As herd animals who are also prey animals, horses instinctively feel safer in a group setting with room to flee from danger.

Of course, many domestic horses don’t live in such an environment.

Some are turned out on pasture or even a dirt lot with other horses, but many spend most of their time alone in a stall or corral. These arrangements may be a necessary part of life, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s not natural for the horse.

Even though horses can adapt, many common management practices can unintentionally ramp up their stress level. Ongoing stress can end up causing health problems, which are often seen in the form of gastric disturbances, including colic and stomach ulcers.

Are you making your horse’s life stressful without realizing it? Take an honest look at your daily routine while considering these common causes of stress. Then take a look at how you can make changes for the better.

1. Inconsistency

“If you watch horses in a field, they have a routine,” says Kathleen Crandell, Ph.D., an equine nutritionist who works with Kentucky Equine Research. “They often graze in certain parts of the pasture at certain times of day, and rest at certain times. When we become their provider, it’s helpful to them if we put them on a routine because then they know what to expect.”

She notes that without a routine, horses may develop stereotypies, such as cribbing, stall walking, and pawing.

“Horses are creatures of habit and do a lot better with a schedule, [where] you’re feeding and turning out at the same time every day,” says Sam Crosby, DVM, an equine veterinarian since 1994 who maintains his own practice, Crosby Veterinary Services, in Arcadia, Okla.

Crosby often finds that when he examines a horse that is losing body condition and weight, or has gastric ulcers, that horse has not been on a consistent routine.

2. Confinement

Confinement is an ongoing stress that constantly triggers the nervous system. When your horse lives in a stall or in a small corral, regular exercise and/or daily turnout is vital. Making sure other horses are visible also reduces stress.

Whether your horse is stalled or in a dirt lot, hay should be available most of the day and night. Use of a small-hole hay net or slow feeder makes it last longer, so the stomach doesn’t have a long period without forage.

Ideally, a horse should eat at least 1.5 to 2 percent of his body weight in forage daily.

3. Herd Dynamics

If you’re fortunate to have your horse in a pasture setting, keep him in a compatible group. In boarding situations where horses come and go, this can be challenging.

“Horses have a natural pecking order and have to establish that, but if one horse is a bully, you have to separate them,” says Crosby.

Once you have an established group that gets along well, it’s best not to change it.

Changing herd dynamics, such as moving from one pasture to another and being with different horses can be enough to trigger ulcer development.

Feeding in a group setting is also asking for trouble. It puts horses lower in the pecking order at risk of not getting their share of feed or even getting injured. The safest option is always to separate horses at feeding time and then turn them back out together. If this is not possible, spacing hay piles or grain feeders quite far apart with one more pile/feeder than horses is the next best option.

4. Lengthy Periods Between Meals

“The gut pays the price for stress,” says Crosby. “When the GI system reacts to stress, it lowers the immune system and puts the horse more at risk of contracting respiratory disease and other illnesses.”

One of the biggest stresses to the GI tract is going without forage for hours at a time.

“If your feed routine is first thing in morning and then early afternoon, you’ve got 8 hours between the first feedings, but 16 hours until the next one,” says Crandell. “The longer the stomach is empty, the more acidic it becomes and the more likely the horse is to develop ulcers.”

Because horses are hind gut fermenters, their GI system functions best when fed small amounts of forage throughout the day.

Crandell points out that in the 1500s to late 1800s, when horses were used for work and transportation, it was unheard of to feed less than four to six times a day. Horses were routinely given breaks to graze or eat hay.

Space out feedings evenly so you aren’t feeding large amounts of grain at once or going long periods with no forage intake. This may mean feeding three to four times a day instead of twice.

5. Changing Hay and Feed

Buying whatever hay or feed is on sale and frequently making changes is stressful on the horse’s digestive system.

“Abrupt changes in feed can cause serious changes in the gut,” says Crandell. “If the gut is healthy, the immune system functions optimally; 70 percent of the immune system is in the gut. It’s all about the balance of the microbiome.”

Beneficial bacteria create a mucous layer in the small and large intestine, offering protection from digestive juices and large molecules.

“The beneficial bacteria maintain this mucous lining, but if you disrupt the good bacteria, the mucous layer breaks down, and this is what allows pathogenic bacteria to get through the gut lining and into the blood stream,” she adds.

