OK, so we all know that horses have no idea what Christmas is all about – to them it is the same as any other day – but as this festive time of year is supposed to be a time of festive cheer why not think about what you can do to really make this Christmas time special for your horse?

It’s easy to think about this in human terms, because of course we are pretty good at thinking from a human perspective about what might bring us happiness. But to truly make our horse’s lives better we need to think about it from their point of view, not ours. As much as we might love the idea of dressing our lovely horses up in a nice Christmas hat, decorating their stable with tinsel and blasting the Christmas songs out of the radio I’m afraid to say that it’s extremely unlikely that your horse will get much enjoyment out of any of these things!

So what can you do for your horse this Christmas? Well, firstly have a think about the 3 F’s – Friends, Forage and Freedom. Does your horse have any of these things? If not, could you enrich his life by providing any of them for him? Winter typically sees many more horses stabled than other times of year, but can you ensure that your horse at least gets some time for social interactions? It can be difficult for some people to get winter turn out due to livery yard restrictions and rules, but perhaps you could make sure you allow plenty of time for your horse to play with their friends in the arena at the very least. And maybe a New Year’s resolution could see you searching for a yard where more of his equine needs could be met?

Horse’s stomachs are not designed to digest large amounts of cereal based food so if you were thinking of making him an equine Christmas cake, be sure to make it primarily of forage, perhaps with the odd carrot thrown in for good measure. And given that you will most likely be spending a lot of your Christmas holiday stuffing your face with delicious food, be sure that you give your horse enough forage to keep him going both day and night, especially if he is stabled. Even short periods without access to forage can start to cause your horse discomfort so make sure his needs are met as well as your own!
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No doubt most horse lovers will have stockings stuffed full of horse related gifts but perhaps your gift to your horse could be the removal of something, rather than the addition of more gadgets. Perhaps you have always considered making the transition from bitted to bitless riding, maybe it’s actually time to remove that tight flash noseband or the martingale that your horse doesn’t need or want. And best of all, why not give your horse the gift of learning to better understand what he is telling you through his behaviour. Promise to learn his language to better improve your relationship and watch how your partnership blossoms as you enter the New Year.

This question was published in Horse and Rider magazine during summer 2016.

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My horse is afraid of needles. Someone has told me that I should make him step forwards and backwards constantly when he has to be injected to take his mind off it. Is this a good idea or will this just make him worse?


It is very common for horses to develop needle phobias and this may occur as a result of repeated treatments and/or bad experiences when being injected.

The most important thing to remember is that your horse is likely to be experiencing real fear and this fear can easily become associated with the arrival of the vet and with people touching the areas of his body where he has previously been injected.

Fear is a strong and unpleasant emotion and can increase in intensity rather than improve if it is not handled correctly. The most appropriate way to deal with helping him to overcome his fear is through a careful process of desensitisation and counter conditioning. This means that you desensitise him to all the aspects involved with being injected (two people being present, raising a vein in his neck, pressing something against his vein, etc) and then pair them with something pleasant such as food. By doing this you can alter his emotional response so that he no longer experiences fear when he finds himself in this situation.

Whilst taking his mind off it by moving him backwards and forwards may work in an emergency situation before you have been able to work through the desensitisation and counter conditioning programme it is not a long term solution as all it will do is distract him from what is happening rather than altering his emotional response. Depending on the severity of his fear, attempting to still inject him whilst he is fearful and highly aroused could potentially be very dangerous for both you and your horse and attempting to get him to move backwards and forwards could further escalate his fear and he may become extremely difficult to handle.

When helping a horse to overcome a fearful response that they have developed it is absolutely essential that all the training is done whilst they are below the threshold that makes them frightened as when a horse is very frightened he is unable to learn new tasks easily. I would recommend enlisting the help of a qualified equine behaviourist who can create a personalised desensitisation and counter conditioning programme for you and your horse.

