Are we afraid of our horses?

We still measure the strength of a car engine as horse power (HP), or Pferdestärke in German (PS). In 18th Century Scotland, inventor James Watt compared the power of horses to the power of steam engines. At that time, steam engines where slowly taking over the work of horses and of course, also of man. Watt eventually defined 1 HP as the equivalent of 1 horse lifting 33,000 pounds overs 1 foot in 1 minute. In cars, we love a lot of HP. But what about in our horses?

Sometimes I think many horse people are actually afraid of horses. 

A horse can unleash an extraordinary amount of power (when compared to us), and it can do so very fast. Throughout history, humans have admired and used the power of horses. In fact, our history wouldn’t be the same without horses. 

I often have the impression that today, people would rather their horse only had 0,2 HP. A little bit of energy, yes, but please not too much. How else can we explain all the rollkur riding (which doesn’t only happen in dressage, by the way), all those gadgets invented to tie a horse’s head down, and all those methods to create a safe riding horse, which in fact just shut the horse down?

When I met Minor for the first time at his breeder, he tried to break away, reared, and once I had him in his stall, bucked in his stall. It didn’t keep me from buying him. I knew that he wasn’t a beginner horse and I had a hunch that he wouldn’t be easy. I didn’t care. I saw something in him. An amazing fire inside him, even some arrogance. A horse who was aware of his strength. A knight horse.

I had people tell me that he is a difficult horse. Difficult in what sense? Yes he will fight when he feels threatened. Yes he has a strong will. But he is very intelligent and has the biggest will to work I have seen in a horse so far. The more challenging, the better. “Let me try this again”, seems to be his motto. The more Minor knows, the more he brings in ideas. Sometimes it feels like he allows me to work with him. He has a calm mind but a high spirit. He can suddenly burst into movement and often, he doesn’t want to be controlled. 

I think many of us have been educated to believe that a horse with a mind of its own is a dangerous horse and has to be subjected to human domination. But then they will never take the initiative, will never show you that they are ready for more. They will never want more. They will just stay in that tight space that we have laid out for them.

Both pictures are from the same work session. Minor jumping around, and Minor focused and collected. It feels amazing to feel his power through those thin reins and to dance together. Yesterday evening, just at the end of our session, Minor got a fright because it was already dark and the other horses came running out of the forest, full power. Minor went from quietly working with me to full on herd instinct – need to follow! I just opened the arena gate and he left the arena with one huge jump and an incredibly fast gallop to catch up with the others. I stood there and admired his power. He is definitively a 2 HP horse. 

Did he want to run out of the arena again today? No. He was in fact very focused and we are getting closer to the piaffe. It was a wonderful feeling.

I wish people would understand that running, bucking, bolting, rearing, jumping is all part of being a horse. I’m not talking about horses being constantly over threshold and defending themselves against cruel training. I’m talking about a horse’s natural instincts and their love for movement. Now please don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be education. I earn a living educating horses and people. And our horses need to be able to cope with our modern, human world. And give hooves, lead well, don’t kill the vet. I’m talking about making the horse into a robot and forbidding them any outburst or show of strength. 

Because that’s what actually fascinated humans about horses since thousands of years. All training aside, horses need to be allowed to be horses. Let’s not forget that.