Behaviour Patterns in Our Horses

I recently worked with a very big sixyearold Warmblood gelding with a mild rearing problem. When I take on any horse there is a period of getting to know what I am dealing with in terms of personality sensitivity confidence past training possible underlying physical issues fears etc. There is a fair amount of research to do before I can take an effective path to changing the behaviour. I am going to tell you about this horse not because I want to write about a horse that rears but rather because he was an interesting study as far as behaviour goes.

In addressing any behaviour patterns there are many intangible things that we do not always take into consideration. Some trainers when dealing with problems look only at the obvious indicators like poor manners possible unsoundness badly fitting equipment and the demonstration of the problem like rearing. In my experience these things are certainly important to note and are contributing factors but there are many more. I have written about many of them before and I hate to sound like a broken record especially for those of us old enough to remember what a record is however I will cover them briefly as they are contributing factors Self confidence selfesteem the ability to process information decision making abilities trust in ones self trust in others respect of ones self and of others acceptance of authority acceptance of responsibility ambition sensitivity and basic intelligence are all important to be aware of. You may ask how can you be aware of things like selfesteem and decision making abilities? It is more about understanding a general frame of mind than isolating personality traits.
For example a confident horse will likely have good selfesteem be more trusting be more responsible and eventually more predictable. A horse