When You Want Your Horse to Say “No”

Photo by author.

People who don’t understand horses (and sadly, this includes many people who ride horses) think the goal when working with a horse is total, blind obedience.

Much has been done to change this impression, including the (way belated) removal of the “submission” score in dressage by the FEI (although not all other organizations). It’s now “harmony.”

The Bridge and Learned Helplessness

I grew up in the British Midlands and I rode at the most awful riding stable. It was the worst. It was also walking distance from my home, so my parents, who didn’t quite get it, made me ride there…or not at all. I wasn’t mature enough to give up the thing I loved most in all the world as a teenager.

I don’t mean this place was mildly awful. I mean, it was abusive. The students were abused verbally and emotionally and the horses were abused physically.

The primary trail route out from this barn involved a bridge. This bridge was actually quite a test for a horse. It was between four and five feet wide, wooden, with high railings. Needless to say, it was very common for a new horse to take one look at the bridge and go “I am not crossing that thing!”

Sane, reasonable people would have solved this in a classic horse trainer way, by giving the horse a…