Why are horses fearful? Do they have nightmares or do they fear spooks?

They’re fearful because of their evolution survival instincts.

Let me do a little deeper. Nature has made horses to be a part of the fodder in the food cycle. They have been preyed upon by predators from time immemorial. That is where the evolution part comes in? Horses are skittish because they have survived by being alert and canny. These marks, have gotten to be part of their in-built nature, and tend to dominate even if they’re in relative safe settings; it is these that will make them fight or flight on occasion.

You can’t entirely remove these instincts, but you can definitely curb their influence over the behavior of a tame horse.

You begin by checking yourself out. What type of impression do you portray when handling your horses? Do you portray assured fearlessness or nervousness? When your pony abruptly shows skittishness, how do you cope with the reason behind this behavior? Say some machine that your horse hasn’t seen before is spooking him. Is it your first instinct to shut down that machine?

You aren’t doing your horses a favour if that’s how you react. You are adding to the difficulty rather than solving it.

Your pony looks up to you as a protector. He comes out of a species with a herd mindset, where a powerful herd leader cares for the remainder of the herd. If you have just a pony or 2, you are their direct herd leader. If you happen to have a herd, they are going to have their own equine herd leader, but you will continue to be a notch above that herd leader. Either way, you are the final authority.

That implies that your response to situations is mirrored in your horses attitudes. If you’re nervous, they’re going to be. If you’re cool and courageous, they’ll continuously learn to be as well.

To return to the piece of machinery that spooked your horse, what you shouldn’t be doing is turning it off or taking it away. Go to your pony with total poise. He may back off, but stay firm. Stay by him until he quietens down, then rub him affectionately at the withers. This way, you are informing him that there is no threat from the machine. You are informing him that you are feeling no fear of the machine, and neither should he. Once you’ve calmed down your horse adequately you advance towards the machine rather than away. If at any stage your pony shows nerviness again, you take the same steps and keep soothing him. Shortly enough, your horse will get so used to the machine that he won’t notice its existence anymore!

You can follow this procedure or adaptations of it to help your horses out of their fear of virtually anything that isn’t actually a real challenge to them.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers visit HorseHorses