Over-discipline, as well as over-confinement, can lead to explosive, dangerous horses.
Unfortunately, when a horse starts to develop such tendencies he is usually treated with fiercer discipline, until in order to preserve his identity and his hide, he starts to fight seriously….
To deprive a horse of every quality of his life that is natural to him is strain enough on his system; to expect a spirited, energetic horse to become totally submissive at all times as well, may impose to great a strain….
Not all horses become explosive in these conditions; some become dull and listless, others sour to their work, and some become stupidly nervous. The horse’s character makes his misery take different forms, some of them more difficult to spot than others.
But when we think of the horse in his natural environment and how he behaves there, we can check to see whether the arrangements we have made for him are lacking, and do something about them.
-- Lucy Rees, The Horse’s Mind
3 comments:
If only every person with a horse could read this....
Hope many people will read this.
Yesterday Venus, a little foal (around 3 weeks) neighed in the club barn. Every horse, answered her. It was nice to hear.
Ahh. Lucy Rees. My top recommendation for reading and re-reading about horses.
And, yes, men. An excellent observation.
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