Vibrissae, etc ~Equine Behavior Q&A

Question: I recently rescued a 16.2hh Warmblood gelding, and he is sweet as pie. However, as a yearling, he was left in a pasture by himself for 4 years. He suprisingly has no problems with seperation from other horses, but when I (and only I) leave, he gets very nervous. Also, he follows with or without a lead, but either way keeps his nose against my back. It\'s not a hard press either, just a slight touch. He doesn\"t bite or nip, so is this behavior okay? Also he is in training to be a jumper. I have read about horses getting very hot from that. How can I help retain his sweet nature?

It seems you and he are pair-bonded! Horses form strong pair bonds with other horses and humans.

Please make sure you leave his vibrissae intact. The vibrissae are the long whiskers on the nose and over the eyes. Horses use their specialized and treasured vibrissae to identify objects they cannot easily visualize. Horses use vibrissae to drink and graze. You hear from the veterinarians about all the eyelid and nasal lacerations they sew up, and all of them are on horses with clipped vibrissae. Think of the vibrissae as eyes, as they help the horse feel (see) everything around their lips, eyes, nares, and chin. As well, the whiskers detect the rate of acceleration, lead, and location of horses running in close company with other horses. We like to leave all sensations in the horse intact for safety reasons. If your horse had intact vibrissae, he could sense where you are without touching you as he does when being led. The behavior is not too big a problem, however, and as such, need not necessarily be corrected. Let him have his vibrissae, however, please. They are essential sensory organs.

Sid Gustafson DVM

Question: I have a 10-year-old thoroughbred x connemara (3/4 x1/4) gelding that was left in a herd but was bred for cross country/eventing. I purchased him two years ago. When I purchased him he didn’t know what Velcro was and spooked at it and other things. He is extremely smart and learns quickly. I work at his speed as I believe he has potential.  

The issue is: For the last year I have tried to back him but he almost panics when something is higher than his head. He will line drive, lunge (with and without the line) as the ground work has been laid even with voice commands. Other than having somebody *buck him out* which I am not inclined to do, do you have other suggestions?

FYI: vets/chiropractor has checked him for pain points>he is clear

You have to make getting on his back a good deal for him. You have tried to rule out pain, so now he has to be gradually desensitized to all moving things above his head. This requires finesse and horsemanship, as well as patience and an extensive knowledge of learning science, along with a month to two of regular training sessions that are fun for the horse. The training always has to be a good deal for the horse. He is not yet properly prepared to be mounted or ridden, ‘backed’ as you say. There are no shortcuts. I think you need to brush and groom him for an hour each day to develop a closer bond and familiarity with one another. An hour or two of hand grazing a stabled horse each day results in a horse that will let you do most anything, you know. 

If a previous bad experience has caused this fear of things above his head, he has to be gradually counter-conditioned utilizing positive reinforcement. An object such as a flag on a stick is incrementally introduced, but never so fast as to exceed his flight threshhold. In each progressive step, he is rewarded when he tolerates the incremental heightening of the flag. When it becomes a good deal for him to have flags waved about above his head, and he is carefully and incrementally habituated to cinches and saddles on his back without exceeding his flight threshhold, he is within sight of being mounted. Looks like he is a month or two away with regular daily work that enriches his life while he is taught that nothing you do will threaten or hurt him.

Question: Is aggressive behavior on the trail towards other horses innate or changeable ? I have a 1/2 Mustang gelding who exhibits dominance in both pasture and trail environments. Is there anything I can do to modify this behavior?Thanks.

This behaviour is easy to modify when riding the horse if the rider is an accomplished horse person with impeccable timing and a keen feel, one who understands equine learning science. When your mustang exhibits aggression, he has to be disengaged immediately, which is turned to the side; put in a position which makes forward impulsion difficult for the horse by disengaging the hind legs. First, the horse has to be taught to disengage, first in hand on the ground, then seated atop.

Set your self up to succeed by avoiding the situations that you have previously allowed him to be aggressive. Ride at the back of line, please, until he is taught it is better to please you than chase others. Each time he makes an aggressive move, he is tightly turned with a direct rein until his hind end is disengaged. Correct him in both directions. One, then the other. Mix it up. Not harshly, or painfully, please. You have to release the pressure, as he soon as he disengages, of course. No hanging on the reins, please. No harsh bits, por favor. If your timing is perfect, he will soon learn that it is easier to remain passive than aggressive. Horses always take the path of least resistance, you know. Hold the oats, no grain for horses except those in race training or a similar athletic endeavor, please. An accomplished horse professional will rectify this rather easily if you cannot manage to alter the behavior. Where we have more trouble managing aggression, is when we are not riding the horse. When we are riding the horse, we can directly use learning science to effectively change this behavior first hand. Timing is essential, and timing is what most horsemen lack. Horses teach horsefolk timing, and it takes some time, folks. 

