Horses are a substantial amount of meat on the move and are good to eat. Their modern physical form evolved under the constant pressures of predation. Lacking sharp teeth and claws to employ against an adversary, the horse’s best defense is avoidance of close contact, and their senses are perfectly developed to see trouble coming and escape it as quickly as possible.
The horse has wide apart eyes on each side of the head giving almost 360 degree vision, ears which swivel independently to home in on sounds from all directions and a sense of smell far more sophisticated than the human sense. As a result the horse will almost invariably spot and react to anything alarming before the rider is aware of it himself.
The various defensive manoeuvres have obvious benefits to the horse in the wild, but in captivity, are regarded as ridden vices which must be sensibly managed.
Napping
Napping is a horse’s instinctive response to being asked to abandon its main defense; that being a place or situation viewed as safe, such as its home stables or other horses. The horse in nature takes sanctuary in living as part of a herd, with many eyes and ears watching out for danger. It is natural for it to resist isolation, which is why horses often nap if asked to go somewhere alone. Horses should be introduced to the important task of being ridden away from others gradually, by brief separation from companions during the course of a ride, these periods being lengthened until the horse is alone most of the time and accustomed to this unnatural condition.
Shying or Spooking
When a horse shies it makes itself ready for flight. The horse often springs or swings away from the cause of alarm, immediately putting distance between itself and the perceived threat. In a less severe shy the rider will feel the horse ‘jump’, tensing all muscles ready for escape. Inexperienced horses will shy at many new stimuli of all kinds, instinctively fearing anything they cannot understand, and will benefit greatly from a confident and calm equine partner when ridden in unfamiliar places.
Bolting
A horse which bolts, running flat out without acknowledging any signals from the rider, has spotted a threat and immediately taken to its main natural refuge: flight. A bolting horse is removing itself from danger as quickly as it can. It will either run towards a place of safety, usually among its herd which for the modern ridden horse tends to be represented by the home stable yard, or run until it feels it is sufficiently distanced from the perceived danger. Only confident and capable riders should attempt to deal with horses that are known to bolt. Some can be turned in a circle within a safe space such as an open field until the urge to flee has dissipated.
Bucking
We have explained that a horse prefers to avoid danger and take itself out of the reach of predators by fleeing. Bucking is the defense employed when this has failed. Many predators will attempt to drag their prey down when close enough by leaping on the back or haunches. The prey animals will buck and lash out with the hind legs to dislodge them.
In nature anything on the horse’s back means harm and cannot be tolerated. Domestic horses will buck if unsettled by whatever is placed on their backs; often sensitive horses being saddled or mounted for the first time will respond in this way. Pain caused by the tack or the rider will also cause bucking to remove the discomfort. These natural reactions may require the rider to take a step back in saddling or training the horse or check the horse for pain causing the response.
Rearing
Rearing is another last resort defense used in close contact. The horse is freeing its forelegs to employ them as weapons by striking at the threat and is keeping its vulnerable neck, often a target for predatory animals, away from attack. Stallions rear up to fight each other so it is also one of the horse’s few highly aggressive stances. Under saddle horses may rear out of fright, when a perceived threat is close and low to the ground, or as a pain response to sore feet or from contact with the mouth. Rearing is highly dangerous as the horse can be unbalanced by the rider and fall backwards onto him. Only an exceptional rider should spend any time on a rearer, and only when pain is ruled out as a cause and he is seeking to retrain it.
The Alternative Cause: Equine Intelligence
If in doubt it is fair to assume that the horse is reacting through fear or pain, the most automatic and instinctive causes of these vices. The rider achieves nothing from becoming angry with a frightened horse, or one in pain, and should concentrate on gradually building confidence or removing the discomfort instead.
However it is important to know that horses learn evasive tactics quickly. If the rider is always cowed into allowing the horse to have control when it naps or rears, and allows the horse to get out of work or a job it does not want to do, for example by dismounting and leading the horse home, the horse soon learns to employ this behavioural response over and over again. Signs of such learned vices are rapid abandonment of the tactic if the horse is paired with a strong capable rider who forces it through the behaviour and into work, or employment only in specific situations, such as when the horse is asked to ride out with a group of horses he does not know as opposed to with his friends. Seek experienced help to retrain a horse like this safely and successfully.
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