11/01/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1D8Q3q2xbK/
A shut down horse is often quiet, compliant and obedient, they appear very safe and reliable. While most people like to believe they want a lovely bond with their horse based on trust and communication, the truth is, many people really are drawn to shut down horses. We can get more of what WE want from a horse who is shut down, without having to consider as much what they might want or how they might feel. While we like to pretend that we care, very often, especially in the name of safety, we prefer the quietly broken horse.
People like obedient, easy, compliant horses because it makes the person feel safer, more in control, and they get more of what they want from the horse. Let's not mistake all shut down horses for dead to the leg, hollow inside lesson ponies. Highly competitive sport horses can be shut down too. Horses can learn to disassociate or disconnect in specific settings too, so they may not look broken or shut down out in the field or while they're fighting over X,Y,Z but then the rider gets on and the horse steps out of their mind and allows themself to become a puppet. This is all too common.
We had a carriage horse who worked in downtown cities. He did parades, bagpipes, balloons, people screaming and hovering around him, he was never tied where he worked, he never had food where he worked, he just stood, separated from his body, removed from his mind. When he went home to his pasture he was a sassy, spirited, and very spooky horse! Scared of everything it seemed. He knew when to turn off, because choice and control were gone from his equation.
Why don't we want a shutdown horse if they're so compliant and easy? Is it so bad? Let's remove the ethical impact on the horse for a moment. For US the thing that is so bad about shut down horses is that they have the capacity to wake up at any time. They can quickly become unpredictable and dangerous. We have had horses who were un-shutdown-able and we have had very shut down horses at our rescue. The kids have a much harder time with the shutdown horses, because they can't read them. Because the horse appears fine and appears consenting, until they suddenly aren't and now they're in a dangerous situation. I will take an HONEST horse over a shut down horse for safety any day. An honest horse will tell you long before the problem becomes dangerous, a shut down horse will hide it until they can't anymore.
But let's go back and consider the emotional impact on the horse. What is shutting down? (Next Post)
Thanks for the perfect art as always Fed Up Fred