Get rhythm.

Horsemanship is all about moving with the horse, and never against her.

Question: I have a 22 yo Arab gelding, pretty spooky and not ridden but when i ask him to do something, he will do the baby jaw thing. Not sure what you call it. He throws his head up or around his body and rolls his eyes and starts making his jaw go up and down but not closing his jaw. Its what babies do. Why is this old man acting like a baby?

Senescence perhaps, no?

 Dementia some might say. 

Not that unusual altogether, and not problematic, it seems to this equine behavior teacher.

This lip smacking behavior signals neutrality and appeasement to others.

As animals and humans age, they yearn for youth, you know, sometimes trying to reinvent it.

Maybe he just knows how to stay limber at his age.

Let’s consider it okay and normal for his age, no problema, yet. Let him do it, please.

Sid Gustafson DVM

Question: I have recently become an owner of a lovely cob gelding. Before he came to me I saw him being groomed and easily picking his (very big) feet up to be picked out. Since then he will not give up his feet to me at all. He stamps and moves forward, or with his hind legs he just kicks out. What am I doing to offend him ?

You have not yet adequately pair bonded with him. An hour or two of grooming and hand-grazing each day before attempting the feet, please. There are universal cues to ask a horse to pick up his feet. For the front leg the chestnut on the inside of the forearm is gently pressed. Many horses are taught by horsemen to give the leg to this cue, like the thousands of thoroughbred racehorses I taught during their pre-race exams in New York, Washington, Montana, and California. To ask for the hind leg, we touch the point of the hock. This is after we have thoroughly familiarized ourselves with each horse we handle. The amateur way to ask for a hoof is to go straight to the fetlock. This can aggravate a Cob. Start with the nose, work your way up the head and around the ears, down the neck, shoulder, back, hips, tail. You are getting close to establishing a relationship that allows a hoof to be picked. Work your way down those legs, carefully, slowly, with finesse and feel.

You are not asking for the feet like the other people were, it seems. You have to make picking the feet a good deal for the boy, my goodness. Your horse needs to know more about you. This takes time and efforts on your part to enrich and fulfill his life. I am not sure what you did to offend him, but it was surely something, probably not getting to know him well enough before asking him to do a bunch of stuff. Horses forgive, so you have to earn each hoof. Get brushing. Hand walking and green grass grazing work wonders for a human/horse relationship. Horses are happy to please folk who know how to please horses. You have to please him more than you have, that’s all.

Sid Gustafson DVM
Equine Behavior Educator

(406) 995-2266
www.sidgustafson.com

Dr Gustafson is a practicing veterinarian, equine behavior educator, and novelist. The application of behavior science enhances optimum health, performance, soundness, contentment, and longevity in animal athletes. Behavioral and nutritional strategies enrich the lives of stabled horses. Training and husbandry from the horse's perspective result in content, cooperative horses who are willing to learn and perform.

Equine Behavior Class

 Trouble with your Horses? Ask the equine behavior veterinarian, Dr Gustafson.
http://www.aaep.org/info/askthevet?category=Behavior

This is one of our ranch horses. Her name is Pollyanna, and while not troubled, she is keeping an eye on the other horses and her surroundings.  This is the nearly-exact landscape where horses evolved, departing 10,000 years ago to Eurasia, where they merged with humans, and subsequently returned.

This range is just below the Canadian border with Montana. That blue sky yonder rests over Canada. Those gray clouds are smoke from the Glacier Park fire at the end of July, when this photo was taken. This is the type of pasture horses evolved to graze all day, which is to say the most marginal of grasslands, not green, but brown. Horses prefer this type of open view while grazing together. You can see that it would be quite a task for predator to be able to approach a herd of horses on this landscape, their native terrain. Horses do not need horns or antlers to defend themselves, only eyes and legs and others. Flight is the horse's most treasured defense mechanism. Horses are neophobic, afraid of any person, place or thing they have never previously seen or encountered. When horses see anything they have not seen or smelled before, they flee. Flight is the nature of horses. Since we depend on our horses to carry us home after a long day in the saddle, we never ever chase them ever anywhere during training or anytime in their life. Should our horse separate from us in this terrain, we expect to catch them. We never chase our horses during training, no, we train our horses to come to us, and we make coming to us a good deal, because this place is a dang, long way from the bunkhouse, and if you ever separate from your horse up here, you best be in shape to hike without water for a ways, just like any horse. Horses know to run from strange things, so please, don't become a stranger to your horse by chasing her during the training process, please. You don't want to be left alone under this Big Open without your horse, should for some reason you two part ways for moment or two, which has been know to happen from time to time. Humans are always making mistakes that cause their horse to part ways with them. The good news today is that we are going to learn how to avoid all those mistakes. We are going to learn how to bond with our horses in this class. 