Changing feed abruptly imbalances the microbial population and can result in damage to this protective mucous lining, making the horse more susceptible to gastric upset and leaky gut.

Always allow a week to make feed changes by adding one-quarter of the new feed or hay to three-quarters of the old. Then gradually add more of the new while tapering out the old. This allows the gut microbes to gradually adjust to the new source.

6. Travel

Transporting horses is common, but travel is a high source of stress, so take practical steps to reduce its impact.

Keep hay in front of horses during travel so they don’t have long periods with an empty stomach.

Don’t tie so short that horses can’t drop their heads at all.

When traveling longer than five or six hours, plan for stops of at least 15 to 20 minutes to encourage horses to drink and urinate, as many won’t do so while the trailer is in motion. On longer trips, schedule overnight stops, or at the very least unload long enough that horses can walk, stretch their legs, and lower their heads, which is important for clearing the airways.

Both Crosby and Crandell recommend supplementing with probiotics for overall gastric health, particularly during travel and competition.

To help prevent ulcers, it’s also beneficial to use a proven medication, such as UlcerGard, two days before, during, and right after travel.

7. Weather Extremes

Living in tornado alley, Crosby has treated many horses after being injured in tornadoes. He’s found that extreme weather can do more than cause physical injury.

“When a horse has been through a big event like a tornado, it has a lasting effect on the psyche,” says Crosby. “These horses will generally be spookier afterward and have problems coping. It’s a common happening and is like PTSD in humans.”

Although major weather events are totally out of your control, be aware that they can cause significant stress in horses.

If you live in an area with extreme weather, such as tornadoes or hurricanes, have plans in place so your horse is in the safest possible situation. This may mean evacuating ahead of a storm or turning out in a large field instead of keeping the horse inside a barn.

8. Barn Atmosphere

The atmosphere in and around the barn either contributes to stress or reduces it. This includes feed, exercise, and training routines, how horses are handled, human personalities, and even the noise level.

“Your barn should be calm; if it’s not peaceful, the horses will feel it,” says Crosby, who often treats horses whose stress and anxiety is directly related to their daily environment, routine, and how they’re handled.

Do everything you can to promote a stress-free barn atmosphere. On occasion, this may mean moving to a different boarding facility, but if it makes your horse’s life less stressful, it’s worth it.

This article about causes of stress in horses appeared in the August 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post 8 Causes of Stress in Horses appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Cribbing is considered a vice, as it can be destructive to property, wear down the horse’s incisors, develop undesirable under-neck muscles, and reduce the value of your horse.

Cribbing is often mitigated by collars, sprays, electric fence wires, and sometimes by reducing stomach acid. Collars may need to be so tight to work that they potentially cause damage to the skin, nerves and airflow.

Reducing stomach acid may temporarily decrease cribbing, but it may also be contrary to the needs of some horses.

Common causes of cribbing are understood to be boredom, stress, anxiety, diet and habit. Below we’ll bring to light another cause, and a remedy for it.

Three Cribbers, Two Solutions

Over a couple of decades, I have had three cribbers—all off-track Thoroughbreds (OTTBs). The first two horses completely stopped cribbing with diet and lifestyle changes that effectively removed the physical, mental, and emotional discomforts that caused their anxiety and addressed boredom. (Those specific changes are highlighted later in this article.)

A third cribber presented a greater challenge. The diet and lifestyle changes that worked for the others were not quite enough to address his issues of discomfort. I noticed that certain foods and treats caused immediate cribbing, so I eliminated some of the triggers. Basically, any treats (apples, carrots, cookies, et cetera), complete feeds, and ration balancers all caused immediate cribbing.

Wrong Answers

I begrudgingly put a collar on him. The collar worked initially—until it didn’t. I tightened it. It worked a little longer and then it didn’t. I tightened it once more with the same result.

When swelling under the horse’s jaw began, I removed the collar and let him crib at will. Electric fence was used in places to avoid him self-soothing in those locations.

It was clear this horse was cribbing to seek comfort. The question was, why?

I tried reducing his stomach acid by using Omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor (PPI). It reduced the cribbing to some degree, but is not a good long-term solution for physiological and financial reasons.

Light Bulb Moment

One day, my sister was talking about her heartburn and how her throat was on fire and that sucking air in helped cool it, if only for a moment.

I immediately thought, “My horse has GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) and is trying to alleviate a burning in his throat.”

