I received a question from Kathy Davis Baker this morning that I believe is worth discussing.

“Why do people always say this horse just needs a job?”

I’ve heard it a lot over the years. I have heard famous and not-so-famous clinicians say it and I’ve read it in magazines. But what does it mean? When most people direct the claim at another person, they usually mean that somebody needs a purpose in life. But do horses need a purpose? A job? I don’t think so. They have a job just being a horse.

The most common source I’ve heard is from horsemen whose background or interest is in American ranching. So many I have come across seem to love the idea of giving a horse a job. Usually, it refers to getting a horse to work cattle or maybe work other horses.

There is nothing wrong with asking a horse to move a cow or work another horse. But if people believe a horse needs a purpose and that’s why they need a job, they’re wrong.

Let me plagiarise myself by quoting what I wrote to Kathy this morning.

“Yeah, I've heard that statement several times. I can't speak for what other people mean. The idea of a job seems to mean different things to different people. I mean for the cowboy types, a 'job' seems to suggest a real job like moving cows or a 20 km ride (the old sweaty saddle blanket being good for a horse myth) or working another horse in a round pen. Whereas to somebody like me, a 'job' could be moving a single foot accurately or asking them to look somewhere.

But whatever a 'job' means to a person I believe the intent behind it is to motivate a horse to focus. The outcome we are looking for is to have a horse pay attention to us so we can direct them to a task. Giving a horse a 'job' is a strategy to improve focus. I'm not sure everyone thinks of it in terms of focus, but I believe without achieving greater focus there isn't a lot of purpose to giving a horse a 'job'. Without improving focus a horse is just learning a pattern of movement, which has limited advantages.

Everything good in 'good horsemanship' starts with focus. So if a job does not benefit the ability to focus and have that focus directed, I scratch my head to know what is the point of a horse needing a ‘job’."

Thanks, Kathy for your question, and I hope my answer gives others something to ponder.