Howdy Friends,
Sometimes a horse simply can’t do what we ask, they are not
disobeying—nor do they need more training, or discipline. We need to pay closer
attention to our horse, and less to our own demands, desires. Sometimes I get
broken hearted at what I see; the story I’m going to relate here is one of
those times.
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| Kessy demonstrating how we walk "off the forehand" Something she could not master for a long time, and needed much "release and relax" exercises to help her find her soft self and healthy posture. Any horse can master this. (Exercises demonstrated in my book "It's for the Horses:An advocate's musings about their needs, spirit, gifts and care") |
A few weeks ago I went to a festival of sorts. In addition
to exhibits, displays, foods and demonstrations were a few horse
demonstrations. Some I watched, some I didn’t. One exciting performance was a
very talented young woman and her horses. Quite a show they put on. And what
drew me to watch was the fact she used rescue horses in her performance. She
did the show twice in the day and I watched both times. Afterwards I regretted
that I did.
After each show she and her primary horse bowed. The first
time her horse bowed right along with her. After the second show, he did not. She
did not accept no for an answer and insisted, in fact she kicked his leg, he
tried, and even kindly turned his head to her shouting, “I can’t right now.”
She never heard. In fact she kicked him so hard I heard the thump from 50 feet
away. Finally he fought the stiffness and, obvious to me, the tightness and pain,
and he bowed.
Then she got her long whip and worked him to bow again and
again. To add to my distress watching this, I heard women behind me
complimenting her for “not letting him get away with it.” One even called out,
“That’s right, make him do it 5 times!” ... I fought hard to contain myself.
To be fair to the women behind me perhaps did not notice the
stiff right shoulder and sore back, but I did. I also noticed how kindly the
horse, who had just performed in high heat some very demanding stunts, had
tried to tell his owner he was unable to move in the manner that required a
bow. She never noticed, because for her it was all about the show.
I did speak with her later that day and explained what I
saw. I admitted that during the stunts and tricks he positively needed to obey
immediately and without question, her safety demanded that, and he had. But for
the bow when he politely tried to communicate he was in his right, and she
missed his plea.I even offered to teach her the basic “release and relax
exercises.” She was uninterested in
hearing the horse’s point of view.
Add to this, the horse had also, just one hour before her
performance, been used as a demo horse for chiropractic therapy ... and then
put through the rugged paces of their performance—small wonder he was stiff and
sore ... But he was totally polite. I thought it was common knowledge that a
horse be given 24 hours at least, after a chiropractic treatment to rest ...
I wrestled hard with whether or not to relate this story,
but I sense he wants us to hear his plea, “Sometimes the horse just can’t ...
and it’s our job to hear them.”
Gitty Up, Dutch Henry
P.S.
~ To have a look at my book "It's for the Horses:An advocate's musings
about their needs, spirit, gifts and care" please visit www.itsforthehorses.com