Heartburn, or GERD, is the result of stomach acid ascending into the esophagus, resulting in pain or a burning feeling. Heartburn usually occurs after eating. If your horse always cribs during and/or after eating, this may be his problem, too.

Stomach acid gets up into the esophagus because the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) does not close properly. The common cause of this malfunction is low stomach acid. Therefore PPIs like Omeprazole or antacids like Tums and even baking soda being given to lower stomach acid may contribute to cribbing or windsucking. Long-term use of stomach acid suppressors may make it more challenging to recover proper function of the LES.

While some publications found online will indicate PPIs as appropriate for the treatment of GERD, other online articles and videos implicate low stomach acid in reflux. The latter anecdotally proved true in my barn.

The Solution

My horse’s cribbing has been reduced by well over 90 percent by addressing the discomfort he was experiencing with GERD, along with the diet and lifestyle changes that resulted in stopping the other two other horses’ cribbing.

The GERD discomfort was mitigated by adding three dietary ingredients mixed into his feed to coat his throat and esophagus. Those ingredients (listed below) were all organic; however, non-organic might work as well. Initially, this was done twice per day, and eventually added to just one feeding per day.

NOTE: Competitive riders should check with their sport’s governing bodies to ensure all things ingested by their horse are permitted, or if a period of withdrawal is needed for any single ingredient.

These are the dietary and lifestyle changes that helped conquer cribbing in my barn.

Dietary Changes for Cribbing

First, I provided three kinds of quality hay, as horses eat more with variety. Each horse always has access to hay and/or grass. Hay kept on hand usually consists of one first cutting and two second-cutting grass hays.

Next, I cut sugars and other unwanted ingredients proven to trigger cribbing from the horses’ diets. Thus far, I have only found one feed (Cavalor Strucomix Senior) that doesn’t induce cribbing, and unfortunately it’s cost prohibitive. So, I am still mixing my own feed daily. Of course, trial and error of individual ingredients for cribbing reactions followed by formulating and mixing feeds to ensure a diet complete in all nutrients is time consuming and not feasible for most people.

Finally, I began adding 1 teaspoon each of licorice root powder, marshmallow root powder, and slippery elm bark powder mixed into feed. (This step is likely only effective for some horses that crib during and/or directly after feeding.)

Lifestyle Changes for Cribbing

As mentioned before, lifestyle changes alone were enough to stop cribbing in two of the three horses. Here are the changes I made to their management:

1. Ensure as much freedom and movement as possible. All are afforded freedom to walk out of their stalls at any time and into paddocks as weather permits. The only time they choose to stay inside is during bug season.

2. Maximize turnout with at least one well-suited pasture mate. Having horses across the fence during turnout will not suffice for some horses.

Not every horse owner will be able to implement all the changes outlined here due to their facilities or other constraints. Not every horse will need them all. And still others may have an unknown discomfort that needs to be addressed.

If your cribber is most active during and/or after eating, that may be a clue of discomfort caused by GERD. Addressing physical, mental, and emotional discomfort and boredom may eliminate cribbing or at least greatly reduce it.

This article about cribbing appeared in the June 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Solutions for Cribbing appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

These emerging approaches—also sometimes called “emotional horsemanship”—seek to prioritize horses’ emotional worlds in our relationships with them and make space for plenty of equine agency. And the people who engage in and share them range from dressage trainers and saddle fitters to equine-assisted learning facilitators and bodyworkers.

If that sounds broad, it’s because it is. Through the lens of what I will refer to as trauma-informed horsemanship, horses and humans process emotions similarly, and this includes manifestations of stress in the body.

In turn, all of this emotional and physical baggage affects health and behaviors of both horses and humans in our relationships. By opening new channels of communication and seeking to truly listen to ourselves and our horses, these approaches have the potential to give equestrians new insights into why their horse might be uncomfortable or acting out.

The Feedback Circle

Colorado-based dressage trainer Nahshon Cook describes the human-horse emotional relationship as a feedback circle or an energy loop.

People often carry unresolved emotions as tension or even injury in their own bodies. This, in turn, affects how they move on the ground or in the saddle. Perhaps your hips are tight and your horse is unable to move his back freely. Over time, this can lead to both emotional stress and mechanical injury for the horse.

A horse “acting out” in response may trigger fear and more tension in the rider.

