Horses are prey animals. They have evolved to hide pain because predators are fantastic at identifying and preying on horses who are lame. Horses that are lame or otherwise hindered are easier to catch. AAAND humans are predators – the top of the food chain. As a result, horses are particularly adept at hiding pain from us.
Now, most of us don’t eat our horses (It’s a joke – don’t @ us!). Most of us want to nurture a partnership with our horses. We want them to be pain free and willing partners. Training practices are shifting away from expecting the horse to ALWAYS say ‘yes’ when the rider gives a cue – no matter the horse’s pain level. There have always been a small fraction of trainers who placed the horse’s needs before their own BUT the majority of riders are not taught that way. The days of forcing horses are falling to the side and us riders and trainers are creating space to honor our horses’ opinions and wishes. Additionally, riders are becoming more educated about how to get horses working correctly over their back… the days of “get your hands low and don’t move them” and false frames are blessedly numbered.
One hiccup is a lack of our collective knowledge on how to identify when pain or trauma is creating a hiccup preventing a horse from using its body correctly. Inspiration for the HORSEWISE series came when Meg Eades started helping me with my hyper alert and super tense Ferrari of a chestnut mare Calypso. Calypso has never really been LAME – BUT – she has never been completely comfortable in her own body. She has had this lower back pain that vets failed to diagnose – not for any failing on their part… but because it was not something they had the tools to identify or heal.
Meg and her mentors have been blowing my mind and making huge strides in helping Calypso be comfortable in her body, adjusting her posture, and helping her let go of the tension she carried. Meg has agreed to bust out some much needed knowledge on us and let us join her for a while on her journey as she helps horses in the Athens area find comfortable space in their own body. No matter if your goal is a pain free pasture ornament or the highest levels of competition, I know this information will be helpful.
AAHC hopes HorseWise is a longstanding column helping local horse owners better understand their horses. Today Meg and I chat about HORSES HIDING PAIN.
Q (Amanda): How do I know if my horse is in pain?
A (Meg): At this point I am starting to feel pretty strongly that if, with fair and kind training, a horse continues to avoid or resist something, that it’s physical – from imbalance or discomfort to all out pain.
If I am evaluating or observing a horse without time to go through a training process, then I will look for some of these visual and tactile clues:
- Tight muscles
- Ear pinning
- Tail slashing
- Biting
- Kicking
- Bucking
- Stomping feet
- Rearing
- Bolting
- Tension around the eyes
- Uneven gaits
- Girthy
- Poor appetite
- Resistance to moving forward
- Sensitive to touch
- Spooking at seemingly nothing hyper vigilant
- Anxious under saddle – hyper vigilant
As far as behavior and handling, if a horse “acts out,” I believe them, and proceed with respectfully trying to sort out what is emotional and what is physical. But over the past six months my mind has been kind of blown by how many things I thought were behavior that have turned out to have a physical component.
Q: With my mare Calypso, she was never really LAME but she consistently had back pain. I had vets look at her who were not really able to identify a specific problem (“lets try hock/SI/stifle injections and see if that helps” – it did not help.) If my vet clears my horse saying nothing is wrong, how do I know if I should keep looking?
A: Even with humans a lot of pain issues are not easy to diagnose. A horse might be going about their daily life in the pasture and seem just fine, but carrying a rider, working in circles, doing transitions, holding feet up for trimming, etc might be extremely difficult or uncomfortable. Or scary if they are not balanced. Also, I often hear people say, “he gallops around the pasture,” or “he always wants to go go go on the trail,” so he must not be in pain. But horses will run on a broken leg with enough adrenaline. And running when you feel like it, as opposed to carrying weight and letting a rider determine how much and how long you run, are totally different.
Q: We often say that horses are “acting out” or talk about “bad” behaviors. Can you tell us why you don’t like these phrases and offer some alternate vocabulary?
A: All behavior has a function, so I don’t see it so much as they are being good or bad – they are always being horses. I guess a better way to say it would be, when a horse is showing behaviors that humans find undesirable. I think for the most part I see “acting out” as more of a physiological/nervous system overload. They are “acting out” because their regular body language is not working so they have to take their communication to the extreme to get us to listen. Maybe “getting loud”?
Q: Can you introduce us to what you have been studying?
A: I am using a combination of bodywork and training to help horses find better posture and be more comfortable in their bodies. This leads them to adding topline and lots of mystery ailments have been disappearing.
After primarily focusing on behavior and relationships with horses for the majority of my career, I’ve been galloping down the rabbit hole of learning about horses’ bodies.
I’ve been learning online and in person with Celeste Leilani-Lazaris and Betsy Vonda. I traveled to Washington for a week of equine massage school. While I was in the neighborhood, I had the opportunity to have a private session with Celeste on nerve impingement release.
I have to say, this new lens and skill set has been a mind blowing game changer for me! I am seeing rapid changes in my and my clients’ horses posture, movement, and overall emotional regulation.
How can people find you if they have questions or want to learn more?
The community can find me on Facebook – Firefly Training. For those that don’t use social media, my contact information is 706-254-9361; meg.eades@aahc
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