Hot Enough For Ya?
Dealing with the Hot Horse

One of my earliest experiences with a “hot” horse, was back when I was still a kid, working for a local trainer. My boss had sold Lady, a nicely bred Quarter Horse mare, to one of our students, but within a few weeks the woman was calling us with a problem.

“I just love her, but she is too hot! She won’t walk. She jigs sideways on the trail. I’m afraid she will run off with me!” This was a little surprising, as Lady had been perfect in the arena, when the new owner took lessons. My boss sent me up to the new owner’s place to ride the mare.

Lady seemed quite relaxed in her pasture, but as I saddled her she started to tense up. By the time I was putting my foot in the stirrup, the mare had broke out in a sweat, and was circling around and around. The owner, who was going to ride along with me on her old horse, was already frantic.

“See?? See!! She is just so hot! She won’t stand still.” The owner’s voice had taken on a note of panic, and she actually left the emergency phone number for the ambulance with her daughter. She was absolutely sure that I would be killed.

I swung up on the mare and pointed her down the trail (remember, I said I was young). At first Lady walked very fast, but if she tried to break forward into a trot I'd rein her back to a walk and then give her slack reins again. She did jig sideways for a short time, and I corrected her. Within a mile from home the mare was walking along steadily on a loose rein, and when we got to the top of the hill, the mare stood quietly while we admired the view. The owner’s nervous chatter changed to disbelief. “What did you do? She's standing still! What did you do?” she kept asking me.

In truth, at the time I didn’t really know what I’d done. I was just riding the horse. But it was something I learned more about as I continued to ride and train. The reason the mare calmed down was that I just sat up there, and I didn’t try to make her go slow. Part of the reason the mare was behaving as she was, was that she was picking up on the nervous rider’s fear, and the more the woman tried to force her to slow down, or walk, the more the nervousness escalated for both of them. This mare wasn’t really hot, but she was frustrated, scared and nervous, as was her rider, and it was training her to behave hotly.

Some horses really are “hot” – it’s their natural temperament to react quickly, to move fast, and to work up rather than work down. This temperament is vital for certain sports – we don’t win many races on slow horses – but in many cases horses are described as being hot when really they are nervous, in pain, or untrained. Horses vary in their reactions to stress. Some tune-out, learn to ignore overwhelming situations. We’ve all seen the dead-sided horse that ignores his riders hardest kicks. While that horse has learned to simply ignore what is going on, a different horse will react by becoming uptight. Horses are a fight or flight creature, the nervousness often is exhibited as speeding up, bolting, head tossing, jigging … “acting hot.”

Hot natured horses can be calmed by a quiet, under-control handler. The hotter the horse, the quieter the rider needs to be. Management can also help a hot horse remain in control. Plenty of turn out time, regular quiet work, and proper feed can work wonders on a hot natured horse. Make sure the horse has plenty of quality forage, preferably a grass or grass mix hay, but watch the grains. Sometimes hot horses burn off too many calories and have trouble maintaining their weight. A supplement that supplies fat is a better choice to increase calories for this type of horse. Fat has proven to be a calming calorie source, while grains and sugars can contribute to the problem. Give the horse ample time to burn off extra energy through play and turnout, especially before a work session. Keep the training sessions focused on steady work and be very aware of the signs of “heating up” – if the horse begins anticipating the cues, check your own training program to see if you are training in hot behavior. Race horses quickly learn the difference between daily morning work outs and the afternoon routine of going to the post, and they heat up in anticipation. It’s a real challenge to keep a horse in the rigid program of the track from getting hot, but that is not the situation for most of us, and there is more we can do about it. I occasionally take my training horses into the arena and do nothing but walk, or if I am giving a lesson I can just sit on the colt for the hour. This way the colt doesn’t assume that every time we go into the work area, he will be doing hard and fast work. Also try to vary the colt’s routine – don’t always trot for 15 minutes then lope for 10 minutes, for example. In certain events such as jumping and Gymkhana, it is more like that horse on the race track – the horse quickly learns to recognize when the situation is going include exciting work. Still, you can always set up the barrels and walk or trot around them, or work in an arena with jumps but not jump them.

Hot natured horses are going to be a challenge for nervous riders and a horse that has already established a pattern of hot, excitable behavior can be difficult to change, but many times that hot behavior is as unpleasant for the horse as it is for the rider, and they relax surprisingly quick if given the opportunity, which is exactly what happened to Lady that day. We went up the trail and instead of the pattern that Lady had come to expect, with her rider pulling on the reins, shouting “Whoa!” and at the same time gripping with her legs, there was just a rider sitting up there, the mare relaxed back to the well-broke horse that I knew she was. And with a few lessons, Lady’s owner was able to relax too, and trail rides became a pleasant experience instead of a hot ride.

Doris Eraldi of Eraldi Training in Potter Valley, trains horses and riders of all ages. She specializes in Pleasure, Showmanship and Equitation events. She can be contacted at 707-743-1337, or by e-mail dyan@eraldi.net.


Read Doris' previous article

<< Back to Rainbow Ag Horse Home Page