Connecting the Dots of Horseback Riding

Connecting the Dots

(This will be a several-part entry that will be covered over the next week or so...)

When resistant, unwanted, and/or dramatic behavior occurs with the horse, people get distracted by the big-ness of the horse. In my mind, the “big” is an after-the-fact response by the horse. The root of the problem has occurred or began to occur anywhere from minutes to months before the horse finally resorted to undeniably dramatic behavior.

Typically it is not until the horse is flamboyant in his response, that people really believe there is a problem. At the peak moment of the frustrated/fearful/insecure/defensive horse’s behavior, the rider/handler will experience the most honest responses from the horse towards the person’s attempt at communication. Basically, if there are any “holes” in the manner, effectiveness, and timing of your communication with your horse, it will become abundantly clear at the peak of his stress.

I will attempt to break down how I see the “pieces of the puzzle” that wind up falling into place causing the rider to feel helpless in the moment of the horse’s panic. It took years between my background in classical riding, spending time with true the horseman on ranches throughout the west, working with international trainers/clinicians, etc., and then handling the first of many outright “dangerous” horses, to start to re-interpret and put value to what I was seeing/experiencing. To no longer just go through the “motions” of communicating, but learning how to understand why I was offering certain communication both before and in the “big” moments.

 
I had to learn how my horse “handled” the scene was influenced by his emotional/mental/physical availability BEFORE the meltdown to the moment of explosion, and then to reaching the “calm” on the other side.

Over the years I have had to learn to translate not only words spoken by humans, but also what horses have been attempting to communicate. As with any attempt at translation, there is room for much misinterpretation of what is happening, which can greatly affect the quality of the final outcome after a horse has become dramatic.

In my original “world” of riding terms such as “contact, connection, and engagement” were common terminology. In another avenue of horses words such as “direct and indirect rein, disengaging the hindquarters,” became common lingo. Then there were concepts offered such as, “following a feel, having my horse mimic my energy, influencing a horse’s thought.” It took years to realize that for all the different-sounding words, what everybody was telling me was actually the same thing. But, and I’m not 100% sure, I’m not even sure “they” (the teachers) would agree with that assessment. Because for me, it seemed each person was offering one piece of the puzzle that was to become a giant collage of my current horsemanship theories and concepts.

Most people would agree the moment of “explosion” is not the time to find out if your aids are effective. But often that tends to be the time folks shift from “passenger mode” to “leader mode” when working with their horse. For a horse that has never had its human make decisions “before the fact” rather than always “reacting” after the horse did something, this is a new concept for the horse. For it to be “used” for the first time when the horse is totally stressed and distracted, will not have the desired result and would be a bit like adding gasoline to an already burning fire.

So before addressing the moment of panic in the horse, let’s take a few steps back and revisit a few concepts and aids that we use to communicate with the horse.

 Next topic- the bridle.