​It is also very important to have a friendly, calm and understanding vet who you can explain your problem to as their behaviour around your horse will contribute to the success of your retraining programme. With the appropriate retraining programme from a qualified behaviourist needle phobias can easily be overcome but it is important that you work through a retraining programme well in advance of your next vet visit.

​The following was published in the February 2016 issue of Horse and Rider magazine as part of their Ask the Experts feature. For more answers on behaviour related questions don't forget to go and buy your copy!



​When I open my horse’s stable door he escapes but he doesn’t go far and stops when he gets outside. Why does he do this and how can I stop him?

Although it is something that is commonly done in the horse world, keeping a horse in a small enclosed space is extremely unnatural and stressful for a horse. Horses are group living, social animals who are designed to travel long distances every day. When they are stabled they are prevented from carrying out many of their natural behaviours and as a result many horses are not comfortable about being stabled. Being inside a stable also limits our horse’s visual field; for a prey animal who relies on their visual system to alert them to any approaching dangers it can be frightening to not be able to see all around them. Horses eyes allow them to see almost the whole way around them with only a small blind spot directly behind them and right in front of them, but when we stable them we really limit what they are able to see. When you consider these things it isn’t altogether surprising when they want to escape what is essentially a small prison to them.
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It may be worth considering whether you really need to stable your horse or not? If not, perhaps his behaviour is indicating that he would prefer to just live out. If this is not possible for you then consider what you can do to make his stable a little more appealing. This could be by providing more forage for him to eat and also different types of forage so that he has a choice of what to eat. Provide environmental enrichment for him, such as branches to chew on, hanging vegetables to chew on and play with, treat balls, lickable toys, etc. Consider whether it might be possible for you to create a window at the back of his stable so that he has better visual access and/or a window between his stable and the one next door so that he can access his companion even when he is in his stable. 

Ponies are things of many children’s dreams – I know personally that I dreamt of riding and playing with ponies from as early as I can remember and even though I started riding lessons when I was only 5 years old it felt like I had waited an eternity for my parents to give in to the pressure from my sister and me to have them.

And yet, from starting out with an idyllic dream of galloping bareback along a beach on a horse with whom we have a perfect partnership, we somehow end up with children beating the living daylights out of their ponies simply to try to earn themselves a pretty rosette. Where did it all go so wrong?

We live in a world where we (well most of us at least!) do our best to teach children to be kind to each other, to other humans and to animals too. These are some of the most basic and initial lessons children are taught by their parents, but imagine how confusing this must be to such a young soul when their Mum then takes them to their local tack shop to choose a beautiful pink, sparkly whip to beat their pony with. Is horse riding the only activity in the world where we actively encourage the next generation to hit their animals? To hit the animals whom they want to develop a good, positive relationship with, who they want to help them win prizes and rosettes, and share fun and happiness with? I’m pretty sure there aren’t too many people out there who think their child will develop good relationships with their peers through hitting them with sticks when they do something they disagree with, yet it is often encouraged with their ponies. We’ve all seen that Mum at the side of the showring shouting ‘Just hit him, use your whip!’ when the enduring pony refuses yet another jump that he has been poorly set up for by his young rider. Using the whip is something so ingrained in the teaching style of many instructors that I have actually been banished from lessons for refusing to use one. When you really think about how absurd this is you have to laugh, but it really isn’t very funny.

Imagine a world where you could go into a shop and buy a stick to hit your dog with when he did something wrong at the park. Imagine a world where not only could you buy a stick to hit your dog with, but where you could actually buy fancy coloured, glittery, specially designed sticks to hit your dogs with just to encourage your children to use them. In fairness, I’m hoping you’re finding it pretty difficult to imagine a world in which we all hit our dogs with sticks in the park when they fail to do exactly what we ask, and yet it is common place in the world of horses.

