THE TIME HAS come to tack up your horse, and off you go to track down the tallest person on the yard because even on tiptoes you won't be able to reach when your trusty steed sees the bridle and, giraffe-like, thrusts his head skyward. Sometimes the only way to tack him up is to deconstruct the bridle and reconstruct it once it is on his head. This may avoid the inevitable head throwing battle, but time clocks on and before you know it five or 10 minutes have elapsed. What a faff!
Whatever way, though, riders find to deal with bridling a horse, head shyness is no laughing matter, no matter what jokes they might be the butt of on the yard.
Equine behaviourist and qualified bit and bridle fitter Olivia Turner finds that, as with any behaviour, head shyness sits on a sliding scale from mild to extreme.
“More mild behaviours“There is a difference between horses who are frightened and those who have learned to avoid being bridled,” according to Olivia. “They might still have an element of anxiety, but they are confident with it, possibly because they have found a successful tactic to evade the handler.”
