Many times when folks are working with horses, they’d like
it to be a relaxing, enjoyable experience.
Yet often horses and humans need to build a quality partnership in order
to achieve a rewarding ride for the both of them. What most riders forget is that no matter how
“trained” a horse is, they are still looking to their rider for guidance,
confidence and boundaries. They are a
herd animal and they are deciding if they or their rider is the “leader” of
their herd.
The horse will question the pecking order of the herd the
rider and he create, but it may not seem apparent on calm, ideal days. When circumstances beyond our control arise,
and stress levels increase, typically only then do we as riders start to realize
that perhaps the quality of the partnership we share with our horse is not as “ideal”
as we would like to think.
As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, if you give most riders the
option, they will do everything they can to avoid a confrontation or
uncomfortable scenario with their horse.
Horses often realize this and have mastered becoming fantastic “people
trainers” as I say- teaching the human how to work around them in order to
avoid any conflict. The ideal for me is that
the horse asks “What would you like?,” and learns to work around the human.
The idea to write this blog came up as I went to work a
horse this morning. I spend my winters in
the desert, where one would think life is a lot more boring than my summers
spent in the inland northwest, but actually that is not the case. Down here near North America’s largest sand
dunes we have wind, (it took ten years before it occurred to me that ALL of that
wind was what built the sand dunes), and when I say wind I mean sand-blasting,
scary-discarded-trash blowing, tarps constantly flapping,
scary-animal-dashing-from-citrus groves, horse-tails standing
straight-out-to-the-side kind of wind.
I’ve experienced wind in other notorious places such as
Texas and Wyoming- and of course the ever present wind in Patagonia, but
somehow the wind here in the Arizona desert has extra elements of “scariness”
in terms of horses. Add in the fact that
this is the produce capital of world during the winter, so heavy duty farm equipment
randomly appears at various times. There’s
also a marine base and I’m near the flight approach/take off path; military
personal from all over the world come here to “practice” and so it is very
common to have a “Top Gun” show as a daily occurrence. Nothing like getting on a colt for the first
time with the horse’s body literally vibrating from the sound of six F18s
flying low and overhead.
Then of course there’s the sheep. The town here is a mixture of new and old,
traditional and modern. Often after
several cuttings of alfalfa hay have been raised, herds of sheep are escorted
down the main roads (herded by a few men with flags, a couple of dogs, a ram
and a goat,) and will randomly appear in an old hay field with three strands of
temporary hotwire fence strung up. A few
days later they’ll be moved on to another field. That’ll get every horse in the barn to stand
at full attention and often they display physical feats of aerial acrobatics as
if trying out for the Spanish Riding School
In this desert, there are no mountains in sight. Any activity happening can often been seen
and or heard from miles away; to the A.D.D. horse you can imagine how
distracting that might be.
Anyhow one of our wind storms began brewing last night and
by this morning the sky was thick with sand and debris, the trees were bent
over and the air was heavy with the horses concern. Most people avoid heading out to work with a
horse on a day like today, but for me, I see it as an opportunity. Just as when I look to buy a horse I want to
see the “worst” side of the horse rather than the sales pitch, when I’m working
with a horse, I’m looking for opportunities to create a solid citizen. I’m not striving for the “perfect” ride, but
rather to be there to help and support him experience a naturally scary
scenario and perhaps influence a change in his brain and emotions as to how he
perceives the chaos around him so that he learns to react in a physical
respectful, calm and safe manner.
Because the horse is a prey animal, the natural instinct
when unsure is to run. But my job is to
teach the unnatural response of, “Stop, think, and ask what the rider wants,”
then offer a physical movement. This not
only decreases the chances of a dramatic reaction from the horse, but also
builds confidence in him and the fear switches to a curiosity as to what is
happening around him. Changing from the
instinctual fleeing to curious mode literally allows more “time” for
communication between rider and horse, a mental participation from the horse which
in turn creates a physical softness.
This builds his confidence emotionally and mentally when a situation isn’t
ideal.
So rather than “challenging” the horse to be obedient on a
scary day, I would rather break down the “scariness” of it all- starting on the
ground. Rather than trying to avoid what
may be bothersome, I will break things down and ask the horse to only mentally
consider one or two things, and then offer ways for him to find softness in his
body, brains and emotions, so that he can figure out how he really feels about
something. The more he learns how to
think while I’m on the ground working with him, the more this increases his
confidence while I’m in the saddle.
The other part of avoiding the less than ideal circumstances
is that people are taught that things cannot get “ugly”- by this I mean many
people have the goal be striving for the ideal ride. But often the ground work during less than
ideal scenarios, such as when a horse mentally and emotionally is falling apart
needs to be addressed so that the horse can learn how to let go of feelings of
concern, worry and fear. If he is taught
to “stuff” those emotions, they will continue to build inside of him, even if
on the outside he is appearing as being obedient. It will only be a matter of time before all
of those pent up emotions come out physically dramatic.
I on the other hand I would like an honest “response” from
the horse for whatever he feels. That
being said, there are spatial and behavioral boundaries that need to be established
before the scary day along with effective communication aids, so that when the
horse becomes brainless and reactive, the person has a way to help the horse
work through the stress, rather than reprimanded him for not behaving. As I say, embrace the tantrum, but don’t
leave him in it. Help the horse “get” to
the other side. Remember the physically
dramatic behavior is a reflection of the horse’s brain and emotions. Change how he feels on the inside, the
behavior on the outside will decrease in dramatic, dangerous reactivity.
Every time a horse starts to get bothered and a person
critiques him or instead uses it as an opportunity to build his confidence can
detract or contribute to the quality of long term partnership and physical
behavior of the horse. Unwanted
behaviors/insecurities/worries/fears do not randomly disappear. Attempting to “desensitize” the horse through
repetitious behavior may temporarily work for that scary tarp, but it is only
teaching the horse to tolerate the scary tarp, rather than changing how he
feels about it. The day you move the
tarp, it’ll feel like you’ll have to start all over again. Instead, change how he feels about the tarp,
then it will not matter where the tarp is.
So the next time you have an opportunity in a less-than-ideal
circumstance, of course prioritizing your safety first, perhaps experiment with
approaching your horse’s concern with being a supportive influence, rather than
a critical one or just avoiding the situation all together.
Good Luck,
Sam
