(Trying to) Set my patients up for success

Working with horses can be hard – not necessarily because of the horses, but because of all the things that can influence them.
Let’s take today for example.

Today’s weather is SH*T. It’s gale force winds and sideways rain – and a recipe for failure when it comes to working with horses.

Like, between clients today all I wanted to do was ride my own horse. She’s had a short spell and now we need to get back in the groove – but the weather put her on her toes (which is not like her) and I knew that pushing the point was not setting her up for a nice ride. Both of us would just end up frustrated. So I gave up.

This is no different for my patients. We had to “call it” on a couple of them because we really weren’t going to get the result we wanted.

Horses are incredibly sensitive to so many things – and weather is one of those things that can make an appointment session very hard or very tedious.

Horses that are anxious are very hard to read. Their behaviour is hard to assess accurately. Their posture, pain, muscles, spine and gait are also hard to get an accurate read on. Not to mention, an anxious horse will require more sedation for procedures than a relaxed horse.
Then there is the next aspect that owners often forget about. Working on these horses can be dangerous.
Owners forget every single day that your farrier, vet or body worker literally risk their lives to do their job. All it takes is one blow to the head, one kick, one knock over, and our career is done. You might scoff or think “that’s a bit dramatic”, but it is not. It’s the reality of the job – and every single one of us have those “close calls” or a disaster story to accompany that.

Trying to work with horses in terrible weather can increase this risk 10 fold.

Most importantly, putting our horses in these positions is not setting them up for success. All of us will be nervous, anxious and distracted. Not to mention the above where assessments may be less accurate and likely we will need further sedation.

It's the never-ending swing between getting the job done, and trying to do what is best for the horse(s).

Our trouble is that “calling it” or rescheduling means for that day we make no income.

And that is hard for us too. Or maybe the schedules are tight, and simply making another appointment is not that simple.

Is there an answer to suit everyone? Probably not.

Ah, the joys of the job!