Sasha’s Reviews > What Horses Really Want: An Unexpected Guide to New Directions in Horsemanship > Status Update

These actions can be misconstrued as disobedience. They might even be punished. It is like being with someone who ignores what we say, & places a negative interpretation on everything we do. When we do this to our horses, we overlook important information, & turn ourselves into a source of anxiety instead of security.

Instead of correcting her sternly when she did things I didn’t like, I quietly redirected her to do what I did want, then waited for her response….The more gently I handled her, the more cooperative she was, & the clearer it became that she was actually very sensitive & easily distressed. (Like Raven at first)

Since free-roaming mares can live their entire adult lives in the same band, it has been suggested that moves might be even more traumatic for mares than for geldings.