The Horse Whisperer

Horses need tender loving care at the best of times, and even a ‘therapist’ now and again. MAIREAD MAHON went to meet an expert in Moore, near Warrington.

- Mairead Mahon

IT is a truth universally acknowledged that you can’t put a horse on the Naughty Step! So, what can you do when your horse displays challenging behaviour?

‘Well, the first thing is to make absolutely sure that there is no physical cause for the problem,’ says Lynn Bird, a member of the Society of Equine Behaviour Consultants and one of the north’s most highly regarded horse behaviourists who, as well as gaining many clients from reputation alone, also gains referrals from vets and horse professionals such as farriers. ‘If a vet gives the horse the physical all clear, then maybe it’s time to take it to a horse behaviourist who can discover if an emotional issue is the problem. Sometimes there is a simple answer and sometimes it requires a diagnostic approach: horses are just like people, there is no one size fits all cure,’ she said.

If it hadn’t been for a horse called Satan - the clue is in the name - Lynn’s career might never have happened at all.

‘My father was a breeder of prize-winning shire horses and from a very early age, I was used to being around horses from helping to muck out to standing on a stool to groom them. One day, he went to auction to buy me my very own pony. It was called Satan but he thought my mother might be happier to let me ride it if it had a change of name so, by the time he reached home, Satan had become Jett,’ smiles Lynn.