Dr Gustafson is a practicing veterinarian, equine behavior educator, and novelist. The application of behavior science enhances optimum health, performance, soundness, contentment, and longevity in animal athletes. Behavioral and nutritional strategies enrich the lives of stabled horses. Training and husbandry from the horse's perspective result in content, cooperative horses who are willing to learn and perform.

Equine Behavior Q&A Reading horses

Question: Why does my mare always try to rub her head on me after every ride?

She is requesting that you properly clean and fit her headstall and mouthpiece so it does not cause so much irritation and untoward pressure during the ride. I hope you do not tie her mouth shut with a noseband while she is ridden. Horsemanship is a better alternative. As well, she is reminding you that she requires a full facial and head and neck massage before and after each ride, and apparently you have been failing to fulfill her need for that requirement of hers. A good rub before and after each ride is a fine way to bond with your horse to ensure a safe pleasant ride. It also allows you to detect and problems of inflammation early in its course. The head, back, neck, and legs should all be rubbed before and after each ride to enhance circulation and detect any developing issues before they become lameness issues.

Listen to her.

Cheers,

Sid Gustafson DVM
Equine Behavior Educator

(406) 995-2266
www.sidgustafson.com

Dr Gustafson is a practicing veterinarian, equine behavior educator, and novelist. The application of behavior science enhances optimum health, performance, soundness, contentment, and longevity in animal athletes. Behavioral and nutritional strategies enrich the lives of stabled horses. Training and husbandry from the horse's perspective result in content, cooperative horses who are willing to learn and perform.

Equine Behavior Q&A Leaping Fences

Question: My horse jumps the pasture fence. Even with a good pasture mate she goes for \"Walk-abouts\". She can clear 7\' w/out a rider. She bores easily & also gets into other trouble - taking gates off pin hinges, unhooking hotwire handles with the fence on, unclipping the carabineer from her stall door to open it, etc. I can\'t ride every day & she does this on days I can\'t ride. Any suggestions? She has gone into town before (3 miles) & eaten grapes at the vineyard next door. She won\'t play with Jolly Balls & putting jumps in her pasture didn\'t help either. Fence is currently at 6 feet & hot.

Well, this is easy. Horses form strong pair bonds. If you notice, most horses in groups are paired up if given a choice. Domestication was facilitated by the fact that horses form strong pair bonds, so strong that they will even allow a human to slip in to bond a bit. At the end of the day, unlike dog, a horse needs another horse. Your horse is looking for another horse to pair bond with. Find your horse a suitable pair-bonded other horse, and enjoy her choice to stay home with him. Even though you believe her pasture mate may be the one, she is seeking that special other. Your job is to find her a soul mate, it seems, a truly bonded other, please. Some horses have meaning in their actions, and it is apparent that she likes abundant activity and exercise as well as nourishing green grass. The more of that you offer at home, the more likely she may be to hang tight.

Also, the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, it seems.

As well, the Olympic tryouts are coming up, so go with the leaping and enter up, please.

Cheers,

Sid Gustafson DVM
Equine Behavior Educator

(406) 995-2266

Question: I recently found a new home for a 14 y.o. OTTB gelding I had for 7+ years. He was bred, owned and trained by my sister - she was a race horse trainer. I bought him at age 6 when he was retired from racing.

I told the new owner when she came to look at him before adoption that he challenges fences - showed her that I have 1 electric wire all the way around my pasture. He is very smart/clever/mischevious and will challenge you (not mean he is very kind). I also told her this and also not to ever let him win.

He has been at his new location since the end of March. The existing horses are a mare and pony mare. The new owner emailed me two weeks ago to inform me that he has been breaking fences and his stall to get to the mare. He hollers for her when they are separated. If they are not in the same field he runs the fence line until his is lathered. He has popped a splint and may have other lameness from the constant pounding. He does not stop to graze or eat hay and has lost weight. He is acting like a stallion with all the behaviors including mounting - the mare is a willing participant in this behavior.

