Bad Pony-Good Pony

Let’s talk correction. I was scrolling through social media (because what else do you do on a lazy, freezing cold Sunday when you’re trying to avoid doing schoolwork) and came across a video of a gal leading a baby into the barn without a halter by its mane. And before everyone comes at me about that – we don’t know this gal or this baby so this might be something that it does every day – not ours to judge – I can tell you I’ve led pretty much all the horses I’ve owned by their mane at one time or another, but I digress. Well, this baby, acted like some babies do and decided he didn’t want to go in and escaped her grasp. When he came back and she went to lead him again, he had a toddler temper tantrum, reared up and pawed at her and she smacked him as he ran off out of the barn. There was some colorful language that went along with it as well (personally, I would have said a lot worse). Of course, I go stalk the comments because I wanted to see what people thought. You could immediately tell the people who have handled babies versus those who haven’t or aren’t a horse person at all. Comments from hitting him was unnecessary etc. A lot of people were offended by the language. So of course, this got me thinking – how do you explain correction to non-horse people? Or even horse people who have never dealt with rank behavior? So of course I called my bff – Dara Strickland of Signature Quarter Horses, who has raised multiple babies and owns probably one of the most well-behaved stallions I’ve ever met. What she said made total sense – she said you’re trying to raise good citizens, that they are basically toddlers- would you let your toddler behave like that in public? She also said that what you allow now becomes ok and while they are small that might be ok but eventually it will become dangerous when they are 1200lbs! She also noted that it took maybe 15 minutes to bring that horse in, so for 23.75 hours he had the ability to be feisty he could be a model citizen for those 15 minutes. Now neither of us think abusing an animal is OK, but a firm correction letting a horse know that behavior is not tolerable is. I can tell you, smacking a horse is not going to hurt them if you’ve watched how they go after each other while playing in the field! The correction should fit the behavior and each horse is different. My current horse you just need to speak firmly, and she fixes it but my old mare, she’d basically laugh at you until you corrected her firmly. We used to joke that the meaner you were to her the nicer she’d be. And my old gelding, I only ever corrected him once and that was when I first got him, after that he was always a gentleman. So, with these thoughts in mind, what do you think about correction? How would you explain it to someone who didn’t understand? I believe educating over dismissing and belittling someone who doesn't understand makes our industry stronger. Let’s hear your thoughts!

Appy Riding everyone!

Tracy