05/14/2025
This is so true, itās something I hear and see often
Galloping, Bucking, Not Broken: The Greatest Lie Horses Ever Told šš„
You step into the paddock, coffee in hand, expecting a peaceful morning and a whiff of horse breath that says āall is well.ā āāØ
Instead, your horse is on the wrong side of the fence, looking smug and oddly unscathedāor worse, still tangled in wire. You cut them free, patch up a scratch or two (or marvel at the miraculous absence of any), and thank the gods of lucky escapes.
Crisis averted.
Or is it? š¬
Hereās the problem: the real damage doesnāt always bleed.
Over the years, Iāve met a string of horses whoāve all survived this advanced-level self-sabotage. Theyāve jumped a gate (wellā¦ tried), crashed through a fence, slipped on a slope, flipped, twisted, crushed or compressed themselves in ways that would make a chiropractor cry and a vet sigh while reaching for the X-ray machine (which, by the way, wonāt show the damage either). š
š
The horse recovers. No visible limp. They run. They buck. They play.
You think:
āTheyāre fine! Look at them go!ā
But theyāre not fine. Not even a little bit.
Enter: The Invisible Injury šµļøāāļø
What you canāt seeāand what many professionals missāis the slow-burn catastrophe hidden deep in the horse's body.
Ribcage. Pelvis. Sternum. Neck. Stifle.
The kind of stuff that doesnāt light up on X-rays or respond to your carrot-stick-wiggly-wand of trust. š„š
Itās the kind of discomfort that turns āwalk, trot, canterā into āgrimace, flinch, explode.ā
And hereās the kicker: the horse doesnāt limp. It compensates.
Because horses, unlike people, donāt throw dramatic tantrums and demand cortisone shots. They quietly adjust. They twist, tighten, avoid, or overuse other parts of their body to keep going.
They are the masters of stoicism.....until you put a halter on.
You ask for a transition, a bend, a float trip, orāGod forbidāa trot circle. And suddenlyā
You get emotion.
You get resistance.
You get confusion, agitation, blow-ups, shut-downsā
Every spicy ingredient in a full-blown training meltdown stew. š²š„
The Spiral Begins š
The owner thinks: āIām doing something wrong.ā
The trainer thinks: āWe need more groundwork.ā
The horse thinks: āKill me.ā ā ļø
Eventually, the owner moves onānew trainer, new method, new online course promising the horse will āchoose joy and connection.ā
But the problems persist.
Cue spiralling shame, rejection of all prior knowledge, and a desperate descent into rabbit holes of essential oils, a connection-based enlightenment facilitator, and equine shadow work. š§āāļøšæš®
When in fact, what they really needed was a bloody good vet and bodyworker, and someone to say:
āHey, maybe your horseās inability to pick up the left lead canāt be fixed with trust exercises and lavender oil.ā
The Warning Signs We Miss š©
Here are the red flags waving harder than a liberty trainer at sunset:
The horse becomes emotional, reactive, or weirdly robotic.
What should be simple feels charged, unpredictable, and unnervingly fragile.
Training progress flatlines, no matter how much effort you throw at it.
The horse starts avoiding halters, floats, mounting blocksāor life in general.
The problem isnāt always psychological.
Sometimes, itās a bloody rib.
Or a pelvis rotated like a cheap IKEA table leg. šŖ
But we donāt look thereābecause the horse looks fine.
It bucks in the paddock! It gallops!
It must be okay!
Nope. Thatās not health.
Thatās compensation.
Itās adaptation with the odd short step.
Or worseāwhen they canāt limp because everythingās uncomfortable.
Thatās when it gets really insidious.
What Happens Next is Predictableā¦ and Sad š¢
These horses often get labelled as:
Difficult
Shut down
Disrespectful
āNeeding more wet saddle blanketsā
Orā¦ āNeeding a softer approachā
Orā¦ āNot aligned with your energyā š
No one considers the simple truth:
It hurts to do what weāre asking.
Not in a ādonāt feel like itā way.
In a āmy sternumās fused to my shoulder blade and I canāt rotate left without seeing starsā way. š
They suffer in silence while we rotate through training ideologies like a midlife crisis through motorcyclesāall because we never asked the most obvious question:
āHas this horse ever had an accident?ā
Because if they haveāif theyāve failed to clear a gate, slipped, fallen, crushed, or tangled in wireāit may have changed everything. Not just the body, but the brain.
Pain messes with movement.
It makes easy things hard.
It turns willing horses into wary ones.
And it ruins good humans who start to believe theyāre not good enough.
What You Can Do Instead of Losing Your Mind š§ ā”ļøš§āāļø
Take my good friend Tami Elkayamās advice:
If something happens, write it down in a diary. āļø
Even if they seem fine.
Then, if things start getting weird months or years later, donāt reach for your third liberty course or $800 worth of chamomile pellets. šøš¼
Consider that maybeājust maybeāyour horse isnāt emotionally broken, disrespectful, or traumatised by a training method.
Maybe those fractured ribs are hurting when you do up the girth.
Before You Burn It All Downā¦ š„š«
Before you give up, throw out your halters, block your last five coaches on Instagram, or trade your saddle for an oracle deckā¦ pause.
Reflect.
Is it possible your horse is tryingābut simply canāt?
Could it be that what theyāre resisting isnāt youābut a physical reality no amount of groundwork or paddock bonding can fix?
Is it time to stop blaming yourself, your horse, and everyone youāve ever learned fromāand insteadā¦ dig deeper?
Because sometimes, the source of your training failures, your emotional spirals, and your eroded confidenceā¦
..was a bloody gate.
That your horse didnāt clear.
That day. š“š
If this switched on a lightbulb š”, hit share. Pass it on.
Disclaimer: This is satire. Humour helps people read long posts theyād usually scroll pastāso they donāt miss something that might actually help them or their horse.
Feel like tone-policing? Fabulous. Write your own post. Thatās where your opinion belongs.
šø IMAGE: My Aureoāthe horse who taught me this lesson...even the bit about lavender oil š