How can we expect our children to grow up showing kindness and compassion to their horses whilst we are encouraging them to hit their horses with whips? How can we be angry when our children turn around and hit us, with or without a stick, when we have encouraged them to do the exact same thing to their horse? How can we expect children to grow up with a healthy attitude towards competition – winning and losing – when we teach them that if the horse doesn’t perform to the required standard it is ok to beat them? And how can we expect a young child to understand when we say that the whip is a ‘training aid’ and that they must only hit the horse so hard, but not beat it. Surely as adults we have the responsibility to create consistency in the lessons that we teach our children but yet in the horse world we seem to be so contradictory.

Should whips ever really be something that we encourage our children to have? Do we allow it simply because we are afraid of the size and power that a horse has and that somehow having an implement to hit them with makes us feel more powerful and less fearful? If you wouldn’t allow your child to behave aggressively towards other beings, human or animal, perhaps it is time to reconsider whether you still want your child to carry a whip the next time they go riding. After all, if it isn’t for hitting the horse or pony why do they need it anyway?

Perhaps if we teach our children how to understand their horses and ponies better from the outset they may not have quite so much cause to want to use it – the next time your child asks you for a new whip why not invest the money in buying them a book about equine behaviour instead. If they start observing their ponies behaviour more closely from a young age they will surely be experts by the time they reach adulthood. And their interactions with equines are likely to be far safer than those who approach their horses with an aggressive outlook and attitude.  

Is it not time we woke up and realised that encouraging children to hit animals is simply not cool? 

The following question was recently asked by a Horse and Rider magazine reader and my response was published in the March 2015 issue of the magazine.



"My horse is polite in the stable but as soon as the door is open he barges out. Why does he do this? How can I stop him?

Although bargy horses are often considered to be ‘bad mannered’ this is an unfair description as they are simply using their behaviour to express how they are feeling – after all, they are unable to speak in our language. Horses are social herd animals but when stabled they are usually unable to make physical contact with their companions and they may not even be able to see them. This can be extremely stressful and is likely to be a contributing factor to your horse’s behaviour.

Barging is usually associated with a high level of arousal, and this could be caused by stress, anxiety, frustration and/or excitement.  The most important thing to consider is what may be causing your horse to rush out of his stable. Is he is bored, lonely or frustrated because of a lack of equine company, forage or entertainment? Are other horses turned out before him, causing an increase in his frustration and anxiety levels? Is it because he is afraid of walking through narrow spaces? It is important to remember that being confined to a very small space is extremely unnatural for a horse.

Consider how you could alter your horse’s management to help with this problem. Try to make his stable a more positive environment for him and ensure that he always has access to forage in his stable so that he does not spend any time without food. Horses are trickle feeders, designed to eat small amounts of low quality forage throughout day and night. A lack of forage will result in increased stress and frustration for your horse and also an increased urgency for him to want to get to the field. Stable enrichment should also be provided to make the stable a more positive environment for him. These can include things like branches to chew on, vegetables hanging on string, treat balls, etc. You’re imagination is the limit in terms of what you can provide to make his stable more appealing to him.

If you think he may be afraid of walking through narrow spaces ask your vet to check him over for any physical pain before starting a training programme to rebuild his confidence with narrow spaces. This should be done with the help of an equine behaviourist as it is essential to undertake any training at a pace suitable for your horse as an individual and this varies considerably from one horse to another.

TOP TIPS:

• If your horse has to be stabled provide plenty of forage and as much enrichment as possible and change the enrichment items daily so that they don’t just become ‘part of the furniture’.

• Always look for the underlying motivation for a behaviour so that you can work out the most appropriate way to solve the problem.
  

The following question was asked by a Horse and Rider magazine reader and my response was published in the March 2015 issue of the magazine.

I've just bought a new 4-year-old and he is really nippy. He's not mean, but everything goes in his mouth and it makes grooming, handling and rugging him really difficult. Why is he doing it? I want him to stop.

