How to listen so your horse will talk...

How to listen so your horse will talk, and talk so your horse will listen: A practical approach to the links between equine behaviour and pain.

Would you like to understand whether a horse you work with is playing up because he's being naughty or because he's trying to tell you he's hurting?  Would you like to know whether his poor performance is because he can’t or won’t? In this talk Sue Palmer MCSP offers practical advice on how to tell the difference.

Sue is a BHSAI, Chartered Veterinary Physiotherapist and Equine Behaviourist (Intelligent Horsemanship Recommended Associate). The only person to hold this combination of qualifications, Sue is passionate about spreading the word that horses can only tell us they are hurting through their performance or behaviour. This talk / course offers practical ways to help you decide whether your horse, or a horse you work with, is under performing or misbehaving because he's in pain. And if you decide it's not pain related then Sue draws upon her extensive experience in the world of equestrianism to offer some suggestions of how to work to overcome the problem.

Author of 'Horse Massage for Horse Owners' and 'Sue's Helpful Horse Hints', Sue has ridden since she was three years old, competed nationally for Pony Club and Riding Club, and competed in British Show Jumping and British Eventing. Living and working with a gipsy horse dealer for several years in her early twenties has given her a unique view of the horse world and a wealth of unusual experience to draw upon in addition to her more traditional qualifications. 

Non-violence or pacifism?

Listening to Nelson Mandela's autobiography 'Long Walk to Freedom' (audio books are my most recent pleasure, especially since purchasing a 'Parrot' in-car speaker system to I can actually hear them properly!), my ears pricked up when he mentioned his opinion on the difference between non-violence and pacifism.  It's not something I'd ever thought about before, but since I claim to work with horses in a 'non-violent' way, I looked it up.  As I heard it, Mandela seemed to be saying that non-violence meant being opposed to violence in any situation, whereas pacifism meant being opposed to violence but violence may be used in self defence.

Wikipedia says, amongst other things "Nonviolence is the personal practice of being harmless to self and others under every condition"  and "Pacifism is opposition to war and violence... and opposition to violence under any circumstance, even defence of self and others.... Some pacifists follow principles of nonviolence, believing that nonviolent action is morally superior and/or most effective. Some however, support physical violence for emergency defence of self or others."

It seems to me there's a lot of confusion - as usual, words are used simply as labels, and the intended meaning may well vary from person to person.  As far as working with horses goes, I would certainly say that I aim to avoid using violence of any form (but there again, what is your definition of violence?!), and that in this matter I am acting as a pacifist.  However, I believe that the safety of the human (and often the horse at the same time) is paramount, and if I or others were in danger, I believe I would do whatever I felt necessary to alleviate the danger.  My priority is always to avoid dangerous situations, which is where I feel that knowledge and experience play an essential role, but ultimately my feeling is that if the human is injured or worse, then who will look after the horse?!

Never look a gift horse in the eye?

Yesterday I received the following story from a Brain or Pain reader:

"Hi Sue,

I've got a holistic horse help helpful hint here for you.  Regarding the old adage "never look a gift horse in the mouth" my own personal addition to it would be "but look him in the eye".

Last year I was given a show pony that the owners couldn't cope with because of a set of behavioural issues and in the end the girl who had him gave up riding. I always got on well with the pony and accepted the offer when i was asked if i would take him on. Very early on I suspected that eyesight problems had something to do with his behaviour and treated him with the conisderation that I would give a horse that I know can't see terribly well. This helped him tremendously and his confidence increased proportionately to the decrease in his spookiness. He is now doing very well but as I thought that his sight in his left eye might be impaired i got his eyes assessed Friday last week. It appears the he has a cataract. I contacted an eye specialist who is going to have a good look at his eyes next week but he already warned me that something more might be amiss as the pony at the age of 9 is too young to have cataracts. I may be in for major vet bills now over a prolonged period of time.

The question is: had I looked him in the eye before I accepted him, would I have taken him on?

The answer is: probably yes as he is very cute and a really nice buddy who does not have any behavioural issues.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is: if anyone is intending to get a new horse, don't forget to get the eyes checked.

Maybe this will come in handy in your Brain or Pain publication.

Freddy"

Freddy makes a really good point, in my opinion.  In the past I have had a problem with selling a horse who had problems with her vision.  She was a bay mare, Welsh Section D 4 year old called Holly.  Beautiful, kind and gentle, and quick to learn as are all Section D's, she was a pleasure to work with.  It was when I was living with a horse dealer, and so I had bought her to back and sell on, and I was excited that she should go to a lovely home, since I had no problems with her whatsoever.  The only thing I noticed was that if I was working her when it was getting dusk, she had more of a tendency to trip.

The buyers had her vetted and she passed with flying colours.  But once they got her home they discovered that she had problems with her night vision.  I had never had the need to deal with her in the dark since I lived on site and worked with the horses all day, so I hadn't recognised this as an issue.  The end result was that they kept the horse and I gave them their money back - I was young and naive at the time and they are very lucky people, she was a fantastic horse in every way except this!

I have also had the experience of working with a couple of one-eyed horses, who seem to cope incredibly well with life.  One was an elderly broodmare (who produce some stunning foals), she was wary when you approached her on her blind side but otherwise you wouldn't have known anything was amiss.  The other was a chestnut thoroughbred gelding who came to us for backing.  We were using a round pen at the time, and I found it fascinating that I could work him in both directions - I would have expected a much lesser communication on his blind side.  He adapted by changing his posture and turning his neck a little, but could still respond to signals to speed up, slow down, change direction, etc.

