Scared to Death?

Brandy stopped grazing to come visit

Selected reader responses to this post follow references.

Scared to Death? How many horses have been unnecessarily euthanized? How many hearts have been broken? All because people did not see that a horse’s “dangerous” behavior was caused by fear. Instead, they declare him aggressive and recommend euthanasia. Brandy came to me so fearful she wasn’t safe to be around. Spectacular bucking episodes when I saddled her led one professional to hint that putting her down would be the responsible thing to do.

Dribbling the ball with my grandson

One source of Brandy’s fear had been obvious when her previous trainer delivered her to me. She was terrified of him. He didn’t see it; he saw only “disobedience” and lack of “respect”. This prompted him to twirl his rope harder, chasing and frightening her further. This dynamic plays out day after day in many training pens and arenas. A horse who is routinely in a state of FEAR is more defensive than one who generally feels safe. That’s how we are all hard-wired. Actions that people call aggression are almost always self-defense from the horse’s point of view. The solution is to stop scaring the horse. Watch his body language, and when he shows the first sign of FEAR, back off. This isn’t “rewarding” bad behavior. It’s showing the horse he’s safe with you, so he isn’t stressed and primed to be defensive.

Listening while my granddaughter reads to her

In the same week I heard from two people who were advised to put down fearful horses. Here is the first story, from someone who recently rescued a pony. She went to pet the pony, and got kicked. She sought advice, and these were the responses she got. “I've had ppl suggest shoot her, chase her, show dominance but she's been through hell, she knows we can dominate her… I was verging getting rid of her but the only option is to put her down because I'm not sending her back to slaughter house.” We worked it out that the pony was frightened by her new owner stepping too quickly into her Personal Space. I suggested she move more slowly, waiting for the pony to show she is ready to be touched. The latest update is, “No more kicking attempts and she’s letting us greet her nose. Got a couple pets in yesterday:)” As the pony feels safer and less defensive, her behavior continues to get safer and friendlier.

Horse Agility at liberty

Notes: FEAR is written in all CAPS because it is a Core Emotion. (See references) I do not share other people’s experiences without their permission. References:
The FEAR system for horses. Rachel Bedingfield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7jWgWHZCPY&t=11s
“How do I help my horse overcome his fear, anxiety or phobia?”
https://www.fairhorsemanship.com/how-do-i-help-my-horse-overcome-his
“Connection Training” by Hannah Weston and Rachel Bedingfield.
Personal Space: Why the Double Standard?
https://www.lynnacton.com/Articles-Videos/Horse-Behavior-Herd-Dynamics/The-Seven-Core-Emotions-We-All-Share/ Why you should behave as if animals have feelings even if you don’t believe that they do, by Karolina Westlund, PhD
https://illis.se/en/why-assume-animals-have-emotions/
Animal Emotions (online course)
https://illis.se/en/
Jaak Panksepp's Neuroscience Of Emotional Processing
https://www.owenparachute.com/jaak-panksepp-neuroscience.html
The science of emotions: Jaak Panksepp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65e2qScV_K8

Ground tied for farrier

Brandy has reliably good manners with all of her health care practitioners. We found that Brandy's dangerous behaviors were caused by fear and pain. How we resolved those issues is detailed in my book, What Horses Really Want, available from:
Amazon
Horse and Rider Books Polish Edition: Galaktyka

Selected Reader Comments
Sonia Tracey I was also advised that my boy should be (sorry to be blunt but this is what people said) shot as he is dangerous. 12 years later we are still together, we have a beautiful relationship, he has character and a personality I love. He is my hero and has taught me so much. I really resonate with your words. Patience, understanding, communication, empathy and learning is what we need to embrace.

Taylor Beckett In all my years with horses, working with probably close to 100, I have only once seen a horse that needed to be euthanized for behaviour. All the rest, like you explained so well, were fear. This other horse had something neurological going on. The behaviour was consistent even if he was alone in a field, randomly attacking things. It is so very very rare.

Jennifer R. Povey Often the person bullying the horse is, in fact, afraid of the horse, creating a vicious cycle of fear-aggression in both parties. Learning and building your own confidence can help you learn to control your own fear-aggression and thus stop triggering it in your horse...