Many of you know what this is but perhaps didn’t know there was a term for it. Opposition Reflex is an instinct horses have that causes them to do the opposite of what a predator wants; the reaction opposes pressure and pushes into it instead of moving away from it. It's a reaction of self-defense.
A horse will have an Opposition Reflex under the following circumstances: fear, pain, anger, confusion, misunderstanding, and out of disrespect. Examples of Opposition Reflex include: biting, kicking, rearing, bolting, bucking, pulling back, striking, opposing the bit, swishing the tail, grinding the teeth, laying ears back, refusing to move, pulling right when you try to go left, or when you try to push your horse off your toe, and he leans his shoulder into you and pushes down harder.
Most people tend to think these are vices or signs of disobedience, but they’re actually more related to the prey-predator relationship. It's important to know that this is not disobedience. It’s a “right-brained” (non-analytical, prey animal side of the brain) instinct and a totally natural reaction for a horse. It’s not even a response — it’s a reaction.
This is the prey animal coming out in the horse, and sometimes that prey animal lives just below the surface. A horse that bites or kicks when you first ask him to yield from steady pressure is reacting with Opposition Reflex to the pressure. The worst thing you could do at that moment is punish him. The next worst thing is to release the pressure. Unless you are in danger, keep up steady pressure until you get a positive response. Otherwise, you will teach your horse to react dangerously to pressure.
The key is to stay passively persistent in the proper position. Maintain your pressure at whatever phase of intensity that you have reached until the horse has worked it out. As soon as the undesirable behavior stops, release the pressure and rub him. A horse will lick his lips when he changes from reactive to thinking. Then begin again with a light cue, and keep up the repetitions until the horse is responding positively.
Interpreting Behaviors
Learning about Opposition Reflex is critical to learning how to read a horse as well as understanding why he is reacting. Yes, it does involve a lack of respect, but this is due to a lack of trust and esteem for the human. When horses do what you want, you tend to think of them as “good” behaviors, and when they don’t, of course, they are “bad” behaviors! But horses have no sense of what is good or bad; they are just trying to survive.
Almost every so-called “negative” behavior displayed by a horse has something to do with survival and is based on either fear or dominance. This is also why punishment doesn’t work for prey animals. They live in the moment, and they experience the consequences of their actions, reactions, and responses.
When a human punishes a horse, it can only be perceived as predatory. If they are afraid of you, they’ll try to escape. If they’re not, watch out!
Fear:
It’s a horse’s nature to fly from fear. This means that when threatened, he will instinctively want to run away. If he is trapped, he will try to run through or jump over whatever is in his way; only when there is no escape will he fight for his life.
When it comes to riding, he’ll rear, buck, bolt, rip the reins from your hands, thrash, throw himself to the ground or whatever it takes to get that lion off his back!
Dominance:
When a horse feels safe, it is then important for him to find his place in the herd pecking order. This is why horses are constantly playing dominance games, vying for the alpha position over all or some other horses or over you!
Dominance means survival of the species because the dominant horse is the fastest, strongest, and bravest. He gets to drink, eat, and breed first. In the horse/human relationship, dominance usually shows up as pushiness, biting, charging, etc. In this situation, the dominant horse is not afraid for his life but is afraid of giving in against his will, and a high-spirited horse will do whatever it takes to maintain his position, including exhibiting seriously aggressive behaviors.
How do you know the difference between fear and dominance? Reading your horse’s body language and later, his Horsenality, will be a major clue. Fear tends to be at the root of negative behaviors shown in Right Brain Horsenalities, and dominance tends to be behind the negative behaviors of more Left Brain Horsenalities. You will learn more about this in the coming lessons.
The Goal
People have Opposition Reflex too! They get tight in the mind, tight in the body, and dig in with all their “claws”. They grab or jerk on the reins and cling and clutch with their legs (which scares the horse). Fear, frustration, and anger are the main triggers. You will overcome Opposition Reflex when following this program because you’ll have more understanding, more skills, more emotional fitness and be in control of your reactions. Ittakes Savvy.
The goal in any kind of horse/human interaction or training is to bring out the best in the horse. Horses only exhibit negative behaviors around people when they are stressed, challenged, confused, or afraid. As a horseman, we need to learn what our
horse needs in order to feel safe, comfortable, and confident under our leadership. As you continue on your horsemanship journey, take time to watch horses together. You’ll learn how to interpret posture and expression and how to understand a reaction.
Ultimately, you’ll see why a particular horse reacts the way it does around other horses or people. We joke in Parelli that the program should come with a “Warning: Highly Addictive” label, but it’s not necessarily a joke. The more you learn to see by studying horse behavior, the more captivated you will become. As the years go on, that fascination will make horsemanship a compelling and perpetual area of study and self-improvement for you.
