If you’ve ever known a horse person, you may have observed that they will persist with their horse habit despite negative consequences, such as debt, injury, and complaints from loved ones. Continuing to engage in a behavior despite negative consequences is a hallmark of an addiction! Let’s see if the substance use disorder (SUD) criteria American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5th edition can be adapted to involvement with horses.* Are you a horse addict?
1. Frequently consuming more of the substance/over a longer period than intended
Do you consistently spend a lot more time at the barn than planned?
2. Constantly trying or being unble to quit or limit use
Have you ever tried to limit your number of visits to the barn per week and found that you were unable to do so?
3. Spending a lot of time trying to get, use, or recover from using the substance
Do you spend a great deal of time shopping for horses and horse stuff, reading about horses, riding horses, and caring for horses and your horse-related property? Are you frequently unable to do things after going to the barn because your horse activities have tired you out?
4. Craving
Do you often think about horses to the exclusion of all else? Do you feel an overwhelming need to go to the barn?
5. Substance use interferes with ability to fullfill obligations at school, home, or work.
Have you repeatedly done one or more of the following: skipped school or work to go to the barn? Went to the barn despite an upcoming important deadline? Neglected the upkeep of your home because you were spending too much time at the barn? Been late to pick up your kids from school because you stayed at the barn too long?
6. Continuing to use substance even though it causes or exacerbates social/interpersonal problems
Do your non-horse person friends and/or family get upset with you because you are always at the barn? Do people not want to be around you because you smell like a horse? Has your horse habit been a factor in break-ups with romantic partners?
7. Giving up or cutting back on important activities as a result of substance use
Do you spend less time with your friends, at work, or with other hobbies you used to enjoy due to your horse habit? Do you resist going on vacation because you don’t want to leave your horse? Have you given up or reduced activities you used to love because you are “horse poor”?
8. Using substance even though it often puts you in dangerous situations
All horse people have this symptom. Horses are dangerous – you don’t even have to ride them to get hurt.
9. Continuing to use the substance even it causes or exacerbates a physical or psychological problem
Do you persist with your horse habit despite being allergic to horses or knowing that being at the barn causes your asthma to flare up? Do you continue to ride despite having a repetitive stress injury caused or made worse by riding? Do you continue to ride despite multiple, serious horse-related injuries? Do you continue to ride even though you have a health condition that would make a fall from a horse especially dangerous (e.g. osteoporosis)?
10. Tolerance
Do you need to spend more and more time around horses in order to feel satisfied? Do you keep acquiring more horses?
11. Withdrawal
Are you depressed and/or irritable when you aren’t able to go to the barn? Do you find that you need to go to the barn first thing in the morning to get your horse fix even when you were just there the previous evening?
Are you addicted to horses?
Add up your symptoms. If you have 2-3, your horse addiction is mild, 4-5 is moderate, and 6+ is severe. How many do you have? I have…lots.
To my knowledge, there are no treatment programs or support groups for horse addiction. That’s okay, though, because no horse person I know seems to want help anyway – unless it’s financial help to buy another horse or a new saddle. Therefore, the best option is harm reduction: always wear a helmet.
Have a good ride!
*There also behavioral addictions, which have different criteria than substance use disorders, but I think the substance use disorder criteria are more applicable here.
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