Horses who catch you before you fall

Bronzz has caught me more than once when I almost fell

I posted this question on my facebook page and shared it to my favorite groups. This has happened to me more than once. Bronzz spooked and unseated me. In the instant I knew I was going to fall, he dodged back underneath and caught me. I saw a student’s Thoroughbred do the same for her. I thought this might be unusual, but in comments on a recent post, several people said it happened to them. If you’ve had this experience, or seen it happen, please tell us about it in the comments; share a video if you have one. If you could add the breed or type of horse, and the relationship you had with him or her, it would be interesting to see if there is a pattern. In 3 days I had over 2,600 reactions (“likes” and “loves”) and over 1,000 comments, most of them describing an incident in which a horse saved someone from a fall. Some horses routinely re-positioned themselves under riders to save them from falls, especially when those riders were children. You can read the comments on facebook by searching on the hashtag #horseswhotakecareofyou. The horses described represented 26 breeds, crosses, and mules; and every stage of training from green to seasoned pros. Arabians were the breed mentioned most, with Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds a distant second and third. I was suspicious of this since Arabians are less common than the other two breeds, so I counted the breeds in Equestrian Seniors, one of the groups I shared to. There the distribution of breeds seemed to better reflect the general population, suggesting that a higher proportion of Arabian owners responded on my page. How easily statistics can mislead us will be a topic for another blog! The immediate question is, why do some horses make a special effort to save people from a fall while others do not? The answers most often proposed were:
(1) Horses who have a good bond with their riders are more likely to take care of them.
(2) Horses who feel taken care of are more likely to take care of people in general, not only the individuals they are bonded with. The social dynamics of free-roaming herds support both explanations. Responsible members of cooperative social groups look out for others, especially youngsters and those who need help. Taking responsibility for their riders is a choice horses make; not a behavior we can train. Horses are most likely to make that choice when we focus on 2 things:
(1) Meeting their basic need to feel safe.
(2) Communicating and training in ways that engage their innate instincts and intelligence. More and more trainers and owners are recognizing that meeting horses’ emotional needs encourages trust, learning, and reliability. This is the focus of my book, “What Horses Really Want: Unlocking the Secrets to Trust, Confidence, and Reliability.” It can be purchased from:
Amazon
Horse and Rider Books
Galaktyka (Polish language edition)