In the blog, “Horse Issues, Separating Symptoms from the Root Cause”, the number one root cause that I talked about this pain. I put a link to that blog here, if you’d like to go back and read it.
In this blog, I talk about some of the ways that pain can be the root cause of some of your horse’s issues. When I get calls from people about problems with their horse, the first thing I want to do is rule out pain as the cause of the problem.
One of the most common problems is with the horse tossing its head or the horse pulling against the reins from light contact on the horse’s mouth. The first thing that I think of when the owner says that the horse overreacts to any contact is points on the horse’s teeth.
Some people don’t realize that the horse’s teeth need regular maintenance. Starting when the horse is 3-4 years old, they need to be checked regularly and possibly floated. Floating means the vet or the equine dentist goes in with a file and files the points down on the horse’s teeth so that the points don’t poke into the side of the horse’s mouth. If maintenance is not done, those points can poke wounds into the horse’s mouth and cause great pain. One of the misconceptions is that if you ride with a bitless bridle or hackamore that the pain does not happen. And that is definitely to the contrary. If you think about the bridle or hackamore pushing on the outside of the horse’s mouth, that actually pushes the side of the mouth into the point of the tooth which can cause pain for the horse.
Another problem that I see very often is a horse does not want to stand for you to get on, or if you do get on, the horse wants to buck. These actions are pretty common when the saddle does not fit the horse. I had a horse come in not too long ago and that was the exact complaint that the owner had. The horse did not want to stand to get on and if she did get on the horse would buck. When I used my saddle and worked the horse, the horse stood just as well as could be, so the first thing that I did was contact the owner and have her come with her saddle. We tried her saddle on and sure enough, it fit very poorly. Many owners don’t realize that different saddles may or may not fit the horse. It’s just a matter of educating the horse owner.
Another very common thing that I see is either poor foot care or no foot care at all. It’s very important that you maintain your horse’s feet and get their feet trimmed or shod regularly. Sometimes the toe will grow faster than the heel, or the heel will go faster than the toe and cause irregular angles that can cause discomfort. I’ve heard people say, what about the wild Mustangs, they don’t get their feet trimmed and that’s true, but the Mustangs are out on thousands of acres walking many miles every day looking for food and water. The horses we have live in a pasture or paddock and do not walk enough to maintain their feet like a wild horse. Also, wild mustangs that develop foot problems can not run from predators and are eliminated.
Another common problem that I see with pain as a root cause of a problem, using an inappropriate bit for a horse. Bits have different purposes, different bits are designed to do different things, and if you use an inappropriate bit and use your hands too hard or too fast or in a way contrary to what the bid is designed for, you’re going to cause pain in the horse’s mouth. Also, you’re going to cause issues with the horse not wanting to be bridled and not want to have the bridle removed.
All these problems I’m talking about, and many more, are actually pretty easy to keep a handle on and treat, and can greatly impact the performance and comfort of your horse.
If you’re having an issue with your horse, the first thing you want to do is check to make sure there are no physical problems and that there are no problems causing physical pain. That pain can be anywhere in his body, caused by a multitude of things, and you want to rule those pain possibilities out before you go on to working the problem as a lack of training or lack of respect problem.
The pain issues that I talk about here in this blog are just a few of the many types of pain that the horse could be in that would cause performance problems. So anytime your horse is giving you a problem don’t automatically assume that it’s training or respect, check to make sure it’s not a pain issue first before you move on to another possibility.
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