Spring Time is coming!!!

It's the end of winter, spring is right around the corner.

Us people, bemoaning all the weight we gained over the winter, would just like to get back into things slowly and easily. Our horses, though, are feeling explosive.

We have put certain expectations on our horses. For us, the keeper, we think of our horses being successful when he allows us to win a show, or to carry us reliably on the trail, or when he takes care of our young granddaughter when she wants to ride.

But the horse counts success in survival.

Not just any survival, either. Our horses are very much ambitious weight gainers, knowing that a mare in good flesh is more likely to cycle and reproduce, a stud in good condition is more likely to gain possessing of a mare band.

Another measure of success to your horse is the ability to evade a predator.

 "What predator?" you might rightfully say. Since the time that horses have been domesticated on the Asian Steppe, their genetic makeup has changed hardly at all. Each and every horse still has a fully intact capability to manage life out in the open. Which includes evading predators.

Who are the horse's predators?

The most dangerous predator of that region is the wolf. How does the wolf hunt? By separating an individual out and running it to exhaustion. A successful survivor is one who doesn't get separated from the herd, and, if he happens to fail at that, who can out last a wolf pack.  Does that explain some of your horse's behavior to you?

As a successful survivor, your horse is very concerned with standing around for as many days as he can, eating, drinking and sleeping. He is storing up energy for that one day when his resources will save his life by allowing him to aggressively place himself in the middle of the herd, or to run for longer than the wolves run.

The horse has ambush predators, too. The bear, lion, and cougar all hunt the horse. The behavior that protects the horse from a miserable death at the hands of one of those, is the ability to explosively jump to another spot, and then to run to safety, at top speed, preferably back into the middle of the herd.

Again… Does this sound familiar to you?

Obviously, our association with horses have changed their thinking to some point. The more the horse is ridden, the more training he has in him, the more the habits we have taught him will override his instincts. Young horses, though, and horses who aren't ridden very regularly, will listen very closely to their instincts. The habits us humans have taught them aren't very well ingrained.

As you emerge from winter hibernation, be aware of your horse's needs. Have a plan that allows you to bring two different spring behaviors, the human and the equine, into alignment and make it a pleasant experience for every one.