There’s some interesting terminology defining horse-world philosophies these days. One of the more interesting terms I see being used is this idea of “consent-based training”.

What is consent to a horse?

My understanding from watching a variety of videos and reading a few explanations is that all interactions with the horse rely on getting the horse’s consent before proceeding. For example, when collecting the horse from the paddock, the horse would need to consent to your proximity, to having the halter put on (if one is used), and to leaving the paddock. Applying fly spray, picking up feet, saddling, mounting, trailering, etc. also requires the consent of the horse.

On the surface, I like this idea a lot. The description I gave above sounds a lot like the horsemanship I like to practice. I don’t call it “consent” but I do want the horse to take on the idea and do the thing (whatever that may be) rather than me manipulating their body to make it happen.

What does consent-based training look like?

When I watch videos of consent-based-training, I’m not sure that what I see matches up with the description. Largely, I see positive reinforcement training where stress behaviors are being created in an effort to avoid applying pressure. And I see horses exhibiting behaviors and responses to outside stimuli that would be dangerous to most people.

In one video, a woman used treats to ask a loose horse to step up on a platform. Something startled the horse, it darted narrowly `past her, and after snorting in the distance for a few seconds it came back to the food. It was posted as proof the horse hadn’t “abandoned ship.” What I saw was a horse already stressed by the food dynamic, primed to alarm, giving no thought to the woman when it bolted past her, and still stressed when it re-engaged.

In another example, with someone who I think has more feel and a better sense of horses in general, the ridden horse became distressed when the herd came running up alongside them in the neighboring paddock. This would be an extremely stressful situation for many horses. The woman did not let the horse just do what it wanted and instead asked it to not rejoin the herd. She spoke to the horse, used her neck rope, and gave it some treats along the way. To be clear, the horse didn’t bolt off which it certainly would have done if the woman hadn’t been involved.The horse fidgeted, spun and pranced for the entirety of the ride back to the barn. This was also posted as a positive demonstration of how pressure isn’t needed to get “consent”.

What I saw, was a horse who was quite relaxed at the beginning of the video. His thought left the rider, and rejoined the herd because that is the most natural thing for a horse to do. The horse’s distress at being asked to not rejoin the herd stayed low enough to allow the woman to manage the horse all the way back to the barn, while the horse never let go of the concern. Many people wouldn’t have been able to ride through this situation and would have fallen or had to make emergency dismount. Her horse was still quite distressed when they got back to the barn. A fair bit of pressure was used to ask the horse via the neck rope to not rejoin the herd.

What does a horse’s consent actually look like?

I very much like the idea of getting a horse to take on the idea and do the thing (whatever that may be) rather than me manipulating their body to make it happen. I would call that consent. I do believe it takes quite a bit of knowledge and experience to understand what a willing and calm horse looks like. It does not look like a horse that is fixated on your treat bag, pinning its ears, or anxiously throwing itself through exercises in an attempt to gain the next bit of food. It is not a horse who is spinning and calling to the herd, despite not running off.

Is it consent, if we use pressure to change the thought?

What I don’t think makes any sense, is the idea that we can’t use ANY pressure to communicate with our horses. Pressure is the native language of horses. It is what they use all the time to talk to each other. We don’t have to teach it to them. We have to teach ourselves how to use it in a way that is clear, nuanced and has more feeling than most of us will ever experience anywhere else in our lives. Horses just know how to speak this language.

That said… pressure can be used horrendously to force a horse to physically do something. Contraptions that hold pressure (tie-downs, flash nosebands), driving pressure (chasing with a whip or lead rope), forceful actions that make zero sense to a horse – these are different different from directing a horse’s thought with feel, intention, energy and bits of pressure (to come with, as well as to move away). These are different from letting a horse meet pressure on their own accord and make a decision to completely release it and feel good about the clarity that comes with it.

Flowery language for a hard truth.

It feels very hypocritical to proclaim to love horses while wanting to do things to them that they don’t want to do. I can’t think of anything more counterintuitive. And yet, this counter-intuitiveness is at the core of the fact that we possess horses and want to do things with them in any capacity. It’s a hard truth (from my perspective). And I don’t appreciate the flowery language to try and make ourselves feel better about what we are doing. Let me explain.

Horses are designed to be herd animals. They are NEVER supposed to leave the herd. Doing so is incredibly dangerous. We want to do things with our horses away from their herd set-up. This is the most counter-intuitive thing to a horse. Some are more secure away from the herd than others, but I can’t think of a single reason a horse would want to leave their herd to do pointless things with us.

Horses are designed to conserve energy. That doesn’t mean that they don’t ever run or play. But, being a prey animal, they don’t want to be exhausted for no reason in case they need to run from danger. We, people, want them to expend energy. We want them to trot circles around the arena, canter down the trail, gallop through a cross-country course, or any number of other things. The idea that a horse would WANT to do any of these things – due to the pointlessness of the activity to them, and the wasted energy expended – is really unlikely.

These are just honest truths – as I see them. They are hard truths. One of my favorite horsemen, Harry Whitney, told me that he believed the best we can do is interact with a horse in such a way that we don’t leave them feeling any worse off than if we had never gone to get them in the paddock. That is the absolute best we can wish for, but most of us are going to fall completely short of that as we are learning how to create those unbothered (some might say “good”) feelings in our horses.

I don’t believe that horses are excited to work with us. Or that they wouldn’t be just as mentally well off, probably better, if they lived in a herd in a safe environment and were never bothered by humans. Those types of environments exist less and less for horses. So I’m willing to accept that my horses live with me so that horses don’t go extinct! And that as part of our relationship, I will do everything I can to provide them with the things they need for emotional and physical well-being. And that they will interact with me in some capacity that involves them doing things they would probably rather not do at all, but I will try to do in a way that feels decent to them and doesn’t add to their stress. And when it does, which it inevitably will, I will get better.

There is a difference between listening to a horse’s anxiety and letting them take over.

When we say we want consent from the horse, I believe we are saying that we want to get to a place where the horse adopts the thought and does the thing willingly – even though there are possibly other things it might rather do if given all possibilities. I don’t believe we really want horses to take their feet away from us at any time, to run off when we are brushing them because their friend in the paddock called to them, to not come in for their veterinarian appointment, or to step through our space to get to food. Similar to how we want our dog to come each and every time we call their name, even if chasing the neighbor’s cat is the more enticing option, we want our horses to hear us and be responsive when we interact – each and every time.

Like all things I suppose, the pendulum swung way too far in one direction for many years. And now, it has swung back to the opposite extreme. I do believe the sweet spot lies somewhere in the middle.