"Sometimes the horse just can’t ... It’s Not disobeying

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.

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 

Don’t Desensitize your Horse!

Howdy Friends,
 

We’ve all seen it, owners, trainers or friends working in round pens or rings, with a worried, sometimes terrified horse, waving a bag, a towel or some other object at the horse to “Desensitize the horse.” I understand some reading this think I’ve described an exaggerated scene, others will think it’s got to be done, and still others think they would never do that. I’m in that last camp—I would never do that or anything close. Nor could I recommend it.

“But they need to be taught a bag can’t hurt them,” some say. Or a pile of other explanations why “desensitization” is an important part of “training.” Training, another word I’m not real fond of. I don’t want to be “trained,” or “desensitized.” Do you? I’d rather be educated, or coached. Semantics, you think? No. Words should mean things, and they do. Take just a second here and truly ponder the difference you feel when you think, “train” ... or “educate.” They make you feel different inside don’t they?

So how do you help a horse understand flying bags and blankets, falling branches, loud noises and a mountain of other scary things won’t harm her? Easy. Education and confidence building. When a horse has confidence not much will frighten her. When she’s confident in herself, and her person, the scary things are simply, things—not life threatening monsters.

Confidence building is a long term strategy, and we can make it happen by being confident ourselves, and consistent in our manners, actions and support. Yes it takes longer than a weekend clinic on desensitization—which will surely get a horse less worried about the bag, flag, bucket or bang the weekend was designed to make unscary ... But in most cases it will not build confidence. What it most often builds is a worried compliance. I must point out that many horses are skilled in hiding their worry with compliance. But worry and fear can resurface in the blink of an eye, in a most dangerous way, when the next “scary thing” that had not been used to desensitize, suddenly appears out of nowhere. The weak link is the lack of confidence building.

It is totally impossible to desensitize a horse to every scary or worrisome object a horse and rider might ever encounter. And that is the flaw. And it is a big flaw, for when the desensitized horse has an incident after training, and the rider momentarily gets scared themselves and disciplines the horse for what is a natural reaction, the bond between horse and human suffers a strain, a little damage. That’s not a good thing. Not for the person, not for the horse.

Building self confidence within the horse is the answer. Conducting one’s self in a manner steeped in confidence, support and I might say mentorship, builds confidence in the horse.

Take time to understand the horse, as much time as she needs. When riding, doing groundwork, playing games, never push beyond what the horse is comfortable, confident with. Ever. In everything you do make sure the horse is ready to go to the next level. Revisit often things she has mastered, and enjoys doing. This will create layers, upon layers of confidence. Those layers of confidence will build a suit of armor ever present for any scary, unexpected or surprising thing that suddenly appears. And she’ll handle all the never-before-seens with inner strength of self-confidence—not suppressed fear.

Don’t desensitize your horse ... Empower her!

Gitty Up, Dutch Henry

 To have a look at my latest book, "It's For The Horses, An advocate's musings about their needs, gifts, spirit and care," CLICK HERE.

"Get Out Of The Way And Let Your Horse Learn"

Howdy Friends,

 

We've all been guilty of over-correcting our horses. We've all been guilty of demanding too much, too soon, too … enthusiastically. Thank God, and the Spirit Of The Horse, our horses have the patience to deal with us, our miscues, over stimulation, impatience and if I may risk saying it, our ignorance.

I understand training, trainers, lessons, competing, and all the human things about horse and people relationships. And yes I understand the benefits and need for clear and consistent messaging, demeanor and posture. What I worry about is all the training, schooling and drilling tends to make us sometimes, and for some folks a lot of the time, overcorrect. My mentor Diane Sept makes a valid point often, "If we are not consistent we are not being fair to the horse." I get that, too. But … 

We've all seen people standing with their horse on lead, and when the horse dances and fidgets, the lead gets yanked and the person yells for the horse to, "Stand Still!" The horse reacts, jerking its head high, stands still for a second – then dances again – then gets corrected in the same fashion again, and the correction follows again, and on and on it goes. And most likely this is the case every time that team goes away and stands together.

I submit yelling for the horse to "stand still" while tugging on the lead is what I call, "overcorrecting." It short circuits the learning curve, does not allow the horse to learn. And I'll wager it is not as Diane says, "consistent" with how that person normally carries themselves. Oh yes, it most likely IS consistent with how that person acts in that same situation, every time, and so the obliging horse is taught to dance, every time it is expected to "stand still."

