IN my line of work, I often meet new people while teaching at clinics, or holding online workshops or sessions. There are a few things I hear again and again from the people I chat to - one of the most prominent phrases being, ‘they just do ‘x’ out of nowhere!’ In my experience however, these things rarely happen out of ‘nowhere’.

All of the fun things our horses do, bucking, broncing, rearing, bolting, kicking, biting...there is usually a build up to those actions, and a few signs before they happen. It’s up to us to start reading and recognising those signs, and advocating for our horses. The best thing about this? The second we recognise the signs, and start to support our horses through whatever it is that is upsetting or overstimulating them, they start to trust us more.

Through that trust comes an enhanced level of communication, and just like that we deepen the level of connection with our horses, building confidence in horse and human along the way. The other bonus? By recognising the signs and helping our horses, you can ‘diffuse’ situations quickly and efficiently, eliminating the drama and the ‘fun stuff’ from your time together.

So what are these signs that I speak of? Signs your horse may be experiencing stress, anxiety or overwhelm, might include; heightened breath and/or heart rate, wide eyes with no blinking (or little half blinks), they may stiffen up through their body, they might grow in height, with a high head and neck carriage, they may purse their lips (like they are sucking a lemon!) they may fix their ears or eyes on one thing, and there may be some flared nostrils and snorting.

Depending on your horse/pony and how much they express themselves, they may exhibit all of these signs, or just one or two, but either way, all of these signals indicate them being in a state of assessment. In these moments, your horse has heightened their senses, they are ssessing whether the stimulant requires a fight/flight/freeze response, or whether they can stand down.

This is, what I like to call ‘the golden moment’. In this moment, you have the opportunity to listen to and help your horse, and change the course of your session, and in time, your whole relationship.

You can:

A) Choose to push on, past/over/through the stimulant, potentially causing them to tip into survival mode, where the fight/flight/freeze response may come in, and you might get the buck/bolt/rear/barge. This may get you past the thing, but, you have added drama, and your horse, in survival mode, is incapable of learning and retaining new information.

There is a large chance you will end up in a similar situation again, plus because your horse has been ‘pushed’ through or past the thing, you may have chipped away at the trust and communication between you both.

The other option

B) You can choose to help your horse relax and ‘reset’ themselves around the stimulant. This may take a little time but the results are well worth it.

Here are some examples of how to help: introduce and allow movement, disengage their hindquarters, move their shoulders, or ask for a few steps of back up (this helps bring their focus back to you), walk a circle away from the stimulant (this helps to dissolve any nervous energy that is building).

Finally, try ‘approach and retreat’ with the stimulant, which will help break the process of moving past/through/over the thing, into more manageable pieces for your horse. These steps help introduce relaxation back into your furry friend so that they can learn, engage, and interact with you again, allowing for more positive progress in your time together.

It really is that simple. While I accept that option B takes a little more time and patience, in recognising these signs in your horse and responding to them, you are helping them feel seen, heard, and understood. This not only builds trust and connection between you both, but will massively improve your horse’s confidence in themselves, and in you as their human.

Short tempered

Another hot tip is in these moments, when your horse is presenting behaviours that previously meant something ‘bad’ was going to happen, take a moment to check in with yourself. How do you feel?

Often, when presented with these behaviours, we ourselves can become nervous, defensive, or even short tempered. It is so important for our horses, that we can present ourselves in a calm and collected manner, so that we do not add to their energy.

Taking a moment to check in with ourselves, taking a breath, and allowing ourselves time to ground and respond to our horses, rather that react, is something else that can really change the course of your relationship and time together.

Ask yourself how is your breathing, how tight are you holding the reins/lead rope/lunge line, how is your posture? Little tweaks here to your breath, posture, and how you are connecting physically with your horse can also make a big difference.

To conclude, there are often plenty of clues leading up to the ‘out of nowhere’ thing that your horse does. Those bucks, rears, bolts and leaps are more often than not the last resort from your horse, after a few hints that you may have already missed.

It is up to you now, to slow down, get present, and start to recognise those signs and hints that your horse has been dropping. Recognising them, acting upon them, and helping your horse to work through them, will increase the bond you have together tenfold. You’ll be surprised how quickly these behaviours start to dissipate once you start listening, and how much better both you and your horse will start to feel as a result. If your goal is a drama-free life with your horse, reading the signs is the first place you should start.

Kimberly Dunn is a Level 2 Western rider, a clinical hypnotherapist and mind coach and an Equine Facilitated Therapy practitioner. She also hosts her own podcast, The Enlightened Equestrian.