09/04/2026
Are we accidentally making our horses fragile?
Not just physically, but emotionally.
We talk a lot about keeping horses comfortable. Keeping them calm. Keeping them from getting stressed, scared, tired, frustrated or overwhelmed.
And obviously, good horsemanship should never be about intentionally putting a horse in a bad situation just to see what happens.
But I do think there’s a difference between protecting a horse and preparing one.
A horse that never experiences pressure doesn’t learn how to work through pressure.
A horse that’s never allowed to be briefly frustrated doesn’t learn how to regulate frustration.
A horse that’s always removed from something the moment they’re uncomfortable can start to learn that discomfort means something is wrong or that their only option is to escape it.
And I think physically, we sometimes do the same thing.
We want perfect footing. Perfect conditions. Perfect surfaces. We worry about hills, rocks, uneven ground, longer rides and different environments.
Of course there are legitimate physical limitations and injuries that need to be respected. But a healthy horse’s body also adapts to appropriate, progressive stress. Balance, coordination, strength and sure footedness aren’t developed by avoiding every physical challenge.
Maybe good training isn’t creating a life where our horses never experience discomfort.
Maybe it’s giving them manageable doses of the real world and teaching them, “You’re safe. Take a second, think your way through it”.
Because the reality is, we can’t predict or control every environment our horses are going to encounter.
We can’t control everything that happens at a show. We can’t guarantee what they’ll see when they step off the trailer somewhere new. We can’t make every trail quiet or every piece of footing perfect.
We can’t even control everything at home.
Sometimes the neighbor’s tarp comes flying over the fence. A dog appears where it shouldn’t. Something falls over. A tractor starts up. A horse gets loose. Something happens that we never would’ve thought to specifically prepare for.
It’s near impossible to train a horse for every thing they may encounter in life.
But I want to teach them what to do with themselves when they encounter a thing they’ve never seen before.
Because eventually they’re going to encounter something we couldn’t manufacture perfectly for them.
And when that happens, I don’t want my horses to think the world is ending.
I want them to know how to pause, think, regulate even when neither of us saw it coming.
