Demystifying Desensitizing- Maintaining the Natural Sensitivity of a Horse

In the process of working with horses, we as an industry began assuming that because of the size of a horse it is normal for them to be insensitive. For example, it may feel like there is 500 pounds of dead weight on your rein or lead rope. The reality is horses are very capable of being light and responsive, and they even depend on it to survive in the wild. Their ability to hear, see, and notice every little detail is unmatched.


Having to kick, pull hard, or use your whip repeatedly is a result of a riders' timing being off or inconsistent. Now, don’t get me wrong; each horse is an individual, and one horses' softness compared to another will vary (this is an evolutionary development explaining why there are all different rankings in a herd), but it is not normal for your horse to be dull.


Oftentimes, I hear people use the word "desensitize," and I find that concept misleading. Yes, we have to use a certain level of desensitization to get our horse to tolerate riders. From haltering to saddling and riding we ask our horses to do things very outside of their survival needs. However, through these necessities of training, we actually do not want to teach our horses to tune out and dissociate to the point that they lose all of their natural responsiveness. I frequently see horses who have been ‘desensitized’ improperly and feel trapped when exposed to something scary resulting in the horse feeling stuck or feeling the need to defend themselves such as striking or kicking.  


As a trainer my goal is to be able to use aids in a way that I can allow horses a place to go, and finding a release of the pressure. Eventually, they will figure out that stressful pressure that was so scary and they had previously reacted too, doesn’t warrant a huge reaction after all, but with correct training and timing, there is an out. 


Another mistake that I often see my clients make is constantly begging their horse through pulling or kicking resulting in horses being trained either to fight or to completely tune us out. Horses that frequently tolerate poor timing on the part of the human often develop the defense of dissociating to cope with the constant unrelenting pressure. These behaviors are often seen in lesson horses or schoolmasters who, are worth their weight in gold, and also know how to read between the lines and tune out unnecessary noise from the rider. The best way to create the desired lovely lightness and responsiveness is to use an aid and remove it as quickly as possible when a rider has achieved the desired response. Your horse will learn that all he stop the pressure of the aid, therefore alleviating nagging, is give you the correct answer in a short period of time.