Recently, I discovered that my horses are jealous of my attention. I didn’t believe my eyes the other day when I was grooming my big paint, Joe, after a long ride in the woods. When Sophie, my Arabian, came up to see what was going on, Joe put his ears back, craned his neck and tried to bite her. I was very surprised. He wasn’t going to share his attention. He was the one being taken care of, and she could just wait her turn.

I noticed this same behavior on Sophie’s part the other day when I was grooming her. When Joe approached, she put her ears back and ran him off. This, also, had surprised me. Since Sophie is not usually one to come to my call, I was taken aback by her obvious desire for my attention. When this happened I realized that, over time, Sophie has become a more affectionate horse than she was twelve years ago when I bought her.

This experience of horse jealousy has lead me to think that perhaps horses can be just like children in some ways. Each wants to be the center of attention for a while. Each seeks individual affection and care.

A neighbor told me the other day that he didn’t think horses were very smart. He thought they didn’t have much soul. Didn’t understand why I invested such energy in my horses. I can’t wait to tell him about grooming horses and their jealous behaviors. He’ll for sure think I’ve gone ’round the bend.” Still, the more I work with horses, the more I realize they have individual personalities, feelings and intelligence. They just have to be on their guard around humans whose behavior must appear erratic and very unpredictable.

Joe, my big paint has excellent ground manners. He was also well trained in western pleasure riding when I bought him ten years ago, and we’ve worked on just about everything together over the years. When I’m in the pasture, I ride him with a halter. He is now used to both western and English saddles. He’s a big horse, 16 plus hands, and he’s the most willing horse I’ve ever had. Some trainers tell me he’s right brained. Some tell me he’s left brained. I figure if the experts can be confused like that, he just must be well balanced. However, this perfect horse becomes a nightmare when I go to mount him.

The one issue that I am now consistently working on is trying to help him unlearn what he was trained to do when he was younger: move while being mounted. Some western riders like to use the horse’s momentum, I’m told, to swing up into the saddle. I tolerated that when I bought him. And I even learned to do it. But now that my body is older, I find that mounting on the fly has got to stop.

So, today Joe and I had another lesson in standing still at the mount. (I’ve been working on this for one year with mixed results.) I took out my long lead rope, put on my rope training halter, put on a light English saddle and made him walk around the mounting block and stand absolutely still while I mounted him. I then walked him out, took him back to the mounting block, and began again. I repeated this for almost two hours. It took him less and less time to settle at the mounting block. By the end of the session, he was perfect.

I should have been working on quiet mounts from the time I brought him home. I half-heartedly tried the first year I had him. But I found it hard work to correct that previous training. So I gave up. I am now regretting that decision. Believe me, it’s best to begin the behavior a person wants from a horse from the time the horse enters the household. I am now finding it a tedious and frustrating task to teach him to stand still. Joe doesn’t seem to enjoy learning it either. But, I can see from the progress I am making that it’s much safer to mount a horse that is quietly standing than one that’s turning in circles.

Today was a good day. I feel I may have made a breakthrough. But I regret that I allowed a moving mount in the first place. It’s elegant in the movies. And it may be good on the range. But, it’s painful for a middle aged woman to bring her heal to her shoulder and swing the other leg up without the help of a step, a rock or a mounting block. Swinging into the saddle has now become almost physically impossible and hopping around with a foot in the stirrup, downright dangerous. So, don’t do what I did. Begin the behavior training right away.

I have an old, flea bitten gray, Arabian. Sophie is a special horse she is twenty-two and could pass for ten. And those of us who have horses know that’s as much an accomplishment for a horse as it is for people. Besides having the amazing spirit and endurance of an Arabian, Sophie is extremely fastidious. What’s more is that she teaches other members of her herd to be fastidious also.

As soon as Sophie sees me at the barn in the morning or in the evening, she walks away to urinate in the pasture. She then walks back to her hay feeder nickering at me, letting me know she’d appreciate a cup of sweet feed if I’d be so inclined.

Sophie began this walk- away –to- urinate behavior years ago. The first time she did it, l thought it particularly odd for a horse. I never imagined a hungry animal would just nicker and then leave the vicinity of where food is served to take care of bodily functions.

A few years ago, she had a girlfriend, Serena, also an Arabian, who boarded at our place. They kept each other company for several years. Shortly after moving in, Serena began to mimic Sophie’s behavior. They would see me, greet me, then leave to urinate in the pasture before returning to enjoy their breakfast or dinner. Serena is no longer with us. But Sophie is still around. And she still wields influence.

Sophie has managed to train Joe, my Paint gelding, to join her in the pasture to do his business before they eat. Joe’s behavior was a bit more random at first than Sophie’s. But the past few months, when I’ve gone to the barn, Joe has greeted me and then gone to the pasture to urinate before racing back for his food.

Living with horses has taught me they have a code of behavior more complicated than most people imagine. And I, certainly, don’t begin to understand why Sophie acts as she does. I do really appreciate, however, that even though Sophie is old and, sometimes, cranky, she never forgets her manners.