Encourage Horses to Pass Scary Objects, Scientists Recommend

Encouraging a horse to approach a scary object led to less stress when faced with the same situation later on.
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Imagine the scenario: You’re out on a trail ride and suddenly your horse spooks at, say, a scary-looking tree stump near your path. You have three choices:

  1. Encourage your horse (with your legs, voice, reins, crop, etc.) to move toward the stump to find out it’s not so scary after all;
  2. Be patient, allowing the horse time to figure out that the stump really isn’t so scary in his own time; or
  3. Turn around and go home (or take a different path) and flee that scary stump.

What do you choose to do, and what’s best for your horse?

Danish equitation scientists recently investigated this question. They found that if you want to get past the stump, Choice 1 could be better for both you and the horse, even though it might be more stressful than Choice 2. Janne Winther Christensen, PhD, presented on the topic at the 8th International Society for Equitation Science conference, held July 18-20 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

"Horse riding is a relatively dangerous sport, and habituation to new objects has been known to reduce the risk of accidents," said Winther Christensen, a research scientist at the faculty of agricultural sciences at Aarhus University in Tjele, Denmark. "If an animal avoids or escapes an object and can get away from it, that avoidance behavior gets reinforced, and the animal is likely to repeat the behavior. But also, studies in other species have shown that prevention of innate behavior (flight response) can lead to increased stress in the animal. So we wanted to find out what was best for horses

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Written by:

Passionate about horses and science from the time she was riding her first Shetland Pony in Texas, Christa Lesté-Lasserre writes about scientific research that contributes to a better understanding of all equids. After undergrad studies in science, journalism, and literature, she received a master’s degree in creative writing. Now based in France, she aims to present the most fascinating aspect of equine science: the story it creates. Follow Lesté-Lasserre on Twitter @christalestelas.

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