HorsesExplained

Most conversations about horse behaviour begin with the behaviour itself.

A horse is aggressive; he is spooking, showing resistance, or withdrawing. Behaviour is the point where we notice that something has changed. It is rarely the point where the problem began.
What interests me is what happens before that. What changes in the brain when a horse lives with chronic stress? Why does motivation disappear? Why does a horse stop finding pleasure in exploration, social contact or interacting with the environment?

Depression develops through biological adaptations to prolonged adversity. By the time a horse shows clear signs of depression, those changes have often been taking place for months or even years. Looking at depression through the lens of biology and evolution helps us see the bigger picture that is so often missed. It shifts the conversation from the symptoms we can see to the conditions that shaped them.

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This is the conversation I want to have not only about horses that are already depressed, but about the everyday management, training and environments that determine whether they ever get there.

- Joanna

Stress itself is not the problem. Every horse experiences stress.
✔️ Exercise is stress.
✔️ Learning is stress.
✔️ Travelling is stress.
✔️ Meeting something unfamiliar is stress.
A stressful event on its own does not mean something is wrong. The important thing is what happens after stress... When the challenge is over, the horse's body should return to homeostasis— his normal state of internal balance. Recovery is a normal and necessary part of the stress response.

But the problem begins when recovery doesn't happen. If the source of stress is present every day, or stressors come one after another with little chance to return to balance, the body stays in a constant state of adaptation. That is chronic stress. And it usually is caused by restricting the expression of natural needs. Like limited forage, limited free movement, lack of social interactions, inconsistent handling, prolonged pain..
This is very important because a horse can often cope well with one difficult event and recover from it, but living with smaller stressors every day, without the opportunity to recover, is often much more damaging in the long term.

That is why, when we think about welfare, the question is not whether a horse experiences stress. The better question is whether his life gives him enough opportunities to recover from it.

-Joanna

I call this the healthy body, broken spirit phenomenon.

We tend to care for our horses so well. We buy new saddles, rich hay, supplements and, of course, those fancy boots. We spend hours looking for the perfect blanket or the newest piece of equipment because we genuinely want the best for them. But sometimes we forget that our horses don't value those things the way we do. The colour of a blanket or the number of stitches on it means nothing to them. Those are small pleasures—for us.

That's why we can see depressed horses in beautiful barns. That's why horses can struggle mentally even in high-end facilities. Because what matters most to them is having their natural needs met and living free from chronic stress. To truly care for a horse, we first have to understand what he actually needs—not just what has become accepted as good management or what makes sense from a human perspective.

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If you're interested in this topic, stay with me. Over the next few months, I'll be sharing what research and years of experience have taught me about Horse Depression, chronic stress and emotional wellbeing. My hope is to bring a little more light to an issue that is often overlooked, yet very real.

- Joanna

Anja Beran is one of today's best-known classical trainers, with much of her work focused on rehabilitating horses.
This quote is one of the reasons I keep coming back to classical horsemanship. The goal isn't to get through a training session. The goal is for the horse to leave it better than he came in—physically, mentally, and emotionally.

-Joanna

The hardest part isn't loving horses.
It's choosing them when that choice costs you something.

-Joanna

Birthdays have changed for me.
I think about all the things I hope will become part of my life one day, and then I look back at what had to happen first.
This year reminded me that the things I'm most grateful for didn't happen overnight. The finished book came after years of writing, rewriting, and questioning myself. Progress with Ella came after putting her healing ahead of my own plans. A strong relationship came from choosing to keep learning about each other, especially when it wasn't easy. And it made me wonder what I'll be looking back on a year from now...

Maybe that's what getting older has given me. Less focus on milestones, and more appreciation for the work that makes those milestones possible.

-Joanna

I don't think force disappears because horses become easier. It disappears because we become better.
The more you understand horse behaviour, emotions and learning, the fewer situations there are where force feels like the only option. You start noticing things earlier. You see tension before it becomes resistance. You recognise confusion before it becomes "disobedience." You change your timing, your expectations, or the way you explain something.

That doesn't mean there are no boundaries or that horses should never hear "no." It means that force stops being the foundation of the relationship.
To me, that's what good horsemanship looks like. Not having more ways to make the horse do something, but needing fewer of them.

- Joanna