# Autistic Horse?



## MouseZ (Aug 16, 2011)

Honestly never heard of anything like this before! Benny is friggin adorable though! What a sweetie, sad he came from such horrible conditions.


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## Spastic_Dove (Oct 4, 2007)

Some orphaned horses or unsocialized animals certainly do develop poorly compared to animals which form bonds with their parents and litter-mates/peers. 

I'm almost positive you couldn't call it autism though...
(DSM IV Diagnostic Criteria for Autism)


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## AmazinCaucasian (Dec 10, 2010)

Wacky lady. They're smart enough to diagnose him as "autistic", but they can't see he's too lame to ride?............... Educated idiots


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

he looks like a sweet boy that came from icky conditions. I don't see the autism? i don't know...


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## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

ooooo lame horse. I agree with whats been said, if they are such experts why couldnt they see their "special" horse is off.


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## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

farmpony84 said:


> he looks like a sweet boy that came from icky conditions. I don't see the autism? i don't know...


I agree, i can see where he would be would be a challenge because he hadnt been handled much. But a mental disability? I dont see it. I love his "air plane" ears tho


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## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

very lame. I had ended the video before she rode. I don't even see why they would say he was autistic?


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## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

Educated Idiots made me laugh! lol I've seen this video before and thought the same thing.... Why the heck are they riding him? And if he's autistic my Belgian gelding is psychotic.


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## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

^^^^^^ yes! My assignment horse must be seriously mentally damaged aswell. Who knew?!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Fizzy (Aug 30, 2011)

Oh great, let's just start making horse training more complicated by giving them disabilities..... "Oh, that horse isn't green he suffers from ADD."


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## gothicangel69 (Aug 2, 2011)

hahaha, thats hilarious.

I had a cat a while ago who was diagnosed with down syndrome, but he had all of the usual symptoms. Never heard of an animal with autism though but this horse obviously does not look like he has it.


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## thesilverspear (Aug 20, 2009)

Given that traits associated with autism include linear, concrete thinking, a tendency to be easily stressed out by new things and changes in routine, ritualistic behaviour, and sometimes self-injury, wouldn't this in fact describe every horse on the planet?


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## Jessskater (Mar 16, 2011)

Hmm..This horse has a bad hoof and is "autistic". Let's ride him! What a great idea! Oh and look at his lameness..It's okay though, i'm going to continue riding him and maybe even ruin his hoof even more! :shock: The stupidity of some people..:evil:


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## crimson88 (Aug 29, 2009)

> Oh great, let's just start making horse training more complicated by giving them disabilities..... "Oh, that horse isn't green he suffers from ADD."


Exactly what I thought!


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

What a friggin' whack-job. But I guess some people do whatever they feel like they need to do for some semblance of public recognition. Too bad there are so many gullible people out there that will eat it up with a spoon. If that horse is "autistic", I would love to see that PHD crack-pot diagnose my Dad's horse, Pokey. He'd probably end up with some form of schizoaffective disorder and chronic phobic/anxiety disorder with a dash of sociopath thrown in :roll::lol:.

Unlike the attitude of an unsocialized animal, autism cannot be reversed with more exposure and "training".

I won't judge on the lameness. While it is obvious that he is lame, she did go over the whole explanation of it and claimed her vet said that it was a functional lameness and he was okay to ride. Not saying I buy it, but stranger things _have_ happened so I will reserve judgement there.


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

I do tell people when explaining Abby's supplements or personality that if she were a person, she'd be on anxiety medication. She has SmartCalm and her panties are no longer in a knot. But that's usually to non-horsey people who don't really understand what I mean when I say "My horse is very anxious."

However, I see a derpy horse. Not autistic. I wonder what this doctor would diagnose this gelding at camp with. He has zero personality and I'm fairly certain he has about 4 brain cells.