“Horses balance their behaviors—often unwanted behaviors—on stuck emotions in our bodies,” says Cook. “They are protecting themselves from trauma in the life of that person.”

Similarly, equines often carry their own history of emotional and physical trauma. And because horses are flight animals, they tend to internalize any resulting distress, regardless of the source.

Distress Due to Trauma

Claire Aitken, a South Carolina-based saddle fitter and equine massage therapist, sees this every day in her work, and must adjust accordingly for truly beneficial results.

“From a therapeutic perspective [before working on a horse], it’s important to take all of their history into account because these traumas that so many of them have, they hold in their body,” says Aitken.

This stoicism, combined with horses’ general tendency toward generosity with and forgiveness of the humans in their lives, makes it easy to miss early signs of discomfort. When we fail (even unintentionally) to respect their subtle attempts to communicate distress, such as opting out of work, for example, you may be driving your equine partner to escalate to behavioral issues that will be heard.

To interrupt this cycle and rebuild it as one with space for recovery, we must learn to listen better to what the horse wants and needs.

Acting with Aggression

When Kim Hallin, the founder of equine facilitated learning company Unbridled, LLC brought her horse Tempo into the world, it was with the intention of having a sport partner.

But the spunky filly was about to challenge everything she thought she knew. From birth, Tempo was not interested in passively following someone else’s path for her. And after a major injury early in life, the stress of recovery led her to develop severe aggression toward humans.

“Horses are flight animals, and [Tempo’s] flight was taken away,” says Hallin.

She explains that Tempo’s injury required frequent, often invasive, treatments and drastic reductions in her physical freedom. It didn’t take long for the young mare to connect humans with a loss of autonomy.

And although Hallin was trying to help Tempo heal, “[I was] the one opening that stall door every day but [not] letting her out. She came to associate humans with a loss of control over her body.”

Even after Tempo regained access to turnout with the herd, she retained her aggression toward humans, charging the fence whenever someone approached. And despite Hallin’s natural horsemanship skills, the situation did not improve. They made progress during training sessions, but interactions outside of those controlled environments triggered her aggression.

“[Training] wasn’t healing our relationship,” says Hallin.

When Hallin recognized Tempo’s behavior as resulting from trauma rooted in unmet emotional and instinctual needs, she was able to ask the horse what she needed and take steps to give her more choices. That is when she started to see real change.

From Shutting Down to Autonomy

Indeed, the fundamental take-home lesson for all of us, regardless of discipline, is probably the importance of autonomy, or providing the opportunity for our equines to consent.

Cook has earned a reputation as someone who works wonders with a horse whose body has shut down—a horse that may not have many options left. The first time he met the 21-year-old horse we’ll refer to as Zeus, the horse reared and struck at him as soon as he stepped into the arena.

When the horse stopped fighting and stood still for a moment, Cook was struck by his physical condition. Zeus’ medical history includes polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM) and completely degenerated suspensory ligaments, among other problems. His pasterns were parallel to the ground, and he was unable to flex to the left due to a large knot at the base of his neck.

Despite this, Zeus had likely spent a long time stoically performing dressage movements for his human before his will and his body finally sent up a vehement protest.

“That was his expectation of what a trainer in the arena was,” says Cook. “He had to protect himself. He did not feel safe in his lessons, so he’d started to turn his body off.” That was what had led his humans to Cook.

It took a year before Zeus was ready for a lesson. But when he eventually opted in, he easily executed a Spanish walk, and happily offered piaffe, both movements that unlocked tension in his back.

“In that moment, he guided me to movement that felt good in his compromised body,” says Cook.

Trauma-Informed Horsemanship Requires Listening for Consent

Trauma-informed horsemanship teaches us that consent is essential, even if we aren’t asking horses for such active engagement or performance.

Hallin sees a need for better consent practices in the world of equine therapy. It is too easy for a horse to shut down in those settings, and that will have negative consequences for horse and human alike.

“Are we re-traumatizing people when we’re having them participate in or observe nonconsensual therapy sessions with the horses?” she ponders.

Aitken is also careful to begin every therapeutic or saddle-fitting assessment by focusing on connection.

“Oftentimes, if there’s a horse that hasn’t been listened to in a while, just being there and listening to what he’s saying is a huge deal,” she says.

