What About The Other 23 Hours?

Happy, Healthy Horses Enjoying Life To The Full at Natural Horse NZ

Most of us only get an hour with our horses each day, maybe two if we are lucky. Sometimes we do not ride at all, and we just spend time together while we clean up poo, feed out, do water, shift fence lines, and get the everyday jobs done.

What matters just as much as that time together is what happens in the other 23 hours when you are not with your horse, because that is where your horse’s mental well-being is shaped.

Those hours influence health, happiness, body comfort, mood, nervous system regulation, and the ability to cope with stress, which is exactly why they also influence willingness and connection when you ride or spend any time with your horse.

When you meet your horse, and you get ears back, tension, or that quiet resistance, it can feel really personal. It can feel like your horse is saying, I do not want you. But most of the time, your horse is not rejecting you; they are trying to communicate that many other things in their life are not working for their emotional well-being.

They are telling you something about how life has been feeling for them, long before you arrived. They are bringing their whole day into that meeting with you, including their body's comfort levels, how safe they feel, whether they have had enough movement, forage time, rest, and social connection. When those foundations are not quite right, being caught can feel like one more thing on top of an already hard day.

This is the biggest hurdle I run into when I am called for behavioural help with horses, because everyone wants to fix what shows up in the one hour the human is there. People are trying harder, training more, doing groundwork, lunging, using different gear, with more discipline, more rules. But a lot of the time the behaviour is not being created in the ride or the time spent with the horse. It is being created in the horse’s life.

I see a lot of the time on how much a horse’s day can look very “managed”, and it is usually coming from a place of love and safety from the owners, but it might mean the horse is on rich pasture because that is what the property has. It might mean overnight stabling because people worry about injury or the weather. It might mean rugs, leg and tail wraps, washing, grooming, and extra care because the owner wants the horse comfortable or to keep them tidy for competiotn purposes etc.

None of that is “wrong.” It is just worth asking, does this setup allow the horse to meet their core needs as a horse for most of their day?

Because when the other 23 hours do not include enough movement, enough freedom to roll and scratch, enough social time, enough forage time, or enough genuine rest, it can show up as behaviour that people then try to fix during riding or hang-out times.

As if horses cannot run properly, cannot roll, or scratch, or cannot enjoy mutual grooming, or they may not have another horse close enough to help them feel safe, and all of that matters….plus horses only achieve proper REM sleep when they are fully laid out, and they do not fully lay out unless they feel safe enough to do so when another horse is on watch, so they can rest.

It’s all of this that often causes the owner or handler to be upset because their horse is anxious, reactive, hard to catch, pushy, shut down, or they say, they do not like me, or we just don’t click etc.

But horses are not sitting there deciding they do not like you. They are responding from their nervous system. They are saying something about how safe they feel, how comfortable they are, how much capacity they have, and what they have learned will happen when they get caught. If a horse is not living a happy life and are running on stress or discomfort, it makes sense that he cannot hold it together on demand for an hour or so when you are with them.

This is not written to shame anyone. Most owners love their horses and are doing the best they can with the land, rules, time, and budget they have. The encouraging part is that you do not need perfection to change the picture. You just need a few practical options that support your horse’s daily life.

If stabling overnight is the default, consider alternatives that still keep your horse safe while supporting movement and peace of mind, like maybe taking the stable door off and allowing the horse to come and go as they please, if that’s a possibility. Track grazing can be a game-changer for many horses because it encourages movement through exploration for food, which is what horses are designed to do. They walk, they browse, they stop and graze, they rest, they move again. That steady, natural movement supports the body and helps settle the mind so much so that I see owners no longer needing to lunge their horses when on track, as they are often calmer for having all the freedom without the ricj green lolly grasses. Plus its ideal if you need to control grass intake, a track system paired with plenty of low sugar hay gives the gut and the brain what they need without relying on rich pasture.

And hay matters not just as feed, but as emotional safety. Putting low-sugar hay into slow feeders so there is always something available can significantly reduce stress, because the horse feels like food is on hand. That is very different from living with the anxiety of waiting for the next slice, especially if hay is only given once or twice a day.

If your property has limited shelter, a rug can be a reasonable support, especially in rough weather, but it works best when it is part of a bigger plan that still allows freedom to move, roll, scratch, and interact. Shade matters too, even if it is only under a tree, because comfort and choice reduce stress.

Now, the social side matters more than most people realise, and this one needs saying clearly. A compatible friend ideally needs to be another horse. Sheep, cows, and goats can be lovely animals, but they do not provide the same social interactions or the same type of safety. Imagine living with a chimpanzee as your only companion. Great animals, but hardly life partners.

If you want a simple way to check your setup without getting overwhelmed, come back to the Five Freedoms. Freedom from hunger and thirst, including steady forage and water. Freedom from discomfort, including shelter or shade. Freedom from pain, injury, and disease, including comfort in the body. Freedom to express normal behaviour, including movement and social connection. Freedom from fear and distress, including feeling safe in the environment.

When those basics are supported, you usually start to notice the difference in everyday moments. Softer eyes. Quieter bodies. More curiosity. More willingness. Because a horse that feels good about their life has more capacity to genuinely make that deep connection with you to become an amazing partner that willingly wants to do all you ask.

Tracy @ Natural Horse NZ