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## Katze (Feb 21, 2011)

Oh dear..if that horse is autistic my mare is ADD with a dash of OCD and a pinch of a sociopathic mentality thrown into the mix...At least she's not a schizophrenic or a kleptomaniac!


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## cfralic (Jan 17, 2011)

That horse is NOT autistic.

I may not be a "doctor" but I work with children, and in particular I work with a handful of special needs kids, and none of them have learning disabilities caused by their history or upbringing. These kids don't have deformities or grow up in bad situations, they are just different as they are (and in fact, I treasure them for it). 

I find it a little strange and almost insulting that she's playing at her horse being 'autistic' because a 'doctor' says so. Did the doctor test the horse for that extra chromosome found so often in people on the spectrum? I'm curious how this diagnosis came to be and if it's just because of the "DERP" effect the horse gives off, I'd be a little peeved.


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## Delfina (Feb 12, 2010)

Oh good heavens, I can only imagine the diagnosis my horse would get. He's very anxious (another Smart Calm receiver), suffers from separation anxiety (not from other horses, doofus is attached to ME and goes bonkers if left with another human), has ADD tendencies, thrives on routine, cannot handle large spaces and gets along with absolutely no other horses.

Dang awesome lil horse for all his "mental problems" though!


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Autism is not a result of how one is raised. It is genetic most probably, not an environmental result. I have a mildly autistic son and a fully autistic niece. Nothing like Benny. Cute horse and I think I would only ride him at a walk, were it me.


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## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

I was just thinking I wonder how much she paid for a vet to give her that diagnosis? Because I can claim I'm a vet and you can bring me your horse and I'll diagnose it with some kind mental disorder for whatever that vet charged to tell her that horse was autistic. Any takers?


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## crimson88 (Aug 29, 2009)

ShutUpJoe said:


> I was just thinking I wonder how much she paid for a vet to give her that diagnosis? Because I can claim I'm a vet and you can bring me your horse and I'll diagnose it with some kind mental disorder for whatever that vet charged to tell her that horse was autistic. Any takers?


 
Haha, I'm sure putting videos up for the public too see, claiming your horse is confirmed Autistic, just opens the door for all kinds of quacks to start up business....


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## ShutUpJoe (Nov 10, 2009)

lol I don't think I'll be a vet. I think I'll claim to be a horse psychologist or psychiatrist. I'll even start selling my all natural home made remedy for all your horse problems:









(I call it Grassinajar)


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## crimson88 (Aug 29, 2009)

I'd buy It!! I'm sure my horse could totally benefit from that!! ;]

On the ladies website she has mental healing remedies for horse and human. I don't remember all her treatments, but I do recall she has an "essential oil treatment" for _only $50 an hour_. Hmmm? o.o


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Yeah, I honestly believe that 90% of those "holistic" people like her are complete whackadoodles. I have an aunt just like that and she's always trying to force these "holistic, natural" foods on us at family get-togethers.

Marsha, if I wanted to eat something that looked and tasted like it had been left in the back of my refrigerator for enough time that tree moss started growing out of it, then I wouldn't throw out half the food I do :?.


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## crimson88 (Aug 29, 2009)

agreed smrobs!!! A little off topic, and nothing agianst "natural holistic horsemanship people", because I know that a lot of people feel very strongly about it and I am sure that there is some sort of technique used in natural horsemanship that produces results but....I just don't understand much of anything they do. To me it seems like just a lot of wasted time training to do what? Make the horse love you more or something? Well I can make my gelding love me all I want in about 5 mins, just give me a carrot or a cookie and there you have it.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

LOL, that's kind-of my thinking as well. I have amazing relationships with most of my horses and I hardly ever spend any time on "playing" or groundwork beyond their first few rides as a greenie. The idea that you _have_ to spend months playing games with a horse on the ground to teach them to "love" you is ludicrous to me. I want my horses broke to do whatever I need them to do and I really don't care if they bond to me or not (though most of them do...strongly). I'm of the mind that you can have a good working relationship with your horse through respect and obedience without having a great bond, but you cannot have a great bond without respect and obedience.

