Unruly Horses

Dealing with difficult horses is one of the hardest parts of directing a photo session. Naughty horses come with the territory of being an equine photographer, and accidents can happen with even the best-behaved horses. My biggest advice? Please make sure your business is adequately covered with an equine-specific contract.

Aside from releasing yourself from liability, here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years:

1. Reassure the owner
   • When a horse is misbehaving, the owner is immediately stressed out. A worried handler will compound the issue as the horse reacts to their direction and stress level. I do my best to slow down, tell the owner that every horse is on their very worst behavior for photo day, tell horror stories of worse horses in the past, or do anything I can to make them take a breath and feel better. I want them to know that even though their horse misbehaves, we will get a million perfect images. When clients only see the portfolio images it is easy for them to think that their horse is some exception to a rule. But the truth is that I deal with “statue-horses” very rarely. Most horses are fidgety, hungry, upset with flies, on high alert in a new location, or not listening well to their handler during a session.
   • Some people are a bit shy about disciplining their horses in front of people. I always encourage them and say, “Please discipline your horse as necessary, you won’t offend me. It is better to nip this behavior in the bud now than let it escalate.” 
2. Assess the danger level
   • One of the most important things I need to do is keep everyone safe. Is this horse respectful of the handler, or is there a serious threat of danger? I might need to call on a horse trainer or groom to step in if my client is uncomfortable handling this horse. 
3. Try to help
   • Next, I read the body language of the horse to try to understand why the horse is behaving in this manner, and then I offer suggestions to fix it.
   • Does the horse have too much energy? I will stop the shoot to have the owner/tainer/groom lunge it.
   • Is the horse irritated by bugs? More fly spray! All the fly spray!
   • Have we ventured too far from his friends? I will either shoot near the barn or bring a buddy out to the field with us to “babysit” him.
   • Is he endlessly circling his handler or swinging his hip out? I will position him next to a wall or fence to discourage this behavior.
   • Does he need a break from us? 5 minutes alone in his stall can bring out a brand-new horse.
   • Does he need discipline? I will encourage the handler to discipline as they see fit, but I am not a horse trainer and it is not my place to discipline a client’s horse.
   • Is the problem a lack of training? I am constantly asking where the handler is comfortable shooting, and what they are comfortable doing.