This type of behaviour is not uncommon in young horses and may be investigatory, playful, could be related to anxiety or be a combination of all of these. It is essential to have him checked over by the vet to ensure that he is not experiencing any discomfort which may be contributing to the behaviour.

Try to make sure you are not accidentally rewarding this behaviour – if he enjoys receiving attention any reaction from you when he does this could be rewarding to him so try to avoid this. Equally, it is important not to punish him for this behaviour as this is likely to cause an increase in anxiety and could accentuate the problem further. Sometimes this type of behaviour is accidentally encouraged by owners when treats are given at inappropriate times. If he ever shows nippy behaviour towards you or if he pushes you with his head, nibbles or nuzzles at you or your clothing make sure you don’t give him a treat or any attention. Otherwise it is easy to become a walking vending machine that your horse believes dispenses treats whenever he pushes or nips, and this can increase the behaviour further.

It is important to try to encourage him to carry out another behaviour which is incompatible with him chewing on everything that you don’t want him to. This can be done by either providing him with rewards for keeping his head turned away from you/objects he usually picks up, or more simply by providing him with a tasty haynet to eat whilst you are carrying out these tasks. To reward him you can either drop a treat into a bucket on the floor in front of him when he looks away from you or releases an object, or you can use some super special scratches instead! Most horses have a favourite scratchy spot and a good firm scratch in this area can be extremely rewarding for them if you would prefer not to use food. If you don’t know where your horse’s ‘Ooh’ spot is yet spend some time trying to find this out through trial and error! When you have found his magic ‘spot’ start to say ‘good boy’ when you give him a good scratch, so that in time the words themselves will become reinforcing for him which can be very useful for any future training.

Try to think about teaching him what you do want instead of focussing on what you don’t want and you will be surprised how much this alone can improve your relationship with your horse.

TOP TIPS:

• Focus on what behaviour you want, rather than what you don’t want. E.g. Focus on teaching your horse to remain looking away from you when you rug him, rather than stopping him from nipping when you rug him.
  
• Be careful not to accidentally reward your horse for unwanted behaviour, or behaviours that could easily escalate into bad habits.

As many people already know about me, I have spent a great deal of time living and working in The Gambia on and off over the past 6 years, with a fantastic small charity called the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust. This small but effective charity work tirelessly to improve the lives of the working equines in The Gambia, as well as their owners who are predominantly living in poverty.

The majority of the problems with working equines in The Gambia result from a general lack of education and the fact that horses have only been used in The Gambia for a relatively short period of time – approximately 30 to 40 years. This means that there is no history of horsemanship and the people are still learning how to manage their animals properly. Couple this with the fact that The Gambia is a hostile environment for equines – tropical diseases such as Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness in humans) are prevalent, food is scarce, biting insects are more than plentiful and the weather conditions are difficult to live and work in. There is extremely limited veterinary care available.

It isn’t uncommon to see injuries to horses and donkeys mouths in The Gambia due to inappropriate bits being used, or because rope is tied through the animal’s mouths if the owner is unable to afford to purchase any bit at all. During a recent trip whilst driving through one of the towns I saw a donkey pulling a cart and I winced at the sight of his mouth being pulled hard against with the rope that was going through it by a young boy on the end of the reins. My first initial thought was how sad and painful it was to see this, but almost immediately it took me back to thoughts and images from the week before. Only that week I wasn’t in The Gambia - instead I was at Burghley Horse Trials.

Whilst photographing horses during the dressage phase at Burghley I sadly saw many top class event horses with very similar expressions on their faces to the donkey that got me thinking in The Gambia. Except the owners and riders of these horses have almost certainly had the privilege of an excellent education and invest huge amounts of money in taking care of their equine counterparts – quite the opposite to the average equine owner in a developing country.

