Horsemanship
SUBJECTS Owner: Mackenzie Davis Horse: Jetta, 8 year old, American Paint Horse mare
SITUATION Mackenzie has owned Jetta since she was a yearling. While Jetta was always dominant and pushy, she and Mackenzie got along well enough until the mare severely attacked Mackenzie’s mum, knocking her to the ground, kicking her, tearing flesh off her shoulder and ripping her ear, leaving her with 14 stitches and multiple abrasions. After the attack, Mackenzie lost all confidence around her horse. Realising the humans around her were fearful, Jetta’s dominant behaviour spiraled out of control until Mackenzie and her mum couldn’t even step foot in her paddock without the mare at charging them.
CLINTON SAYS Horses become aggressive for two reasons,
they either develop this behaviour because they feel threatened or they become aggressive because their handlers are not assertive enough. Horses that are trained by people that I describe as ‘barbarians’ often fall into the first category. Barbarians include trainers that keep increasing pressure without giving the horse a chance to respond. A horse
will finally get so frustrated and confused that he will lash out. Remember, horses are prey animals with an ingrained flight or fight response. When they are scared, their first thought is to run and if they can’t run then they fight. They kick, bite, strike, do whatever they can to survive.
In the second category are horses that are
‘taught’ to dominate humans. For example, let’s say you ask your horse to move out of your way and he says ‘Get lost!’ by pinning his ears or turning his butt towards you. If you walk away, you’ve just said ‘Feel free to push me around anytime you like.’ When a horse realises he can move your feet or get out of work by copping an attitude, his behaviour just get worse until he’s dominating you in every aspect. This is exactly what’s happened with Jetta, she realised that she could control
the actions of the humans around her. It’s very natural for horses to establish a pecking order. More often than not, the top horse in a herd is usually an old broodmare. How’d she get control of the group? She proved to every horse in the pasture she could move their feet forwards, backwards, left and right. When the broodmare wanted another horse in the pasture to move out of her way, she’d approach him with a plan. First she’d pin her ears back. If the horse ignored her, then she’d bare her teeth and act like she was going to bite him. Then she might actually try to bite him. If he still didn’t move away from her, she’d back up to him, swish her tail and act like she was going to kick him. Then she might actually kick him. And she’d keep kicking until he moved. Whoever moves first, and backs down, loses the battle. On a daily basis, horses in that broodmare’s herd will test her ability as a leader and question her authority, and she’ll have to prove to them that she’s still capable of being the leader and moving their feet. The same is true in our relationship with our horses.
1 SAFETY FIRST
I have three rules when working with horses. 1) I don’t want to get injured or killed, 2) I don’t want the horse to get hurt, 3) I want the horse to learn something. My first goal with Jetta was to stay safe. Horses are 1,000 pound animals, and we are 130-200 pounds. If she were to attack me, I’d come out on the wrong end of the deal.
18
May/June 2012
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