02.04.08

Horses rolling, a natural behavior

Posted in Horses for the horse crazy at 4:39 pm by petArtist Cmoses

but on a lead rope???

HorseGal recently observed a horse rolling while it was on a lead rope. She had never heard of such a thing, and she wonders if it’s common.

Rolling is very natural, horses enjoy it, and it CAN happen on a leadline, but it SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED to happen spontaneously while the horse is being led or held on lead because that could be dangerous to the handler, to others, or even to the horse. I think it’s much more likely to happen with 1) a horse who is stalled most of the time (so doesn’t get much chance to roll or may not like rolling in its stall), and 2) a horse who either doesn’t respect her handler or else the handler is not noticing the signs the horse is giving. It’s another good reason for doing comprehensive in-hand training and giving the horse a job to do, which is to stay focussed on you whenever you hold the lead rope.

Gilford about 7 months old enjoying a snow roll!

It’s easy enough to tell when the horse is thinking about rolling, as I’m sure most people would notice. Watch them often enough when they are at liberty, and you’ll see the maneuver. He will lower his head, as if sniffing at the ground; he might paw the ground a little; the front knees start to buckle until he’s on his knees; and very quickly the back end goes down and he’s on his side.

Our guys are highly likely to roll upon being turned back out after riding, to scratch their sweaty backs; they will roll in dirt spots or snow, or wherever is handy. Some horse love rolling in mud! On rising, there’s almost always a good shake, and usually they will go down again right away on the other side. Some horses can flip themselves all the way over and get both sides in one roll!

A much younger Gil, after observing Abby having a roll, tries it himself! Who says horses can’t learn from observation!

However, a horse might try to roll in dirt or sand with his saddle on, and possibly when you’re on his back, so you gotta watch ‘em! Not good to allow it to happen on the horse’s own volition, and not too good for the rider or the tack.

A horse will start pawing in water too, as the beginning of thinking about rolling/lying down in the water. I’ve known of people crossing a stream or wading the edge of a pond, not realizing what was happening and suddenly they hit the drink with their horse, and a perfectly good saddle might get soaked badly, not to mention yourself! Obviously not safe either. You want to keep his head up if you’re in water and keep him moving forward if he starts to paw! If you’re allowing him a drink in a pond, stay right at the edge and don’t let him wade in deeper. It could be doubly dangerous wading into a pond, because the bottom might drop off quickly or it might be mucky enough to hinder the horse getting out again.

Abby, a large Morgan/percheron, hoisting herself back up on a downhill slope after rolling.

I’ve seen people after riding, if they have a sand or dirt arena, take their horses (untacked) into the sand and purposely let them roll while on the lead line. (An extra long lead would be safest because they flail their legs out kinda wildly and you don’t want to be too close to them.) Only do this once you have watched your horse roll at liberty often enough to know his rolling habits.

I guess it’s fine to make controlled rolling on lead part of your routine, but if I did it I’d be careful to tell the horse there’s a time it is ALLOWED to roll, but NOT just whenever you lead it out into the arena or whenever it feels like it. In fact I’d make up a cue and teach the horse that signal means “OK, go ahead and roll now,” so that there’s no confusion for the horse.

Willy, athletic Arabian, gracefully rolls and rises on the same downhill slope!

One other safety issue is a horse standing tied, such as to a trailer, who for whatever reason decides to roll, goes down but then can’t get back up because his head is held too high in the air. I don’t think many horses would try this, and ours never have, but it could certainly freak them out. So keep a good eye on your tied horse, and have his head tied short enough that he can’t drop his head down low and try to roll.

A horse with colic might want to roll, once again requiring its human to maintain awareness of how the horse is acting otherwise. If he shows other signs– such as looking around at his flanks, kicking with a hind leg at his belly, phlemming (curling his upper lip with his head stuck up in the air), loss of appetite, looking depressed, any other signs of being in stress– he may be colicky and feel compelled to roll because he has stomach cramps. He may want to roll repeatedly. But you will know the horse is not acting normally by more than just a desire to roll!
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PS ADDENDUM
Thanks to Kristine for Commenting!! — you just made me think of one more piece of info to add to this post! Horses roll in dirt in the summer to coat their hides with dust which helps slow down the flies and biting insects, gnats etc. from getting to their skin (also it gives them a good scratching for bugbites too!) Just like chickens give themselves dust baths all the time. Horses may coat themselves with mud because it helps cool them off, as would water.

It’s a guarantee that if you give a horse a bath, he will roll in the dirt as soon as you turn him back out while he’s still wet! Daughter Emmie used to counter that by hand-grazing them until they dried off completely, then they usually forgot about rolling… or if they rolled in the grass it was no big deal! After all the time Em spent bathing them, she wanted them to STAY clean for at LEAST for an hour or two!

Quite frankly, now that it’s just me and Hubby keeping the horses, we almost never give them baths with soap, figuring it’s a more natural way for their skins to stay healthy. We DO however hose/sponge them off with water after working them in summer when they’ve worked up a sweat; dried sweat could definitely be itchy, AND uncomfortable under the girth and saddle, and it makes their hair coat pretty unsightly. Brushing them with a good stiff brush or fine-toothed currycomb after the sweat is dried is another decent way to remove sweat.
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Thanks to HG for the opportunity to address this behavior. She inspires me often with her always-wanting-to-learn-more-about-horses questions!

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