Understanding the importance of equine behavior and how it’s related to working with horses on a professional level sometimes can be overlooked. However, equine professionals must learn or remember how a horse’s brain is wired

“More people are coming into our industry providing hoof care who didn’t grow up with horses or maybe had a limited amount of horsemanship skills,” says Todd Santoro, CF, APF-I, during the International Association of Professional Farriers’ (IAPF) Hoof-Care Product Knowledge Clinic at the 2024 International Hoof-Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio. “Second careers, or people who are looking for a trade and at the schools, are becoming aware that we have to teach them horsemanship.”

Understanding Instincts

In a horse’s mind, movement equals safety.

“Horses are prey animals with a hardwired fight or flight instinct,” says Jeremy Lucas, CF, JICF, APF-I, a member of the IAPF Board of Directors. “They are cursorial organisms, meaning they’re adapted specifically to run. This flight instinct has ensured the survival of their species for thousands of years.”

It’s important to remember moving is a horse’s instinct, especially when underneath a horse.

“If the horse doesn’t move, we can shoe it much faster and easier,” adds Santoro, who is president of the IAPF…