The variety of techniques available to modern bodyworkers allows Aitken to adapt to the horse’s wants and needs, whether that is simply synchronized breathing or energy work or physical manipulation of some sort.

Key Takeaway: Finding a Path Forward

As essential as consent is, it’s often just the beginning.

Trauma-informed horsemanship doesn’t stop with just horse or human. Professionals like Cook, Aitken, and Hallin have embraced the approach more as a philosophy than a methodology, using it to shape a holistic lens that considers the whole emotion-body cycle and makes space for healing in horses and their people.

“You don’t have to do anything but honor what [the horses] tell you,” says Cook.

But first, we have to get better at listening.

This article about trauma-informed horsemanship appeared in the October 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post What is Trauma-Informed Horsemanship? appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Dictated by Experience

Personality is a hard-wired part of your horse’s psyche. It’s a composite of genetic traits and inherent characteristics, along with that special something that makes every horse unique.

The problem with personality-typing a horse based on his actions (or inactions) is that behavior is contingent on experience. That means you’re observing how your horse responds to life versus who he is on a fundamental level.

For instance, let’s say your horse behaves aggressively around other horses. He’s labeled as having a dominant/aggressive personality. We need to look deeper to discover the true motivation behind the aggressive behavior, such as having poor social skills, feeling overwhelmed in large groups, or being bullied earlier in life.

People-pleasing, submissiveness, stubbornness, and excitability are other ways we may describe equine personalities, when in fact they are actually adaptive coping skills. While they are natural responses to stress, especially long-term distress, they are not a healthy state of being.

Appeasement behavior is often misinterpreted as people-pleasing because the horse avoids unpleasant consequences by trying really hard to do what is expected of him. Submissiveness isn’t a personality type, but horses can learn to behave submissively.

When a horse doesn’t stand up for himself, it can be simply because he lacks the motivation to do so. Imagine a horse with a carrot letting another horse take it because avoiding conflict is more appealing to him than the carrot. Another form of submissive behavior occurs when taking a stand leads to a disagreeable conclusion.

Just as often misunderstood, a horse classified as a “stubborn” personality may be reluctant to comply because of emotional distress and/or physical pain. Hoof pain, poor saddle fit, and confusing cues are enough to make any horse want to shut down and refuse to move.

You need to look beyond personality to identify the forces at work that are truly responsible for your horse’s actions. You also need to accept that you will never know with any certainty why your horse behaves the way he does. You would need to be able to read your horse’s mind to know that—a skill most of us don’t possess.

Keep a lid on speculation, too. The odds are you’ll be wrong, and acting on false assumptions can lead to detrimental consequences for you and your horse.

Questions to Ask to Determine Causes of Behavior

The closest you can get to understanding the source of your horse’s behavior is by doing your best to answer these three questions. (Results are subject to interpretation and fall under the category of somewhat educated guess.)

1. What purpose does the behavior serve?

Purpose is at the heart of everything your horse does. The question is, how does avoiding the trailer, refusing to stand at the mounting block, pawing the ground at feeding time, or kicking at the farrier get your horse what he wants or needs?

2. What is triggering the horse’s behavior?

Triggers, also known as antecedents, set behavior in motion. They are environmental (sights, sounds), internal or external physical sensations (back pain, hoof imbalance, girth sores), or connections your horse has made with previous experiences (associations).

Emotions also function as triggers, primary motivators, and responses to environmental and/or physical stimuli. An emotional trigger might be excitement about approaching food that results in pawing.

Emotionally charged memories are powerful, too. For instance, your horse can recall pain from a previous experience as he’s being asked to approach the mounting block. The closer he gets, the more anxious he feels.

His self-preservation instincts take over, and he stops in his tracks—a sensible behavioral response (and not at all personality driven) to the situation.

3. What is the consequence of the horse’s behavior?

Consequence is how your horse feels about the outcome of a behavior. Discover that, and you have a predictive tool for how he may behave in the future, especially under similar circumstances.

For instance, if the consequence of pawing is that your horse gets his bucket, he’s more likely to paw again at the next mealtime. On the other hand, if asking him to lift his left foot has an unpleasant outcome, causing pain in his right foot, it would be no surprise if future requests were met with a no.

When you understand your horse’s motivations, you are better equipped to help him feel safe, joyful and let his true personality shine through.

This article about horse behavior appeared in the March 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post What is the Cause of Your Horse’s Behavior? appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.