Perfect example is my Dad's horse Pokey, I can get on him and do what needs to be done, but we don't click, we have no bond to speak of. That doesn't effect our working relationship though.


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## crimson88 (Aug 29, 2009)

Exactly... I used to board at a stable and the barn owner was the typical "holistic natural horsemanship trainer" who spent hours upon hours with this rank little 4 year old mare. She practiced head lowering to teach her that she in a safe and loving enviroment, lunged her in tiny little circles all the time because it was supposed to calm her or whatever and that lady got ran over by that horse so many times, shes seriously lucky to still be alive. That horse had NO manners and pushed and drug her around everywhere. I stayed at that barn for 5 months and then moved. In those five months, she worked with that filly everyday doing the samething and never accomplished anything with that horse (That I could see anyways). She was still rank the whole time, tried to nip you as you walked by her stall, always had pinned ears, ect.


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## Poseidon (Oct 1, 2010)

My old BO was really holistic, but never really pushed it on anyone. She gave Abby some extract or something when she had ulcers because the day I noticed it, she was acting colicky and apparently it would help. I can't remember what it is though.

Abby and I don't exactly have a "bond" half the time either.. We have an understanding and respect for each other, but we spend half the time telling the other one to go die in a fire. (Abby has quite perfected that facial expression.)

But by the standards in that video, I'm sure someone could sell bottles of glitter with the instructions "Throw at your poneh and it will love you forever!" (Unless it's Abby, then I would receive the "go die in a fire" look. :lol


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## equiniphile (Aug 16, 2009)

Way OT, but her voice annoyed me a lot more than it should have. Kind of like that girl on YouTube's expertvillage.

I'd have some pretty funky diagnoses (plural SP?) if I had their vet look at my horses. You think I can convince the show judge that Excel suffers from chronic Showing-Defecit Disorder?


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## .Delete. (Jan 7, 2008)

Ohhhhhhhh expertvillage x_x providing horrible advise to beginner horse riders all over the world!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## QHDragon (Mar 6, 2009)

I thought I read somewhere that horses couldn't be autistic based on how they think.

And yeah that poor horse is dead lame. He must be a real sweetie to put up with her riding him even though he is lame.


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

The one thing that really stood out to me was her statement that he had stringhalt like she'd cured it, certainly still looks there to me. 

The whole autistic part, had I known the 4 leggers suffered from mental illness, those I've ridden that have earned themselves an idiot stamp probably were just bi-polar. Can't believe I missed that! Time to add prozac to the must have on hand med box along with the bute & banamine....
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## crimson88 (Aug 29, 2009)

MHFoundation Quarters said:


> The whole autistic part, had I known the 4 leggers suffered from mental illness, those I've ridden that have earned themselves an idiot stamp probably were just bi-polar. Can't believe I missed that! Time to add prozac to the must have on hand med box along with the bute & banamine....
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


So true ;]


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## tempest (Jan 26, 2009)

MHFoundation Quarters said:


> The one thing that really stood out to me was her statement that he had stringhalt like she'd cured it, certainly still looks there to me.
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


What's stringhalt?


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

tempest said:


> What's stringhalt?


Hyperflexion of the hocks. Makes them move like they are jerking their legs when they move. Here's a good example. With the "autistic" horse I see it in his left hind but not to the severity of the horse in this vid.


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## AngieLee (Feb 20, 2011)

i really dont think this horse is autestic. he doesnt act like theres anything mentally wrong really. ecxcept for his past. and if he does have a mental problem i really don't think a someone specializing in human children should be diagnosing an adult horse. just saying. wow i wonder what they would diagnose a few of the horses at my barn with lol

and i agree. i dont think he should be being ridden. or if so i would be keeping him at a walk. thats just me though

but it was very nice of her to take him in and give him a loving home with proper care. he deserves it after what he went through with his previous owners


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