Gender Bias | RES 045

Ride Every Stride | Horsemanship and Personal Growth with Van Hargis

We’ve been getting some great feedback about our show and some great questions have been flooding in. So this week we’ll be addressing a listener question that just came in: should we have different expectations when training mares vs. geldings. To answer this we need to first acknowledge that we expect a job of our horse. We want them to perform. Take a second to look at the kind of performance you’d ask of a man or woman at their job. Regardless of gender, you’re going to be expecting equal performance. And so it is for our horses. My expectations for males and geldings don’t differ. However, there are some things we need to understand the nature of horses that will help us keep our expectations consistent. Key Takeaways The core of this episode is about setting expectations, standing by them, and supporting them. While we shouldn’t expect mares and geldings to behave differently, we need to acknowledge that, at times, they do. Mares see their purpose, naturally, as one of survival and procreation. Us humans get in the way of this. No matter what way you cut it, when you own a horse you are interfering with their natural purpose. Some mares may change a bit when on their cycle, perhaps seeming to not feel as well as they normally do. But, again, I ask the same of them as always. With time they can learn to handle the slight discomfort and perform as expected. The same goes for geldings. While geldings are generally more neutral with their behavior, we have to recognize they’re still horses. They have a herd instinct. And when humans interfere with that instinct it is up to us to keep them focused and provide that purpose. The bottom line is this: you need to ask yourself if you are ready to step up and be a leader for your horse regardless of their gender. Don’t sit around coming up with excuses for why your horse isn’t behaving like they should. This could be seen as letting a horse “get away with something.” You need to see that horses don’t spend their time thinking manipulative thoughts: they simply live in the moment and want to do as little as possible to survive. With this in mind, and as their leader, you should be looking for the ways that your horses can succeed and take the initiative in correcting their behavior. Stallions should have the same expectations, but with a large side note. Many people underestimate the amount of vigilance it takes to keep a stallion focused on the trainer or a rider. It takes constant observation and curt correction when you see them veering off from what you want them to do. Aggression in stud horses usually comes from nagging them, in other words, constantly correcting them in a way that seems overbearing. It helps to be proactive in understanding what their distractions are so you can help set stallions up for success.