a scared horse

Question
I am a 41 year old woman who has only been back on horses for 2 years. I just bought a 5 year old Tennessee walking horse that acts as though it has beaten severely. He is scared of everything. If you walk up behind him, his hips sink and he shakes. He shys from anything that moves. I bought him because I wanted to be sure he had a good home. I know it will take a long time for him to get over his fears, but what can I do to help him? I don't want to ride him like this for fear I will be hurt. I was thrown 2 years ago and broke my back, so I am very cautious. Please give me some pointers. Also, he is extremely scared of my husband. Should I keep him away?

Answer
Hi Trudi, since most abused horses are abused by men, most abused horses are more scared of men.  Don't keep your hubby away.  The more he sees men being nice to him and not hurting him, the better he will get.  Horses are scared when they don't know what to expect.  Fear keeps them alive in the wild so fear is good thing.  This horse needs good consistent leadership so he knows his place and knows what to expect.  Routine is good for a horse.  He will calm down, but when he does he will try and push you and your husband.  Horse first want safety then they want a strong leader. So they will try and test the leader to see if you are really strong and smart enough to be leader. They are not being mean, aggressive, stubborn or other names people put on it, they are just being a horse trying to survive in a human world.

Read my horsemanship page on my web site.  It will explain herd behavior and horse behavior.  The more you read the better you will understand this horse.  Sometime a horse needs to get scared so he knows he does not have to be scared.  Don't ever get mad or angry at him for being scared.  Be understanding, help work through it and see that whatever he is scared of will not hurt him.

You want him to tie good and do some sacking out.  I have a section on sacking out on my site.  

You have to educate yourself to help him.  If you approach this as a human you will not help him and you will get hurt, you have to approach this from a horse's view.  Learn to think and understand a horse and then you can help him.  The best gift you can give a horse is understanding of him as a horse.

After you read my site, write back if you have more questions.

Hope this helps,

Rick