I have a theory. I don’t know how accurate it is and I don’t have any indisputable evidence for it. I only have my interpretation of my experiences of training horses.

Here goes.

In my work, I try very hard to prioritize changes in a horse’s thought before changes in their feet. The reason why this works so well as an approach to training is that thoughts are linked to emotions and emotions hold a stronger influence over a horse’s behaviour than movement.

This can get complicated, but I will try to simplify.

Thoughts and emotions are intricately linked. One affects the other. What is a horse is feeling affects what it is thinking of doing. Conversely, a horse’s thoughts can trigger different emotional states.

Bad feelings can cause thoughts of escape and/or resistance. Calm, relaxed feelings can improve focus and thoughts to “go-with” us rather than fight us. Conversely, the opposite is true. Thoughts of following our feel result in “okay-ness”, whereas thoughts of resistance can increase stress and worry. My horse wants to go left, I want it to go right can lead to argument and anxiety if one of us does not change their thought.

So working at the level of a horse’s thoughts and feelings gives us a path where the horse is just as invested in a good outcome as we are, rather than just training obedience and submission.

But why is it so effective?

My theory is that horses have strong emotional memory. When we teach a horse a task, it not only learns how to perform a movement, it also learns an emotion it associates with that movement. The memory of that emotion is stronger than the memory of the movement. The emotion will always be a determinant factor in how well the horse performs and how well we get along with it. 

To put it in human terms to help you understand, consider somebody with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Even years after a stressful experience is over, people can suffer an emotional breakdown and behavioural problems when an emotional memory is triggered by the stressful event. I believe the behaviour of horses are also subjected to the effects of emotional memory

If the emotion is negative, the horse will continue to exhibit resistance and behaviours associated with the ill-feelings no matter how well it has learned the movement or ingrained the movement has become. On the other hand, learning to perform a task that is associated with good or soft emotions quickly leads to minimum resistance and trouble and the potential for a horse to perform at its best is greatly enhanced.

Let’s consider an example where my horse needs an injection. If my horse is bothered by injections and I twitch his muzzle or ear to subdue his resistance, I will be able to inject him but I will also have added troubling emotions to the experience. Those emotions associated with being injected will be strong and forever. Those troubled emotions will determine his behaviour to being injected for the rest of his life. It means that I will probably always have to twitch him when he needs an injection. Needles will always trigger bad feelings and a flight/fight response for him. However, if I take the time to handle him in a way that he chooses to change his mind about injections he will feel less troubled about being needled and force won’t be necessary.

I believe emotional memory is very real for horses and very potent. If you accept this theory as plausible, it’s logical that we should always ask a horse to change its idea to one we would like it to have before being fastidious about what the feet are doing. It’s our best chance of keeping the ‘try’ in our horse and building a working partnership.