Lately, I have been thinking about neurological traits in horses that might go unrecognised. Can a horse suffer chronic depression? Can they experience schizophrenia? What about paranoia or autism?
I keep coming across articles and videos that promote the idea that touching (patting, rubbing, stroking, or whatever you want to call it) a horse is an important element in the training process.
Now that the Paris Olympics is coming to an end, I expect some of the controversy over the conflict between horse events and animal welfare will subside for another four years. But it shouldn’t.
I am a huge fan of teaching a horse to follow the feel of the inside rein and offer a lateral bend through its whole body. One of my most regular Ross-isms at clinics is “The bend is your friend.”
People are always chasing symptoms because it is the symptom that most bothers us. We view the symptom as the thing that gets in the way of what we want to do.
Why do so many serious dressage riders I know dare not take their horse on a trail? Is it because those horses do not have the makeup to be safe on a trail?
