We train our horses. We send them to trainers. You still deal with “Fight or Flight.” That wonderful instinct that God instills in them for survival. We have the fight or flight instinct too you know. It’s not as prominent in us anymore, but it’s there.

In training we try to explain to our horses that they must trust us, completely. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes we make a wrong choice and our horse stands there and thinks “What is she thinking?!!!!!”

However, sometimes things just happen, and the reaction is left up to the horse. We like to believe that we have trained them well and that their reaction will be sensible, but sometimes, instinct wins. React first, ask questions later.

Horses I’ve trained since they were babies, I feel more comfortable around in bad situations. Horses who have come to me later in their lives, not so much. I try to always be aware of possibilities. Prepare an escape route, watch body language, and be on guard, but sometimes “s**t just happens.”

One such incident happened the other night. We were parallel with the fence, about two feet off near the feed bucket. I was putting on Friday’s sheet for the night, as usual on a chilly night, no big deal, did it the day before. Now there is a electric fence wire on the top board. They eat out of a bucket directly underneath on the ground. Have been doing this for years. They know that wire is there. They know not to touch it. It’s there because some of us like to rub our tail on the board, zap! So not giving it much thought I went ahead and started to secure the sheet, having a conversation as I went. She turned to look at something over her should on the fence side. Didn’t give it a thought, hardly even noticed. All of a sudden she stiffened up. Head up and alert, looking straight ahead, a little snorting. Zoey was standing next to us and she did the same thing. Okay I thought, whats in the next field that I hadn’t noticed. It was dark (hate these short days). Still stiff and snorting I stepped back to take a look, and then Fri bolted, Zoey running with her. They stopped a few feet away and looked at the fence. Friday had hit her nose, when she turned into the electric wire. Wait for it, here is the blessing. Instead of bolting right there and then, she froze. I was too close to her. She didn’t turn into me to get away. She didn’t take off and knock me down. She froze until I moved away. Of course this all happened in a matter of seconds.

I didn’t train this horse. I’ve owned her for five years. She’s 26 years old with a wonderful brain. Zoey had touched it a couple of weeks ago while I was feeding, looked at me and spun around away from me and left. It’s not always on, so I don’t move the buckets away. It’s on for a few weeks when Fri rubs her tail. Now that’s another story. Either one of these horses could have taken me out, but they chose to use their heads and react accordingly. Thank you God. After about 60 seconds, both times, both horses came back to eat their meals. No big deal. The fence bites. They know it. Dinner is served. We’ll think about it later.

So no matter how much you train, no matter how much you pay attention, things happen and you must be ready. You know your horse better than anyone, but when you have one with a brain on top of all your training, it’s “gold.”