He was a ridgeling and was gelded at age two - this required a operation to remove them from his body cavity - neither was descended. He has never shown any stallion type behavior but he has always been turned out with geldings.

The new owner says she has done everything she knows how to do - different turn out arrangements and a lot of prayer and at this point needs to place him elsewhere - did I want him back. I cannot because of health issues, which is why I had him up for adoption in the first place but I feel responsible for the horse, he has been part of our family his whole life. I talked to a equine behaviorist/trainer and told her what was going on. She said it sounded to her like a management problem. I tend to agree but in order to be fair to the horse and the new owner should he be tested for hormones to see if he somehow was \"cut proud\"? Why is he acting like this after all these years. Is there any way to manage this via training or medication or is finding a new home for him the only option at this point? The behavior has been going on unmanaged for about 5 months now.

Let the horses live together, please. I am not sure why letting the gelding and mares live together has not already been accommodated, as the gelding has successfully communicated his wishes clearly that the best pasture for him is the one with that certain mare. Horses form strong pair bonds with other horses, and their social nature is not going away. For behavioral health and prosperity, each horse requires a strong pair bond with another horse of their preference. It appears that it will best serve the horses (and humans) to let the OTTB gelding stay with the mares, please. He has been separated from mares long enough, and the memory of that idyllic life with his dam will not be forgotten. He knows all about mares. His mother taught him so. He needs them for security and companionship.

Even numbered groupings are best, but horses can make do with trios and quints, mixed sexes, as well. Horses are made to live together, so they often find a way when resources are plentiful. Solo horses do not thrive, as a pair-bonded other horse is essential for behavioral fulfillment, and behavioral fulfillment is essential for overall health.

Please appreciate that most all horses require a significant pair-bonded other horse. You cannot expect the social horse to live without a pair-bonded other.  American Pharaoh has Dusty, you know. In Germany and other European countries, it is illegal to keep a horse alone. Solitary confinement of horses is considered a welfare issue, and horses and veterinary behaviorists do not like seeing horses isolated without abundant measures to provide equid companionship, along with abundant daily locomotion and constant forage availability. When horses are stabled apart from one another, they have be able to smell, see, hear, communicate with, and hopefully touch other horses on a regular if not constant basis to maintain their health. 

Horses treasure grazing and foraging along with other horses. It is their most preferred activity. Humans are obligated to fulfill this requirement. Humans who know how to please horses have horses who are happy to please humans, you know, such is the nature of our domestic relationship with Equus caballus.

You are obligated to find the gelding a pair bonded other, and the good news is that it appears your search is over. Get him over with those mares, and everyone will be content. If you want the gelding to sometimes separate from his mare-friend, you have to make his being with you a better deal than being with the other horse. This is accomplished by grooming, riding, hand grazing the best grass, and other creative measures to enrich the gelding’s lifestyle while he is temporarily separated. This can be accomplished with time and finesse when applied with an appreciation of the nature of the horse. 

Geldings and mares can live together harmoniously if the resources of forage, space, and socialization are abundantly provided and the process is properly orchestrated in a sequential, horse-sensitive fashion. There is no need to separate geldings from mares  in properly managed stable situations. This requires 24/7 appropriate forage availability and the space to forage without interference while connected with the other horses visually. If the horses are heavy, they need more activity, space, and exercise rather than extended periods of forage deprivation. Deprivations of socialization, forage, and locomotion lead to stereotypies such as weaving and cribbing. Most all horses, especially stabled horses, require miles of daily walking, and the horse’s preference is miles of casual grazing while connected with others. You don’t want that, so let the horses be hoses together, please. Most all horses, especially stabled horses, require miles of daily walking, and the horse’s preference is miles of casual grazing while connected with others.  In natural settings, all horses of all sexes and ages live together with the exception of transient bachelor bands. Separating gelding and mares is not necessary in properly managed stables and pastures. It is an amateur tradition. 

Most all horses, especially stabled horses, require miles of daily walking. Other horses help with that. The horse’s preference is miles of casual grazing while connected with others. Try to re-create the natural situation as best you can, and you will have happy, quiet, content, and healthy horses. Physical health is dependent upon behavioral health, and behavioral health is dependent upon abundant socialization with other horses.

Sid Gustafson DVM
Equine Behavior Educator

Dr Gustafson is a practicing veterinarian, equine behavior educator, and novelist. The application of behavior science enhances optimum health, performance, soundness, contentment, and longevity in animal athletes. Behavioral and nutritional strategies enrich the lives of stabled horses. Training and husbandry from the horse's perspective result in content, cooperative horses who are willing to learn and perform.