Your horse isnt bad, hes confused.
Some of the kindest, quietest horses I’ve ever met ended up labeled “dangerous.”
Not because they were mean.
Not because they were out to hurt anyone.
But because somewhere along the way, a human got scared and the communication broke down.
Horses don’t wake up plotting violence. They don’t scheme. They don’t test you for fun. They respond to pressure, release, consistency, and clarity. When they don’t understand what’s being asked, they try something. When that doesn’t work, they try something else. And eventually, if nothing makes sense, they react.
Confusion looks like defiance to people who don’t understand timing.
A horse that won’t load, won’t stand, pins his ears, dances around, or blows up didn’t skip straight to that behavior. He gave signs. He hesitated. He stiffened. He questioned. Most of the time, those moments get brushed off or misread until the horse finally does something big enough that people can’t ignore it anymore.
Nervous energy is still energy. Horses feel it in your hands, your feet, your breathing. When pressure comes without a clear release, or direction changes every two seconds, the horse isn’t being disrespectful - he’s being lost.
And here’s the part nobody likes to hear:
Good horses get blamed for human uncertainty all the time.
Most horses that end up “problem horses” were just handled by people who didn’t know what to do when the horse said no. Not maliciously. Not intentionally. Just unknowingly.
Inexperience isn’t a crime. Everyone starts somewhere. But pretending a horse is the problem instead of learning how to communicate better absolutely is.
Your horse doesn’t need you to be perfect. He doesn’t need you to be fearless. He needs you to be clear - whether you realize you’re being unclear or not. Even when you don’t think you’re teaching anything, you are. Every hesitation, every release, every time you quit or push through is information to him. He’s always learning, even when you don’t know what lesson you’re giving.
Because more often than not, the horse was trying long before he was labeled difficult.
Part 2 coming next up.