One of the joys of being involved with the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust is the fact that the Gambian people are so keen to learn, and when provided with knowledge about equine care and an option of better, kinder equipment to use 99% of the people are desperate to put them into practice immediately to create a better life for their animals. After all, their lives depend on their working animals – without them they cannot farm and they have no transport so there is a great motivation to do what is better for their animals as it will also be better for them. And I ponder whether this is not true for our equestrian athletes – surely their horses would perform better and win more prizes for their riders and owners if their welfare was more carefully considered?

So many people will see images of equines from charities such as the GHDT and find them distressing and many don’t hold back on social media in expressing how horrific it is that the animals are in poor condition. They are often quick to judge the owners without considering how difficult it is to take good care of your animals when you are unable to even provide lunch and dinner for your own wife and children on a daily basis. They express how horrific the welfare of those poor animals is and how fortunate our horses in the UK are in comparison. 

But honestly, I beg to differ. In The Gambia, mares and Jennys are allowed to roam freely during the months that it isn’t farming season – from October until July. The animals from each village gather together to create a herd and can be seen enjoying their freedom, running through the bush together, expressing natural behaviours and simply being equines. At night they return of their own accord to their respective compounds where they are fed and watered. Stallions and Jacks are usually tethered when they are not working, sometimes out in the bush and sometimes under a shelter in the family compound. Though they are not free to roam they have 360 degree visual access to the outside world and are often kept under the same shelter as other equines or farm animals such as sheep, goats or cows. They do work hard, pulling carts often for a number of hours in the hot sun and this is tough, especially when they don’t get a huge amount to eat, but they have a freedom of movement that many UK horses can only dream of.

In comparison many UK horses, and particularly competition horses, are kept in a small stable for most or all of the day, isolated from other equines, rarely or occasionally allowed to socialise freely with others of their kind. If they are one of the lucky ones with turn out, often this involves being turned out on a small square of over-grazed grass, separated from other equines by rows of electric tape with little or no enrichment and not enough space to run or frolic. Despite the extensive history of horsemanship in the UK many horses are still trained using archaic and painful practices whilst being fed diets full of grains which the equine body is not designed to deal with. Despite our excellent education system and a wealth of fantastic equine research on aspects of management, welfare, equipment and equine needs we continue to ignore much of this advice, choosing to follow archaic ‘traditions’ instead of utilising education for ours and our equine friends benefit. Routinely we still fall back on the stronger bit and tighter noseband to cover up ridden problems rather than dealing with the underlying cause.

We have to accept that equines in the UK have a somewhat different set of welfare concerns to those in The Gambia and other developing countries, but does that make is ok for us to judge owners from poorer countries? We certainly would be worlds ahead of where we are now if we enveloped new knowledge with the enthusiasm of Gambian equine owners. Does it mean that our horses are lucky because they suffer a different set of problems? Personally, I would argue that the answer to that is no, but feel free to tell me what you think!  

What is a Stereotypy?

Stereotypic behaviours are often mentioned in horsey circles, but what exactly is a stereotypy and what can you do if you think your horse has one?

The definition of a stereotypy is “a behaviour that is repeated but has no apparent purpose or function.” Stereotypic behaviours are extremely common in domestic horses, and this is most likely due to our modern systems of equine management being poorly suited to their natural behaviour. As a result horses are often unable to express their normal behavioural repertoire which causes an increase in their stress levels and makes the development of a stereotypic behaviour more likely. Although stereotypic behaviours can develop in horses who are kept turned out with equine companions, it is much less likely than it is those kept in stables for long periods of time.

Stereotypic behaviours in horses can include:

-          Weaving
-          Cribbing
-          Tongue Lolling
-          Box Walking/Fence Walking
-          Self Mutilation

The difficulty of managing horses who display stereotypic behaviours is that once a stereotypy has developed it can be extremely difficult to eradicate it. It is extremely important to ‘nip the problem in the bud’ if you think that your horse is beginning to develop a stereotypy. Stereotypic behaviours lead to an increase in endorphins in the brain, which cause the horse to experience a feeling of well-being. The behaviour becomes a coping mechanism which they come to rely on when they are stressed, perhaps explaining why they are so difficult to ever stop completely. Frustration and boredom are both huge factors in the development of stereotypic behaviours, so it is our role as horse owners to try to minimise these in our horse’s lives.

