Explosive Behaviors
When it comes to explosive behaviors, there is often times a build up of triggers that lead up to an explosion. This is sometimes referred to as ‘trigger stacking’. This can be seen in horses at anytime, whether they are out in the pasture by themselves, in the cross-ties, on the trails, working on the ground, or under-saddle.
Every horse has a different sized ‘worry cup’. At some point, that worry cup might collect enough triggers and fill up to the point where it tips over resulting in an explosion occurring. Some horses are more sensitive and can only handle a couple of triggers, where others can handle a large number, before reaching their breaking point.
Often times, if we had just clued into the horses stress signals early on, we probably could prevented the worry cup from tipping over - and an explosion occurring. Sure, you could call this desensitization work or resensitization work. However, we can’t desensitize horses to everything, especially while on the go. We can, however, acknowledge their aversion to scary things, and that acknowledgement can make a huge difference in how they perceive things. This can help increase your horses threshold for the unknowns that exist in life.
However, when it comes to physically driven explosions, that is a different story.
We cannot just desensitize a horse to a physical sensation of discomfort that they are experiencing.
Recently I found myself in a conversation with an owner who had experienced explosive behavior from their horse while riding. Asking for the canter resulted in a bucking spree, and dumping of the rider. I offered to look the horse over from a bodyworker point of view which resulted in them asking me how I thought bodywork would be able to help the horse. My answer included an explanation of how a palpable analysis of the horses body could possibly provide clues as to whether or not something was physically off, and possibly, connected to the explosive behavior.
In my opinion, an explosive behavior isn’t really all that explosive unless its a result of something unexpectedly happening (like a bite from a horse fly).
Often, we hear about horses having unexpected explosive behaviors under saddle. But - just how unexpected is it? Unless it’s an unexpected, honest, spook.
Maybe your horse has been trying to tell you for some time that something wasn’t right.
Maybe you just weren’t hearing them - or you were anthropomorphizing that horses experience.
Equestrian have a bad habit of anthropomorphizing horses behavior.
an·thro·po·mor·phism
/ˌanTHrəpəˈmôrfizəm/
the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to an animal, or object.
Here are some anthropomorphizing statements:
“He’s so stubborn.”
“She’s a typical mare, always grumpy.”
“He hates to be brushed.”
“She’s so ticklish”.
Here are some stress signals:
“It takes me forever to catch him”.
“I have to do my cinch slowly because my horse is so ‘girthy’”.
“We might have to ‘have a chat’ before getting on.”
“Lunging or round-penning before riding really helps get out his energy”.
“She doesn’t respect me.”
Maybe you were hearing the horses attempt to communicate with you. But, were you listening?
Truth is, your horse probably began communicating with you the moment they saw you walking up to them. They don’t want to be caught? Well, they might not enjoy spending time with you because they’ve realized that you don’t ever listen to them, so why would they want to hang out with you?
CATCHING - Your horse is in the field, it sees you, and turns its head or body away from you. This is a stress sign, the horse associates you with stress, therefore, they wish to avoid you. Maybe they walk, trot, or run away from you and you spend the next 10-30 minutes trying to ‘catch’ them. Alternatively, you go to fetch your horse from their stall, and they hide their face in the corner, you have to force their halter over their nose rather than giving them the option of placing their head against the collar nicely. As you begin to walk off, they plant their feet, not wanting to come with you. Whatever ‘discussions’ you have to get out of this situation takes place & your own your way to the crossties.
GROOMING - The brush along their neck, shoulders and back causes them to flinch over and over, moving away from you and pinning their ears. Out comes the saddle pad, you whisk it onto their back, and yet again, they pin their ears and go to nip you. Saddle goes on and the same reaction occurs. Girth buckles threaded through billets, you begin to cinch the second side the horse moves away from you, pins its ears and glances quickly in your direction.
RIDING - You go to get on, the horse moves away from the mounting block, maybe even circling around it in an effort to get away from it. You get on - wow - you really showed him whose boss! As you begin riding, the horse begins chomping at the bit, or evading contact, so you take up more. Forcing the contact, the horse begins to brace through the mouth, through the body, through the mind. This bracing does nothing good for whatever issues are lying beneath the surface of that horses delicate structural system. While riding you’re really focusing on your posture, your balance, your transitions. The horse is along for the ride - picking up the slack for you, sacrificing their body along the way. They throw their head up in an effort to balance themselves out, but really they’re trying to balance you too. This is not what you want. So, you begin riding in a martingale that forces their head to stay “down” - because after all, if their head is down, all is okay, right? Wrong. This leads to more bracing throughout the body, creating compensations that spiral throughout.
EXPLODING - An awkward stride count, after a wicked barrel racing turn into the diagonal line of the course ultimately leads to an awkward landing after an awkward jump. The horse bucks immediately and you fall off.
We blame the horse for not balancing themselves better, through whatever it is that we throw at them. You’re berated by your trainer for being careless and slow to ‘feel’. I’ve seen horses smacked, berated and punished (immediately & delayed) for their lack of stellar performance - like they’re going to understand.
This scenario repeats itself time and time again. Things get worse. You start to wonder if this isn’t behavioral - and instead - perhaps its physical?
Oh, but how could it be? His feet are comfortably shod. The saddle seems to fit fine. Teeth were done 6 months ago. Vet hasn’t found anything alarming previously.
Not too much longer down the road, the horse is diagnosed with navicular changes or kissing spine.
You feel terrible for not ‘noticing’ sooner.
I cannot tell you how often I hear these stories and I can’t help but wonder - WHY - do we not rule out physical discomfort before training issues? Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of training issues that need to be addressed too for both equestrians and horses.
Regardless, was it really that explosive after all?
