Unrecognized Partnership
Note: While this blog references an article about horses and riding instruction, there are important parallels that can be drawn by the savvy instructor with regards to dogs and their handlers and training lessons.
Picture this: you’re watching a riding lesson, and suddenly the horse veers off the planned circle. Instead of viewing this as a mistake, the instructor recognizes this as a moment to teach about maintaining direction and connection. What just happened? The horse became the teacher, the riding instructor became a translator for the horse and communicating to the rider. And the rider gains important understanding about what happened.
Groundbreaking research from King’s College London and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences has revealed something remarkable about riding instruction—horses aren’t just subjects being ridden; they’re active teaching partners who shape the direction and content of lessons. Does this sound a wee bit woo-woo to you? Aren’t horses just performing according to stimuli and reinforcement history? Maybe you even hear echoes of my own Relationship Centered Training, where I acknowledge dogs as my co-instructors, and as teachers for people.
This isn’t wishful thinking or anthropomorphizing. It’s science. Backed by detailed analysis of naturally occurring riding lessons across three countries, the findings bring a new perspective to what we thought we knew about the instructor-student-horse dynamic. Having been involved with horses since I was 12, that’s close to a half-century of a life shared with horses. So it was with delight that I read this research, that echoes my experience teaching dogs and handlers. I’ve interspersed my thoughts from the dog-training perspective in italics.
When Horses Take the Lead
The research, published in Animals journal, analyzed riding lessons from Sweden, the UK, and Germany, revealing that horses initiate new learning opportunities in three distinct ways:
1. Reading the Room: Internal and Physical States
Horses arrive at lessons with their own emotional and physical baggage, and skilled instructors learn to read these signals as teaching opportunities.
Consider the racehorse learning dressage—a completely different discipline that requires precision and focus, so very unlike his usual high-speed racehorse work. When he arrived energetic and scattered, unable to focus on the planned canter work, his instructor didn’t fight against his state. Instead, she recognized his communication: “I’m too wound up for this right now.”
The lesson shifted from advanced canter collection to achieving relaxation in trot. The horse’s energy level became the teacher, showing both rider and instructor what needed attention first. As the instructor explained, “I want him to practice being relaxed; I don’t want him to practice being stressy.”
This approach mirrors what we know about human learning—you can’t build advanced skills on a foundation of anxiety or physical discomfort.
Horses and dogs are alike: they arrive with the foundational framework of their individual temperament and breed characteristic — as well as the mental, physical and emotional baggage of the day, and of course, the cumulative experience of their lifetime. When we focus on past history (good or bad), or just temperament, or just breed, or what we intend to teach in that moment, we have lost sight of the individual animal, and the Elemental Question, “Can you . . .?”
Instructors do a disservice to handlers when the focus remains on the task rather than helping that dog and handler team be successful, which inevitably means adapting to and supporting the dog’s needs in that moment. Too jazzed up from a lack of exercise?That down stay may just result in frustration on both ends of the leash. But some recall games where enthusiastic galloping is encouraged might leave everyone feeling good. Too overwhelmed by other dogs and a strange situation? Some well placed visual barriers, and a quiet bit of relaxation and massage might be more appropriate while other dogs practice heeling.
2. Environmental Awareness: Responding to Context
Young horses especially demonstrate how environmental factors create learning opportunities. In one masterclass, a four-year-old mare consistently looked nervously at the audience seated along one side of the arena.
When asked to cross the arena directly toward the spectators, she jumped at a noise and reared. Rather than viewing this as disruptive behavior, the master instructor used it as a diagnostic moment. The horse was communicating clearly: “This approach is too direct and overwhelming for me right now.”
The resulting lesson focused on helping the horse build confidence through modified approaches—making the circle larger so she didn’t have to face the audience head-on. The horse’s honest reaction became the curriculum.
Helping handlers understand that “misbehavior” and resistance are important communications that tell us a lot about how the dog is experiencing this situation or moment. There is always a “why” behind behavior. It’s our job to figure out as best we can what the dog is telling us. When a dog’s handler can understand the value of these communications and how it steers them to making changes that are helpful to the dog, empathy and communication are improved, and the relationship benefits. When we stick to forcing compliance rather than listening to the dog’s response, the relationship can be undermined.
3. The Diagnostic Partnership: Revealing Hidden Communication
Perhaps most fascinating is how horses expose the subtle, often unintentional signals riders send. These moments transform into powerful learning experiences about the nuanced communication between species.
In one lesson, a rider was asked to guide her horse in a shallow loop—leaving the track briefly and returning. As she shifted her gaze and weight toward the track, intending simply to look where she was going, her horse interpreted these micro-movements as a request for a flying change (a complex maneuver where the horse changes leading legs mid-canter).
The horse’s response revealed an unintended conversation. The instructor’s reaction was telling: “This is what I was after. If you don’t sit completely steady, then the horse will make a change.”
