A Horse's Memory

Note - I'll be using the male pronoun in this post. I don't like using "it" when referring to horses or any other animal. Hopping back and forth between male and female pronouns could get confusing.

Horses are like elephants - they never forget. This is especially true when it comes to people. Horses will never forget how people treated them. For example, an abused horse may take a long time to get used to people, particularly if he's only experienced abuse in his life. A horse will not only remember how people treated him, he will also remember how specific people treated him.

A horse will remember everything that's happened to him. For example, a horse reluctant to load in a trailer - or who absolutely refuses to load - likely had a bad experience in a trailer. He may have slipped and fallen while loading. He may not have been able to reach food and water. He may not have been secured properly and spent the entire trip getting bumped around in the trailer. The driver may have been reckless. The tow vehicle and trailer may have gotten into an accident. If a horse is loading for the first time, as a prey animal he might be worried about what monsters are hiding inside the trailer. That could cause reluctance to load on his part. Just give him time to check out the trailer and see that there are no monsters hiding there.

When training a horse, timing is crucial. When applying pressure to ask a horse to do something, the pressure must be released as soon as the horse makes the slightest attempt to try to do what he's being asked to do. As soon as the pressure is released, the horse thinks he found the correct answer for what you were asking him to do. Release it too soon or too late, the horse will be rewarded for the incorrect answer. If you release the pressure while the horse is misbehaving, you've just rewarded him for bad behavior. As Clinton Anderson is fond of noting, when training horses, consistency is your greatest ally.

Never react to a horse in anger. He'll remember your anger and will be less likely to trust you in the future. You want to set him up for success and lashing out at him won't do that. When he's misbehaving, make him move his feet. When it comes to horses, the one who gets the other horses to move their feet first is the leader. Making the horse move his feet proves to him that you're the leader.

Always end a training session on a high note. The horse will feel good having ended with something he does successfully. The next day, he'll remember the good feeling from the previous day's session and will be more willing to work.

Remember, a horse remembers everything that happens to him and how people treated him. Be sure to give your horse lots of happy memories of you and what you've done together.