Being Hopeful with Horses

 

Hopefulness. Waiting and Seeing. Reactive Riding. Taking the "try" and willingness out of your horse. What do all of the above have in common? They are a domino effect that occurs in the riding world far too often. Let me explain.

Each of the following three scenarios is acts of "Hopefulness" :

Have you ever experienced or witnessed someone riding down the trail and seen something "scary" before your horse did? What did you do?

A common response is the rider will hold their breath as their horse gets closer to the scary item, sitting very still in the saddle, and perhaps asking their horse to look the opposite way from the item as they "sneak by." Then they wait and are silently hoping their horse won't have a meltdown as they pass by. Afterward, they let out a "sigh of relief" that nothing dramatic had happened.

How about the horse who was inconsistent about his willingness to load in the trailer? After he was caught as he was walked mindlessly to the trailer the handler is chanting in hushed tones under their breath a message of hope "that today the horse would load willingly and not have it turn into the 5-hour fiasco like it had last time."

What about as you watched (or experienced) someone approaching a jump, halfway through their barrel pattern, or was building a loop while waiting in the roping box... What was going through your head (or what appeared theirs based on their facial expression) before the horse was asked to perform? And then what was the reaction from the rider AFTER the round? "I wasn't sure what he was gonna do..." "Whew, glad that's over with..." "Well, THAT was a little scary..." "I hope that doesn't happen again...

Many equine enthusiasts talk about communication between horses and their owners. This in itself is a whole other topic for another entry. What I want to mention is what about the LACK of communication between the rider/handler and the horse, the silence, or the "hopefulness" from the human.

I frequently meet horses that have been deemed a "bad" or "ill-behaved" horse. When I watch the interaction between the rider/handler and the horse often I find myself staring at a horse with a blank expression or confused look on his face due to "silence" from his rider/handler. Then when the horse starts showing signs of worry, concern, stress, or other dramatic behavior, because he doesn't understand, is triggered, etc., he is punished or reprimanded for it.

Instead, the rider/handler ought to be having a Conversation with the horse. This is on-going, specific communication that allows for continuous assessment based on the horse's feedback toward the human aids. It allows for the horse to be told AHEAD of time what is going to be asked of him.

All too often the person winds up being "hopeful" and after-the-fact in their communication. When the horse offers a physical behavior the person doesn't want, only then does the person address him. By now, it's too late. The rider is REACTING after the event.