Horse Performance Not Consistent

Jennie wrote and asked "I took my horse Hamanuri (Hambone) to a show and he was just terrible refusing to do this he has done over and over. Nothing in his routine was changed. I used the same snaffle bit and headstall and same saddle. It's not like he is a mare and has his off days, lol. This is the first time in over a year that I had a really bad day with him and I can't stop thinking about it. What should I be doing to correct him or the problem?"

Jennie, thanks for writing. It makes for long time between your bad ride and the next good one. I think horses can have bad days just like we can, and those bad days aren't just for mares. I wouldn't worry too much about it and carry that fretting into your next ride on him. I doubt that your horse did anything that he didn't think was right for him.

Sometimes just the change of location, which usually requiring a trailer ride, can be enough to get your horse off wrong. And I can tell you that doing things over and over at the same place does not mean that your horse will do that same task as well, someplace else.

I have a horse that goes willingly over bridges all the time but the last time I took him to a new place, that he has never been before, it was like he has never seen a bridge before, although he was very good at everything else. You have to appreciate a horse like that with the instinct to mistrust things or see them as a potential danger. I think the overall goal is to develop respect and trust between you and your horse so they can think through a problem and not just react instinctively,……. so that when you do ask him to do something that he'll won’t have so much over powering doubt and fear, and do as you ask because his trust and confidence has been built up and his past experience, built over time, is that everything turned out alright.

One thing that I think hampers horse owners is gaining the trust of their horse is respect from the horse to the owner. I have seen some owners, who in my opinion, equate trust with compassion or otherwise trying to get the horse to like them. I think the relationship between an owner and their horse should be more comparable to a parent and children. I do not think you can build trust before there is respect. I can’t help but think that your horse refusing to do things he has done before under the same circumstances may be disrespect in some aspect.