Kessy and me

So how do you fix that? Easy. Get out of the way, and let your horse learn to stand quietly with you, all day if that's what you want. Just do it. Simply stand still, don't over correct, in fact, don't correct at all. Choose to encourage instead. Sure some horses are nervous, even scared sometimes, and are going to be high headed and fidgety by their nature. But how does barking at them, or jerking the lead rope help reassure them? It can't. If we want them to feel safe and confident standing by us, we must exude safety and confidence, so they can mirror it.

It may take a number of weeks to accomplish this, especially if there are old habits to break, but simply standing with your horse, calmly and politely, on gravel or anywhere they won't be tempted by grass, hold the lead with your hand close to the halter at first, and just stand with her. Encourage her to be confident, self aware. Allow them to look around, if she moves, politely put her back where you want her. Don't correct, or say, no. I like to use the word "stand." Not whoa. We are in fact standing, not whoaing. Just do it with smiles, happy and support, and after a while it'll be second nature for both of you.

I only used the "standing still with me" as an example, but there are many other times where we might be tempted to over correct or interfere with our horse's movement or expression. Ultimately, yes we have goals we want achieve, things we want to do with our horses and we need to direct them, teach them, but try not always correcting. Try going with a mistake, see where it takes you. Follow your horse's spirit and not your blueprint. You can, and must, come back to your blueprint, but go with the flow, too. You will most certainly be given a gift.

Let me leave with another example of not correcting and receiving a gift. I was in a spell when my back and legs were not good; those spells come and go, and in fact goof up my riding. Kessy and I were on the trail, had been a while and even though we did our pre-ride exercises, she was a bit frisky and gaiting down the trail with glee, and some speed. She kept asking for the canter, finally I said, "Okay," and she went for it. I sit the canter, and feeling as I did that day, I couldn't keep my balance and in her attempt to stay under me she kept bouncing in and out of canter. I was laughing, and did give a slight tap on the rein to help her, but didn't correct her, I was just going to go with it and wait for her to come back to her running walk. What she did was discover, to the surprise of both of us, she has a smooth and delicious ground covering rack! Before that moment neither of us knew it!

I wonder, had I corrected her, forced the canter, or the running walk, would we have discovered her awesome rack?

Of course there are times when correcting is necessary, and in fact the proper thing to do, but giving things a chance to work out, perhaps blossom in ways we aren't even aware of, is important too.

Gitty Up ~ Dutch

"Why Do We Focus On Training?"

Howdy Folks,

 

Training, and trainers are of course important. To be fair many things must be taught, and learned, by both horse and person. Training is the backbone of so many of the disciplines folks pursue with their horses, from trail riding, western pleasure, showing, hunter jumper, dressage, and on and on. Sure we need to learn what we're doing. We and our horse, and that requires lessons, and training. Sometimes plenty of it.

I've heard it said every time you're on your horse you should be training. That's an interesting paradigm. I don't intend to take anything away from the importance, or benefits of training. But every time you're on your horse?

Over the years I've met folks who take lessons, and go to clinics all the time. I've met a folks who do nothing in between. They just go to clinics, and lessons. They may not ride for weeks, and sometimes, months at a time. Some folks board their horses at training barns, and only ride when it's time for the next lesson. And for them, that's perfect ... But what if it could be more perfect?

The Coffee Clutch. I start each day having coffee time with Kessy. Most days Saturday, Tigger & Miss Kitty join us.

I suggest folks can establish much deeper relationships with their horses by not always focusing on training. Mix in plenty of just being partners together time. For sure not everyone can start their day like I do having coffee in the barn with their horse. A lot of folks don't have the luxury of having their horses at home. If that's your sitution, be sure you spend time with your horse other than just showing up for lessons and training. They'll love you for it. Learn a few exercises you can do on the ground, even in the stall with your horse to help their posture and body carriage. You can see a few "Pre-Ride Exercises For Your Horse" in my blog that horses love, and greatly benefit from. And check out - "Reconnecting Your Horse To Her Feet"  to.

I believe all horses should have plenty of easy going, "don't think about nothin'," trail time. Just go down the trail, do some chatting with friends, or better yet, go alone. Just you and your horse. Don't forget to watch the birds!

The training will simply fall into place if you don't focus on it all the time. Just let it happen. Allowing yourself and your horse to work through mistakes in an unstructured moment is fun too. Let the mistakes happen and see where they lead you!  Enjoy your horse so she can enjoy you. And remember, find time for that relaxing trail time.

Kessy, Saturday and me hittin' the trail

Gitty Up ~ Dutch Henry