of a herd there is a leader and the rest are followers. A horse can learn to be a follower of a human once their natural fear and flight instinct is gone.

This is a picture illustrating how wild horses travel in herds. There is a horse in the front of the herd. He is the leader. If any horse trys to pass this horse and take the lead, he will most likely be kicked at or bitten. This is the way that horses show dominance and submission in the wild. Thus, when humans work with horses the same dominant and submissive relationship takes place and respect develops mutually between human and horse.

"…to handle any horse safely we must understand how horses think and react. The horse owner needs to be mentally in tune with the horse" (Smith-Thomas 97). One of the biggest mistakes horsemen make is assuming that horses think the way humans do. When working with a horse, "Be aware and alert…realize you're working with a mind. A lot of people think it's just a horse, but there's a mind operating that horse. This mind gets him doing things because he wants to do them, or you can teach him to do things he doesn't like to do but feels he has to do them anyway" (Hunt 6). This causes frustration on both sides of the communication lines if you do not know the horse's mentality.When handling horses, one must be calm and consistent. They can even sense changes in moods of their handler. They "…can read a person well. They sense changes in physical or emotional tension…" (Smith-Thomas 99). Thus, the first step in building a better relationship with your horse is to understand his mentality.