Limiting Descriptions

Descriptions of a horse are often limitations we set on them- a box that holds them to our ability and understanding unfairly.

Many descriptions of temperament and personality are actually the descriptions of a horses reaction to a specific person or situation. For example, a horse being described as lazy might be a perfectly forward horse, ridden or handled by someone perpetually blocking them from going forward.

It isn’t that the horse is lazy, but the person is experiencing lack of forward, and so the horse is boxed into an inaccurate “personality.”

I challenge you, and myself, to look at every horse you know with fresh eyes, as if you are just getting to know them. Who are they actually?

What is temperament, and what is reaction and response to environment or human handling? Experiment with some changes in your handling or their environment and you might find a very different horse than you thought you knew.