The Impact of Language on Horse Behavior

with Dr Kate Fenner

B. Equine Science (Hons). PhD Horse Behaviour and Training

The language we use to describe a horse’s behaviour determines how we deal with that behaviour. The statement that ‘the horse is doing it on purpose’ has been uttered by more than a few of us. Humans are supposedly the higher thinkers in the human/horse interaction, yet we are inclined to adopt unhelpful language when describing horse behaviour which leads in many cases to our unhelpful behaviour towards our horses. In this article, Dr Fenner talks about the correlation between language and behaviour and also how a winter break can elicit some unwanted behaviour from our hitherto compliant horses.

“We are inclined to talk about horses that are barn sour, paddock sour; horses with vices, which is a very negative way of approaching behaviour,” begins Dr Fenner. “If we call the horse sour, it suggests that the horse is doing something wrong. The horse isn’t doing something wrong, they are just behaving in a natural way, keeping themselves safe. I think that is important, as if we make an assumption that the horse is doing something wrong, we are more likely to punish the horse for that behaviour. It is important to look at why the horse is behaving in the way it is and not make assumptions about whether it is a positive or negative attribute. We need to look at the behaviour and think, ‘How can we make life easier or better for the horse, how can we help this horse to be not so anxious or frustrated,’ rather than just saying we need to work them harder or reprimand them. We need to be really careful how we frame these questions. The words sour and resistant etc, that we use to describe horse behaviour, I don’t think are helpful.

“It is much easier to blame the horse more so than our ability to understand what is going on. For instance, if you say the horse is paddock sour, there is not much you can do to address that really. If you say the horse is lacking consistent patterns of training or consistency in its routine, then you can do something and be proactive about that. Barn/paddock sour is an attitude problem. We do this all the time; we say the horse has a good attitude or a bad attitude or a good/bad work ethic, and it is nonsense. We don’t know that horses have opinions like that. We make that up, and it colours the way we look at a horse, and it also often dictates the way we treat the horse. That sort of assumption is very anthropomorphic, meaning we are ascribing human emotions or thought processes to horses. What makes a big difference is our attitude, and whatever we think of the horse, colours the way we behave towards the horse. Assuming that the horse is behaving in a certain way, particularly a calculated way to annoy us or cause us harm, is neither constructive nor helpful.

“I get asked a lot of questions about horse behaviour, and a recent one was, ‘Why is my horse paddock sour?’ I was not familiar with the term paddock sour, but now I understand it is the unwanted behaviour of a normally compliant horse during and after a long break in the paddock.

“Horses return to their natural temperament when you leave them alone for a while. If your work with the horse is consistent, and in particular, your handling of its reactiveness, then the horse becomes more compliant because they get used to their environment and the routines you engage with. If things are happening regularly and consistently, the horse learns patterns of behaviour, and they stop being afraid of the wash bay, for example, or shying at the tractor that goes past because these things have become part of their routine.

“Then, when you take them out of that routine, stop working them on a regular basis and turn them out for a break, their natural temperament often comes back into play. If you have a horse that is naturally quite reactive and you are working them consistently every day and everything is predictable, their natural tendencies will be tempered by that. However, if you turn them out and their routine is completely changed, the environment unpredictable, and you don’t interact with them as much, their natural reactivity is going to start showing up more often. If you have a horse that is inclined to shy and is naturally a nervous horse about things in the environment, your consistent training can alleviate most of those anxieties. But if you turn them out in a paddock, they can pretty quickly revert to being reactive because that is their natural way to behave. Horses repeat behaviours that are successful, so the horse that is naturally reactive and spends more time alone or with other reactive horses in a paddock will be more inclined to run from unfamiliar things in their environment. This behaviour keeps them ‘safe’ and will be repeated next time they feel at risk.

“You might find that the Quarter Horse in the paddock might just put their head up and look at the tractor as it goes past, whereas the Thoroughbred might put their head up and gallop away. What happens is that when the horse goes for a break in the paddock, they revert to their more natural temperament. However, consistency in training and the correct use of habituation and calming techniques can make the horse better able to cope with the situation, and so we don’t tend to see their natural reactive behaviours in quite the same way.

“An example of this can be seen in an Iberian horse I have. He has been in a play in the middle of the Sydney city. We took him in every day and walked him around the streets of Redfern, into the theatre, and he was absolutely fine. But if I put him out in the paddock for a couple of months, he shies at everything. It’s a consistency thing. His natural inclination is to be reactive, so when his routine has been interrupted, he doesn’t really know how to respond, so he reverts back to his flight response. When I bring him back into work after a break, I have to give him five or so days just to get him back into the routine of being worked and handled every day. We need to be aware of this when we bring horses back in to work after a break. Go back to the beginning of your training when they come back in. Horses have very good memories, so it is not that they don’t remember what you have taught them. It is just that they need time to get back into the routine. You have not lost any of your training. It will be there.

“Life gets in the way of people and their horses, and it is a very small percentage of people who can work their horse every day. Is it better to turn your horse out completely over winter or keep them in partial work? Whatever we do, the big thing is to set up a good routine for the horse and to make their life predictable—horses like routine. If you want to increase or decrease the horse’s work, you change the routine over time. If you suddenly change the routine, you have to expect the horse to revert to its more instinctive behaviours that are representative of that particular horse’s temperament. There should always be a transition period for turning the horse out and bringing them back in. As we discussed earlier, the horse is always going to repeat the behaviours that have worked for them in the past. If you have a very flighty horse that has been out in the paddock for a while, every time they run away from a stimulus they’re a bit afraid of, that works for them; that behaviour keeps the horse safe. Every time the tractor goes past, and the horse runs 50m and then turns and looks at it, as far as the horse is concerned, that action kept them safe.

“We see that and wonder at that behaviour, as we have trained them not to be so reactive towards the tractor ‘when they are with us’. What we need to remember is that when we habituate the horse to things like the tractor going past, we are in a specific situation, and quite often, the horse’s learning is situation-specific. For example, many of us have seen the demonstration of a horse quite willingly being totally covered with a tarpaulin. It’s a cool demonstration, but if you put that horse out in the paddock for a month and brought in a tarpaulin randomly, that horse would probably not be so willing to be covered by it. The horse, in the first instance, is not reacting to the tarpaulin because they are in conversation with the rider and engaged with something else other than the tarpaulin. When we turn the horse out in the paddock, we don’t have that engagement. We have habituated that horse to the tractor going past when we are riding or leading them because we are doing more than just sitting on them or holding the lead; we are probably asking them to do something: turn left/right, put your head down, etc. We are in a conversation with the horse and engaging the horse. We don’t have the benefit of that when the horse is in the paddock on their own. They are no longer under our stimulus control. So that paddock behaviour is going to vary from horse to horse. So, each time a horse runs away from something scary, the more sure they become that the behaviour is saving them and, thus, the more likely they are to repeat that behaviour. When the horse is on a long break, this behaviour may be repeated hundreds of times, so when we bring the horse back into work, we need to consider that. We need to understand that the horse is not being difficult; the horse is just being a horse.”

Article: Anna Sharpley.