How does Warwick Schiller think about trauma in horses?

Warwick Schiller's thinking about trauma in horses draws on human trauma-informed frameworks — particularly Stephen Porges's polyvagal theory and concepts from somatic trauma therapy — and applies them to understanding horses whose behavioral and emotional responses suggest a nervous system that has been shaped by overwhelming experiences rather than by ordinary learning. In Schiller's framework, a traumatized horse is one whose nervous system has been organized by experiences that exceeded its capacity to process and integrate — producing either chronic hyperactivation, in which the horse is perpetually reactive, hypervigilant, and unable to settle, or shutdown, in which the horse appears calm but is actually in a dissociated, frozen state that is not genuine relaxation. The application of trauma-informed thinking to horses represents a significant departure from most natural horsemanship frameworks, which have understood resistant or reactive horses primarily through the lens of training gaps — behaviors that need to be addressed through clearer, more consistent training rather than through approaches that address underlying nervous system dysregulation. Schiller argues that traumatized horses cannot be reached through conventional training approaches alone because their nervous systems are not in the learning-capable state that effective training requires, and that the first therapeutic priority with such horses is helping their nervous systems find safety and regulation before training demands are introduced. His work with horses in this framework has included extended periods of simply being present with horses without training demands, allowing the horse to set the pace of any interaction, and focusing on the horse's ability to connect and regulate rather than on behavioral performance — an approach that looks very different from conventional natural horsemanship work but that Schiller reports produces profound and lasting changes in horses whose previous training had not been able to reach them.