Can toilet rolls teach us about horse behaviour?

The current coronavirus crisis has changed all our lives. We’ve been forced into situations that most of us will never have experienced in our lifetimes. Some of the human behaviour problems that have appeared as a result can be compared to what we see regularly in our horses:

RESOURCE GUARDING

Yes, it’s that toilet roll problem. At the beginning of lockdown, I witnessed two middle-aged men fighting over the last pack of toilet roll in my local supermarket – they eventually had to be separated by security guards. I’ve never seen anything like this previously in people but of course, we regularly see this behaviour in horses. 

If important resources become scarce, individuals will fight over them – especially if they believe it’s a matter of life or death. Now those two men weren’t going to die if they didn’t get the toilet roll, but horses may defend the vital resources they need to survive – like hay piles, their feed, their friends or water troughs. This guarding behaviour is a sure sign their current needs aren’t met or there has been a problem in their past, perhaps they have been food deprived previously and their anxiety hasn’t been addressed.

RESTRICTED MOVEMENT

Many of us have struggled with being housebound and unable to go outside. Yet naturally, we wouldn’t move nearly as much as a horse would. One US study found Shetland ponies will travel as much as 100 miles in a 24 hour period. However, it is common practice to restrict horses to single stables or small individual paddocks, severely restricting their capacity to move and forcing them to stand for hours at a time. 

It is no surprise then that horses barge to get out of the stable in the morning, or are too fresh to ride. This is not just about pent up energy – anxiety and stress are major concerns here.

SEPARATION ANXIETY

Have you been stressed because you can’t see your family or friends? Or maybe you are desperate for a hug? We can still speak to our loved ones on the phone, or even see them over Skype or Zoom. Horses are a highly social species that rely on their friends for safety and comfort too (probably far more than we humans do), yet we isolate them from each other regularly and then wonder why they become distressed. 

When we return horses to each other they often frantically groom each others wither area – this has the same calming effect a hug would have for us. 

A survey of UK adults which took place during lockdown, found that one in four people (24%) said they felt lonely during the previous two weeks. When the same question had been asked shortly before lockdown, just one in ten people (10%) said they had these feelings. There are increased calls to suicide hotlines, domestic abuse centres and childlines. We are extremely stressed by these restrictions and we need to learn from this.

It is important to remember that we can understand this situation, we know why we have to be isolated and we know there will be an end to this. Horses don’t. We still have choices – we can still socialise with our friends, we can choose how we exercise and move our bodies, what and when to eat, how we can entertain ourselves, what we will watch, read or listen to. We can decide what we will do next. Our horses often have no choice in their day to day lives.

I hope that some good will come from our feelings of anxiety, anger and frustration at this time and we start to look at the things we do ‘traditionally’ with a new perspective. I hope we start considering what may be motivating a horse to behave in a certain way rather than simply punishing them for doing it. 

The good news is I am hearing wonderful reports from many horse owners. They are finally getting to spend relaxed time with their horses and finding their relationships have really improved and behaviour problems have disappeared. 

Increased turnout and an enforced break from riding, competition and travel have meant both horses and owners have had the chance for a holiday and to relax together. 

It’s okay to turn your horse out with his friends and sit and watch them play, to take your horse for a walk, to graze them in hand, to groom them, massage them, find their itchy spots, collect foraged food for them, make them toys or just to hang out together and enjoy each others company. 

We have an extraordinary opportunity to reconsider what we do with our horses, make positive changes and start again.