I recently wrote about the horse and his skin – coat. The use of rugs desensitises the skin, which is an important ‘touch’ receptor. When you rug a horse, you are in effect – blanketing or removing and interfering with one of its most important senses.
Another way to traumatise the skin of a horse is to pat it. Horses are not for patting. The skin, as mentioned above, is the receptor for the delicate sense of touch. Patting a horse is so overwhelming to this sense that it really overloads the system. [Equally you don’t ‘kick’ a horse to get it to go; you squeeze (and lift).]
The messages go from the nerve receptors in the skin to the vagus nerve, by-passing the brain or ‘conscious’ mind, they cause responses in the fight or flight mechanism – you can understand the seriousness of this.
You often see lots of people patting their horses on the neck and shoulder, often as a reward or acknowledgement for a job well done. This is really wrong. You should stroke (preferably in a small circular motion) or just a little scratch. Your hand or knuckle or fingers should always make clear firm contact with no hesitation or dithering.
By patting a horse you send a message a little like an earthquake erupting with immediate aftershocks. It’s too violent and without warning. Horses only scratch (nibble) or stoke each other.
Maybe you can choose one of the horses ‘sweet-spots’. A ‘sweet-spot’ on a horse is usually a small area where they really like to be scratched or stroked. Commonly on the withers or up the neck, you’ll usually find one, just below the mane, or behind the ears. Each horse is different, but it’s a spot that just relaxes them completely.
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