Working A Hot Horse

What is a “Hot Horse”?
It defines a horse that is overly aggressive or fast under saddle and uncomfortable with following your or another horses lead of relaxing.

“Hot Horse’s”, are thought, by some, to be born that way, and the only way to cure a “Hot Horse” is through the use of escalating force, in the form of harsher bits and more rigorous exercise.
I disagree…………. While these “solutions” can appear to temper a horse’s spirit somewhat during an individual session, in the long run you will only make the horse worse, while inflicting significant and unnecessary pain and discomfort.

Yes, it is true that some horses, particularly Thoughbreds to some degree prefer the faster speed and gait, ultimately any horse should be comfortable if asked to walk, trot or canter at a slow, collected controlled pace. If your horse refuses to relax during your ride and you are constantly holding your horse back, it’s not that the horse is being defiant. Your horse is not comfortable with you, nor does he respect you. It’s a matter of training, comfort and respect.
You cannot develop a bond of respect through violent force. Would you respect a bully that verbally tormented you and if the bullying escalated in to violent force would that make you respect that bully? Or would it make you resent the bully more? You might fear the bully more, but you will never respect or like that bully. So why do we think it will work on horses? You can use harsher/stronger bits, spurs martingales and other gadgets to strike discomfort, pain and fear into horses but it is most ignorant to think that such methods will ever develop a respectful horse and partner.

How to create a “Hot Horse”, there are two ways:

· Mistaken poor training, through ignorance.
· Intentional poor training, through ignorance.

Poor training is poor training.
Mistaken poor training – Amateur riders all too often do not understand how severe certain bits can be, how vital it is for a saddle and bridle to fit properly and any other gadgets they may be using. As a result every time they attempt to train or ride their horse they could be subjecting the horse to significant discomfort and/or pain without realizing it. A horse put into this position is in a permanent state of discomfort while under saddle, which will result in the horse becoming more uncomfortable and uneasy of both rider and the whole riding process.

Things are made worse when an amateur rider all too often has rough heavy hands and jerks the reins frequently and heavily and even uses them to re-balance themselves when they lose their balance by snatching the reins. What about the horse’s mouth! The horse is put into a no win situation. So what can a horse do to try to get away from the pain and discomfort? The horse’s natural reaction to pain/discomfort, etc, is to run away from it, in this case the discomfort stays with the horse while he is running but by racing ahead the horse is trying to get the ordeal over as quick as possible. They also may fear moving too slowly as if they do an impatient rider abuse them. Some riders would create this scenario on purpose and in my opinion such people have no right to be anywhere near a horse, more often than not a bad rider or trainer has no idea the damage they are causing, they are completely oblivious and ignorant of what they are doing. A mistake that you and your horse will have to deal with once you have bought him!

Intentional Poor Training – Sometimes people will intentionally create a “Hot Horse”, never realizing that to do so is a reflection on poor training. A good example of this type of training is seen in racehorses, as they are trained to run in flight mode with full adrenalin running. They are not asked to stand when being mounted, they are not asked to walk at a sensible pace they are allowed to jog and spook etc. They are encouraged to waste a lot of energy, which they could be putting into racing and winning! Some people encourage a “Hot Horse” as they think it looks good having a horse jumping about, they think it makes them look like a good rider!

Like any problem you have with your horse you have to know the root cause for it, if you do not then you can not resolve the problem only cover it up temporally. It’s like having a headache, you can take a pain killer but it only masks the problem and the root cause is still there.

Written by Pip Unwin.

How To work With A Hot Horse?

When a horse has been incorrectly asked or is uncomfortable with your requests it’s time to go back to basics. It does not matter that the horse has been ridden for 1week, 1 year or 10 years, it is like riding, the length of time has no barring or indication on the quality of the training.

If your horse is wary of you on the ground and while you are in the saddle, then the first thing you have to do is establish a connection with your horse and the best way to do this is by loose ground work/ free schooling (See free schooling). There has to be a bond of respect and trust between the two of you or nothing will ever work.

Once you have established this bond of respect and trust (which could in reality take weeks and sometimes months) you can then go back to the ridden work. When working with any horse but especially a “Hot Horse” you must always be in a calm, relaxed and confident state of mind, if you are not do not expect your horse to be. Remember that a “Hot Horse” is a anxious horse, so you must be strong mentally, if you are not in the right frame of mind do not work with your horse until you are, if you are feeling on edge, there is no way you are going to convince you horse not to be on edge, so go away and come back another day.
When you have a “Hot Horse” you are aiming to work them slowly, calmly and collectively. If you have done your free schooling correctly when you get into the saddle again your free schooling work will transform to the ridden work. Your goal is to show your horse that riding is neither stressful nor uncomfortable. You are showing him the ‘bully–slave’ relationship he once endured is no more …that it has been replaced with by a ‘leader–partner’ relationship were both parties can respect each other and things are comfortable. You must remember that it is not a race, you must take the time it takes to establish comfort and trust but if you do the groundwork correctly it will happen. You might think that this is all going to take a long time but in my experience, in the long run, it is quicker as it does truly cure the problem of a “Hot Horse” not just cover the problem up…………...which would you rather have?

Your other choice is to go for a harsher “bit”.
A lot of people believe that a harsher/stronger “bit” should be used if you have a “Hot Horse”. The thought is that a horse cannot respect a lighter/ milder “bit” so by putting in a harsher/stronger “bit” the increased discomfort or pain will surely convince the horse to slow down. This might work temporally but you will get one of two things happening;

Written By Pip Unwin

· The horse will get used to the bit and become desensitised… as a result, you would continually be increasing the ‘strength’ of the bit.
· The other option, the horse will be very worried by the harshness of the “bit” that he will run away more, so will become more uptight and that leads to being more unmanageable.

The other thing you can do is run your horse into the ground before you get on his back. If you go for this option you will tire your horse before getting on so you may slow him down but remember your horse will be getting fitter and fitter the more you go for this option, so the more you will have to run him first and as the horse is tense he will be running on adrenalin so even thought the horse is tired he will still run on adrenalin, so he will still be tense………….. Get the pattern? In the long run this way is not good for you horses health, can you imagine what it must be like running on this much stress all the time, as do remember that the horse will not only be tense when you are riding but when you are not around he will be fretting, no wonder there are so many horses out there with back problems, due to tense muscles due to bad training practices, and horse with colic, stomach ulcers, etc, etc. What does this option teach your horse? What does it teach you as a trainer? How does it make you feel as trainer? You are the owner of the horse and if you are the one that does every thing for your horse you are the horse’s trainer, not the person you may go to for a lesson with once a week if you are lucky, they are “your” trainer.

Once you realize that a “Hot Horse” is an uncomfortable and untrusting horse, who because of the above cannot and will not respect you, you will be able to better understand why you have to go back to basic Free schooling to establish that bond of trust and respect between the two of you, if you choose not too, you WILL reinforce the existing problem

Which will you choose?

If you want to learn how to work with a “Hot Horse” Please contact me

Pip Unwin. Feb 2008.