The “mistake” became a masterclass in unconscious communication, with the horse serving as both teacher and diagnostic tool.
My Relationship Assessment Tool (RAT) provides a structured framework for assessing each dog/handler team in a way that highlights and reflects their dynamic and habitual interactions. RAT shines a light on the points of conflict that may be the underlying cause of behavior, training or performance issues, or frustrations between dog and handler. RAT serves as a diagnostic tool, and as a roadmap for creating solutions to build, repair and improve relationship.
There is an old saying, “The response you get is the communication you sent.” When the response is not what we expected, we need to investigate where the message went askew. Perhaps we were unintentionally signaling something else (agility handlers know this all too well!), or the message landed askew in the mind of a distracted or non-productively aroused dog.
Beyond Anthropomorphism: Scientific Partnership
This isn’t about attributing human emotions or intentions to horses. The researchers are careful to note they’re studying how humans interpret and respond to horses’ actions, not claiming horses deliberately decide to teach.
What they found is that skilled instructors consistently treat horses’ actions as meaningful and consequential. When a horse veers off course, stretches down unexpectedly, or changes gait, expert teachers ask: “What is this horse telling us?”
This approach recognizes horses as sentient beings whose responses provide valuable information about the learning process, the environment, and the quality of communication happening between horse and rider.
Relationship-Centered Training (RCT)
This research validates what Relationship Centered Training has long understood—we find our way to our most satisfying relationships when we listen to the animals as active participants in the conversation, not as passive recipients of our commands.
When we view animals as teaching partners:
- Lessons become more adaptive and responsive
- The humans develop deeper awareness of their own communication
- Animal welfare becomes integrated into the learning process
- The human-animal relationship strengthens through mutual respect
Implications for Modern Instruction
The findings suggest that the most effective riding instruction happens when teachers can:
- Read horses’ states and adjust lessons accordingly
- Interpret environmental responses as learning opportunities
- Use horses’ reactions to diagnose and improve rider communication
This approach requires instructors to be multilingual—fluent in both human pedagogy and equine communication. It demands the flexibility to abandon planned lessons when horses indicate different needs.
The same implications apply to dog training instructors. When we begin with the very first step – SEE THE DOG – and we build from that to a broader understanding of what that means when applied to a specific handler, relationship, situation, or task, we move towards deeper understanding and greater success for handler and dog.
A New Framework for Interspecies Learning
The research contributes to the emerging field of interspecies pragmatics—how different species make sense of each other and achieve shared goals. In riding lessons or in dog training scenarios, this translates to recognizing that learning is happening on multiple levels simultaneously.
The horse is learning about the rider’s consistency, clarity, and intention. The rider is learning about timing, feel, and communication. The instructor is learning about both horse and rider, adjusting their teaching to serve this unique partnership.
The dog is learning about their handler: Are they consistent? Clear? Do they notice and respond to the dog’s behavior? Can they be counted on when situations feel unsafe or overwhelming? The instructor’s job is to help the handler be aware of and responsive to their dog, adapting as needed to support the team.
The Future of Equestrian Education
As our understanding of animal cognition and communication deepens, this research points toward a more sophisticated approach to instructing humans and animals—one that honors animas as intelligent contributors to the learning process.
This doesn’t mean that animals are planning lessons or setting learning objectives. It does mean their responses, reactions, and behaviors provide crucial information that skilled instructors can transform into meaningful learning experiences. We begin by recognizing that animals are telling us so much, always.
The implications extend beyond horse and dog training. This framework could inform other areas where humans and animals work together, from therapy programs to agricultural partnerships. Where humans and animals come together, there is always a need for closer listening, greater respect, deeper understanding, and ever more sensitive and humane handling.
Listening to Our Teachers
Perhaps the most profound insight from this research is simple: horses and dogs (and so many animals!) have been trying to teach us all along. The question is whether we’re skilled enough students to listen.
The next time you’re in a lesson and your horse or dog does something unexpected, consider this: your most important teacher might not be the one giving instructions. Sometimes the best learning happens when we recognize that the conversation includes more voices than we initially realized.
In the world of Relationship Centered Training, this research provides scientific validation for what the heart has always known—true partnership requires listening to all participants in the conversation, regardless of species. When we honor animals as teaching partners, we become better partners in the ancient dance between human and animals.
Research citation: Szczepek Reed, B., & Lundesjö Kvart, S. (2025). The role of horses as instructional and diagnostic partners in riding lessons. Animals, 15(10), 1418. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15101418
Do you want to dive deeper into Suzanne’s work and Relationship Centered Training?
Suzanne offers mentorships – you can join her Thinking Trainers Group, or take a Shared Journey with one-on-one mentoring.
Looking more for access to Suzanne’s work? You can subscribe to the Relationship Centered Training Reference Library, a library of all Suzanne’s webinars.
