12/20/2025
How do you know if a problem is behavioral or physical?
This is a complex question with a complex answer. Some folks take the mind frame that physical issues are an excuse, and everything is behavioral. Some folks treat everything as a physical issue, and discount behavioral factors.
The truth is, we may never know exactly how much of each it truly is. We can speculate. We can get veterinary opinions, which are helpful, but often vague- there are many areas hard to x Ray, pictures of damage we can’t know for sure. We can make educated guesses, but we can’t always know exactly what is going on, even with the best owners shelling out lots of money with great vets.
Where it gets tricky is, if there is a source of pain creating behaviors, such as a poor saddle pinching and creating bucking or rearing, the source needs to be eliminated before the behavior can be modified. But the behavior won’t always go away afterwards- sometimes memory of pain, fear of pain or habit can leave lasting patterns. Sometimes; as with ulcers, the tension around the muscling can linger for months long after the ulcers are treated.
If we don’t step in to intervene where the behavior patterns are, they can go on. If the POSTURES and muscle changes developed from pain are not changed, the behaviors can go on. If the defensive behaviors developed from pain are not guided toward a better place, they can go on.
To me, everything is behavioral AND physical. There is no clear way to separate the two. A horse is a sensory being, living in a sensory world. Guiding a horse to physical and mental well-being requires understanding of the horse as a whole, and guiding their behavior just as much as creating a healthy, happy body.