It seems to me that eye disease is becoming better recognised by vets, presumably as diagnostic procedures, treatment techniques and medication progress.

So I guess my advice agrees with Freddy - if you're intending on buying a horse, get the eyes checked!

Regular physio is important for your horses' health and well being

It's that time of year again!  My family are visiting this weekend, and that's a great excuse to get the house and garden up to scratch - something I tend to manage only once a year!  I might even get as far as cleaning the car, although goodness knows what I'd find under all the mud and dog hair!  Being a horse physio at this time of year in the UK means coming home each evening covered in horse hair, as everything is malting heavily.  The horses that have had long winter coats are ok, but the ones that have short clipped coats and are still losing their coat make me as itchy as if I'd been clipping - not pleasant!

This week has been exceptionally busy, and thankfully I've had a student with me for the week to ease the burden.  It's so rewarding helping someone develop their confidence and ability to help horses feel better.  The Horse Massage for Horse Owners DVD is selling well, so I know that plenty of horse owners are looking to help their own horses feel better, and to recognise earlier when they need professional help.  My next project is to get started properly on my first book, which I'm very excited about... more to follow at a later date!

Lumps under the saddle?

"Has anyone had experience of a fluid filled lump coming up on their horses back after riding that then goes away again, but happens every time you ride?"

I asked this question in one of my regular newsletters, and received some responses from readers that I wanted to share with you.

"How interesting Sue - my new mare developed a fluid filled lump in the saddle area after I bought her, whilst I was riding in a borrowed saddle (even though I had a gel pad and thick numnah and the saddle seemed an ok fit).  Having the saddler out and discovering the saddle needed re flocking, and now riding in a saddle especially fitted and bought for her, the lump has gone and she is also much softer through her back to ride - amazed this could happen in such a short space of time & really interested to read your helpful hints"  Julie Crawshaw

"Regarding the lumps under saddle occurring after riding:  I was told by the lady who bred my Cleveland Bay gelding not to remove the saddle straight away when taking tack off after riding, but to leave it there with loosened girth for a few minutes to let the horse return to normal temperature.  This reduces the risk of lumps appearing.  Hope this helps as I have always followed her advice and never seen lumps on his back.  Thanks and regards"  Jane E Preston

"With reference to your question re fluid filled lumps after ridden under the saddle, Poppy had one that used to come up, not sure if it was fluid filled, but it was a small lump.  I noticed it appeared every time after she was ridden and then disappeared.  I tried different numnahs that I had in case the numnah was rubbing somewhere!  I called the saddler out and because Poppy had dropped off a bit the saddle needed adjusting and I also bought a numnah that had pads in it (Le Mieux), they could be taken out when / if necessary.  Since then the lumps haven't returned.  I also asked the vet because it was the area which was treated for her kissing spine."  Julie Anne Young

"Just give it a good smack!"

Recently I was chatting to a top level event rider, explaining that I specialise in looking at performance or behavioural issues from both a physio and a behaviourists point of view. I mentioned that in my opinion, almost all ridden difficulties have an element of physical pain contributing to the problem. Her response was 'But I suppose a good rider can beat them through it'. Posting this on my Facebook page has caused uproar.

The trouble is that she's right, although I would say 'strong' rider rather than 'good'. If the rider inflicts more pain than the physical issue, then in most cases it's the rider the horse will respond to. Horses have, after all, evolved to mask their pain with adrenalin in order to survive.

In reality, most of us have some aches and pains, and yet we still function effectively and often successfully. I suspect its similar for horses. The difference is that horses have far more limited options when it comes to saying 'That's enough now, that hurts too much'. And so it's up to us as their guardians to be their 'voice', and do our best to treat them as we would hope to be treated ourselves.

Your most helpful phrase...

On my Holistic Horse Help Facebook page, I asked followers what was the most helpful phrase they'd ever heard in relation to working with their horse.  Hazel Bird wrote the following, which many readers (including myself) clearly appreciated:

"A lady I used to work for described the principles of training to me in a simple way that has always helped me, as it's easy to visualise.  When you want to teach a horse something, she told me to imagine it in terms of a long corridor with lots of open doors leading off it.  The corridor represents the training session and the doors each represent an action that the horse could offer in response.  When you ask the horse to do something, he sets off with you down the corridor and will go to enter one of the doors.  If it's not the right door (i.e. not the action you want) it is your job to gently but quickly close the door before he gets his nose into it.  Never slam the door in his face, and don't let him get too far into the door, otherwise he'll think that's the right answer and you may have to start again and get him to un-learn.  Close each wrong door that he chooses before he gets his nose in and when he chooses the right door stand back, give him plenty of time and room to go right in and then reward him.  Next time you ask him to set off down the corridor, he may well go straight to that door every time.  Hope that makes sense.  It's not a phrase, I know, but I've always found it really useful."

Others included:

“Go to people for opinions and horses for answers” Alex Kurland (Kate Jackson)

"If you act like you have 30 mins it'll take you all day.  If you act like you have all day it might only take 30 mins" (Ellie Taggart)

"Slow down then slow down some more" (Pam Sanderson)

"Just because you can, doesn't mean that you should" Alex Kurland (Teresa Perrin) 

"Finish on a good note" (Meryl Oxley)

"Listen to what your horse is trying to tell you" (Sandra Forrester)

"Your horse will only do what you've programmed him to do, so if you don't like the results, don't blame the horse"  (Helen Davies)

"Look like a swan whilst paddling like a duck" (Debbie Neale)
"A horse cannot multi-task, which is why he will spook if in pain or uncomfortable.  Light bulb moment!  I knew it was so, but that just explained it so well" (Lesley Woodward)