Horse Behaviour Problems: What to Check Before You Change the Training

When a behaviour problem appears, most people change their training method first. In my experience that is the last item on the list. Before that there are four things to rule out.

First, pain. Gastric ulcers, teeth, back, feet, the sacroiliac area. A horse cannot say that he hurts, so he shows it by biting, kicking, refusing to go forward, fidgeting under saddle or a sudden change of character. A sudden change in a previously calm horse is almost always physical.

Second, management. A horse is built for movement and company. Twelve hours in a stable, concentrated feed and one hour of work a day create tension that has to go somewhere. More turnout and more contact with other horses solve more problems than any exercise.

Third, tack. A saddle that is too narrow, a harsh bit, a tight noseband, a painful girth. A horse who resists under saddle but is calm on the ground very often has a tack problem.

Fourth, communication. Only when the first three are clean do I look at how the human asks. Most of the remaining problems are solved there: an unclear question, pressure without release, inconsistency.

That is why in the K3P method I do not start with the problem, I start with the alphabet. If a horse calmly moves his shoulders and hindquarters from the ground and walks on and halts off your energy, behaviour problems usually disappear because their cause has disappeared.

If you are not sure where you are in that sequence, describe your situation to the WhisperAI assistant, it can walk you through the same questions I would ask.