Unfortunately, we often misinterpret, don’t see or even ignore the early signs of anxiety or stress in our horses and this can escalate his behaviour to something more dangerous, like bucking or biting. With expert advice from equine behaviour pro Justine Harrison, discover how to spot the subtle signs of stress – your horse will thank you for it.
You’ll often see horses being punished for behaviours like barging, biting, rearing, bolting or being anxious.
But horses can only communicate with us is through their behaviour and body language and, chances are, he will have been showing subtle signs of stress long before it got to this stage, and so it’s vital to read the cues our horses display so we can keep them mentally and physically healthy and ourselves safe.
Horses in the wild are highly tuned to signs of danger or stress for the herd and they’ll do one of four things in response.
These ‘Four Fs’ can happen isolation or combination.
1. Flight
Fleeing from danger is his preferred option. In our horses, this may manifest itself as bolting or trying to escape a situation.
2. Freeze
Planting or refusing to go forwards if nervous or frightened. We often see this when loading horses onto a trailer or lorry.
3. Fight
If he’s cornered, or has learned previously that this strategy works.
4. Fidget
If he can’t escape he may fidget – also known as a ‘displacement’ behaviour.
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