What to do if you think your horse is beginning to develop a stereotypy?
As soon as you notice that your horse may be starting a repetitive behaviour it is essential to ask yourself – “Why”?

Often there are management factors that can be altered to reduce your horse’s stress levels and improve his general well-being and these things must be put into place to prevent a stereotypy from fully developing. Ensure that your horse has access to as much turn out as possible with a stable set of companions. It is also essential for horses, as trickle feeders, to have the opportunity to continue eating throughout both day and night. It is unlikely that one small haynet will be enough to keep your horse going throughout a whole night if he is stabled, and any prolonged period without forage to eat will greatly increase his stress levels and can also begin to cause him physical damage. It is essential that your horse is being fed an appropriate diet – horses are not designed to eat high-concentrate foods and should be kept on a forage based diet. A discussion with an independent equine nutritionist is highly recommended to ensure you are providing your horse with a suitable diet.

It is also important to check whether there are certain things at the yard where he is kept which are causing him to become more anxious, frustrated or stressed and if at all possible try to alter your horse’s management to prevent this.

It can sometimes be very difficult to isolate what it is that is causing your horse unnecessary stress and this is where a qualified equine behaviourist will be able to help you. It is our role as behaviourists to chunk down each part of your horse’s daily life to identify the factors which may be detrimental to your horse’s well-being, and then to assist you in overcoming these factors to help your horse to regain his equilibrium. As horse owners it can sometimes be difficult to see the wood for the trees, and this is why an outside influence can help you to realise how to make positive changes for your horse.

What not to do!
The most important thing NOT to do if your horse displays stereotypic behaviour is to use any equipment that prevents him from carrying out the behaviour. Despite huge recent advances in our scientific knowledge of stereotypic behaviours in horses there remains an array of products available on the market to prevent your horse from carrying out his stereotypic behaviour. These range from cribbing collars, to anti-weave grills and running electric wire across the top of wooden fence rails, amongst others. What these things do is prevent the behaviour, but they do not address the cause of the behaviour. As a result, by using one of these methods you are in fact adding to the stress that your horse is experiencing – by preventing him from being able to carry out his coping mechanism behaviour, which has likely started because of his already elevated stress levels. If a horse is physically prevented from carrying out his stereotypic behaviour, he is likely to modify the behaviour anyway and the problem is certainly not going to be solved. A weaver with an anti-weave grill on his stable for example is likely to learn that he can step back inside his stable, and can continue to weave there, often with much greater intensity than when he could do it over his stable door.

So what is so Funny About Stereotypies?
I don’t think I have ever come across someone at a zoo who thinks that watching an animal who is pacing back and forth across the front of their cage hour after hour is funny. Most of us these days are educated well enough to know that this type of behaviour is closely related to stress and few of us will go home from that zoo believing that the pacing animal was either ‘happy’ or having a good time. A huge number of us would find that image distressing and may find it difficult to watch at all. I know I would.

And yet, if I want to find a video of a horse demonstrating a stereotypic behaviour, all I have to search for on YouTube is ‘Funny Horse’ and I am sure to find some in the results. On many horse related Facebook pages it common to see videos of horses showing extreme stereotypic behaviour with a caption from the owner of something along the lines of “Look how funny my horse is”. Even when well-meaning and well educated horse people respond with information explaining the concern about stereotypic behaviours, they are often ousted by hundreds of responses telling them to lighten up, and that the horse “isn’t stressed – he’s clearly just having a good time!”

So what is it about equine stereotypies that make people want to believe that they are funny? Why are so many people unable to understand that their horse is displaying an extreme stress response, no different to the pacing animal in a zoo? Answers to that one on the back of a post card please!