Hey Reader,

Throughout the years that I was training carriage horses to drive in the city, and ever since, I've remained deeply committed to this one core principle:

I don’t care if my horse spooks… but I care a whole bunch about how he recovers.

Horses are prey animals, with instincts that have evolved over millions of years to flee at the first sign of possible danger. Over the four-thousand-some years that horses have been domesticated, that flight instinct remains as one of the things that makes a horse a horse. At the same time, they have also evolved to be highly teachable.

Horses can and do learn to thrive in all kinds of different jobs and environments, from working farms and woodlots; to show rings with their excited crowds and bright stadium lights; to bustling urban city streets; and beyond. Horses have been working and evolving alongside humans for millennia, and continue to prove themselves remarkably adaptable.

When I think of the best carriage horses I’ve known, it’s not that they never spook. It’s that they recover so quickly you hardly even notice it happen. This ability to recover and carry on like nothing happened is the skill that I strive to develop in every horse I work with.

For some horses—those who are naturally quite bold—this resilience is developed fairly easily through gradual, thoughtful exposure to a wide variety of environments and stimuli, ideally during their formative training years.

For horses whose temperament is more timid or flightier, much more work may be needed to teach the horse to respond to fear in a healthy way. While we can never fully override the horse’s instincts for self-protection, with strategic training, patience, and consistent practice, many horses can learn to pause their reaction and check in with their driver for reassurance and guidance.

This is where partnership is a lot more than just a buzzword…

If the first piece of the equation is temperament, and the second is education, the third is a driver who has the horse’s back at all times.

It’s up to us, as the driver, to uphold our end of the partnership, too.

We have a responsibility to consider what we’re asking of our horse, that we never throw him in over his head. My horse needs to trust that I will never ask him to do something he’s not capable of. That trust is built over time, one successful drive after another, gradually accumulating a strong precedent of finding our way through challenges together.

We also have a responsibility to be ready to support our horse in any moment, should something unexpected catch us by surprise. We should always be aware of our environment, attentive to our horse, and even if we are resting, the reins are in our hands, so that we are always ready if our horse suddenly needs our guidance.

A good partnership is an ongoing conversation through every drive.

🐴 “Hey, did you notice that rustle in the bushes over there?”
​👩🏼 “Yup. I think it’s a rabbit. 🐇 No matter.”
​🐴 “Oh, okay. Cool.”

Your horse is asking questions with every ear twitch, every sideways glance. He may not need more than a soft word or a deep breath, but he needs to know that you’re always there at the other end of the lines.

Complacency might just be the most common cause of driving wrecks, and it is absolutely the most avoidable. It takes discipline on our part to never take our horse for granted. No matter how chill your horse is, and how quiet your environment is, surprises can and do happen. Spooks can and do happen—often when you least expect them.

As a responsible driver, your job is to ensure your horse has the education for the job at hand, and to remain present and aware at all times.

While of course not every horse is ultimately suitable for every environment, many horses can learn to thrive in many environments, with the right education and an attentive, skilled driver who has their back.

So the next time your horse spooks—and he will—notice what happens next. Does he come right back to you? Or does that tension linger for a while? What does it take to get back to baseline again?

This is the conversation. This is the work. This is partnership at its finest.

Happy (safe) driving,
Christine
​

P.S. In honour of Pride month, here's a clip of my Belgian gelding, Tony, taking in his first Pride Parade. 🏳️‍🌈

A few things to note here:

Tony is standing at the end of a line of carriage horses; the rest of whom have all seen this spectacle many times. Since we had to move from our usual carriage stand, we parked the horses in a line, all facing the action, with plenty of room in front of us. If any horse were to have a moment, they could walk straight forward out of the line, and head out as needed. As Tony was the greenest horse of the group, we put him on the end, to give him a little extra room, just in case.

Each one of the horses is standing at ease on a loose rein, but every driver has the reins in hand, and most could pick up their contact again in a split second, if needed. Yes, one or two drivers in the line are a little more relaxed than they ought to be, even knowing their horses have done this a thousand times. This is where it’s so easy to get complacent, and it takes discipline to be relaxed without getting lazy. It’s easy to take a good horse for granted, especially if you’ve never yet had things go sideways.

You can see that Tony is alert, with lots of activity happening in his ears, but he keeps one hip cocked, which tells me he’s taking it all in, but isn’t in this moment feeling the need to take action. This is exactly what I like to see in a new situation like this.