29 June 2008
Well, had a thought while I was cleaning paddocks. It followed a conversation I had with a client earlier this morning. I was working an 11 year old Arab mare who was started some years ago and had less than 10 rides on her by the owner. She had reached a point where she felt something wasn't right and didn't know who to ask, so she put the mare in the paddock and had not ridden her since. I have spent two sessions with the horse and I told the client that I felt she did the right thing. She was told by the trainer at the time, and found that indeed it was the case, that if she rode the green mare with quite a bit of rein contact, the horse would be fine, but when she dropped the pressure, the horse was in a quandary and did not dare go anywhere. She would stand still or if pressed, pop up and down a bit on the spot. The horse hadn't a clue what to do if a hold wasn't taken. This is a pretty sensitive and highly intelligent horse, so it leads you to wonder what could have been if the trainer had allowed the horse to find answers for herself. It's like asking a person, who's never been allowed to express their opinion, "What do you think about all this?" and finding that person at a complete loss and concerned. Maybe they might say the wrong thing, after all, every other time they have wanted to offer something, they have been shut out or got into trouble.
But then that got me thinking about how often we criticize a horse for what they are doing. In my mind, it is more important than anything to understand that a horse is never wrong. Whatever he is doing at any given moment is the appropriate action for that moment. I think it's an idea that most people find it hard to get their head around. If he's crooked on the circle, pounding you into the dust, flying with perfection through her lead changes, bolting helter-skelter into the Prince's Highway or walking across a three acre paddock to meet you, it's all the action he or she needs to be all right. The more desperate, the fewer options a horse has. You might say, why on earth would he run right into that fence? Does it not then beg the question, why were every other option not available for that horse at that time.
In my training, I try in every situation to set it up so the horse has choices. I allow him to get things wrong, and offer things I might not be after if he's at least offering me options. If he isn't, I do what I can to encourage him to try something different. Just so that he can. So he can experience putting himself out there on a limb and knowing he'll be all right if he tries something new. You would be amazed how many horses have learned that when a human is involved, that they dare not ever try anything new, even if it means putting themselves through an enormous amount of pressure. I find that the more confident a horse feels that he can try something and the sky doesn't fall, how quickly they find what you're looking for.
I don't know how you folks feel out there, but in my experience, I think the notion of allowing a horse to have a say, to work through what's possible and not shut out each and every possibility without knowing the outcome for himself, is a scary concept. It means stuff might come out you'd rather would keep its ugly head well hidden. The problem in that, I feel, is that it still resides in that horse, and if pressed, it could become an option at the worst possible time, for both the human and more especially the horse, who will not know what the outcome may be. Like jumping from a plane and not being sure if the pack on your back is a parachute or just a lot of wadded up nothing.
This little Arab is pretty sweet in the paddock. She'll come up for a rub, never runs around, tends to be an easy-going lady. But in the round pen, both yesterday and today, before we even got started, this mare had to move. I let her go and she was moving in a hurry before I even began working. She knew, was telling me that a human and this space had a meaning that didn't feel good. So she had a big flee in her, and t this point will choose to flee and be lost rather than hunt down the human. You wouldn't see this in the paddock, but there is history in this mare and a tragic understanding that whatever will be required isn't good. So without doing anything at all, I am the hard spot, and the pen is the rock. I said to the owner today, my job is to turn what she believes is the rock into the good spot. Somewhere in her training, damage was done. The possibility that a human might offer comfort despite asking for something was compromised. It happens all the time.
Lastly, I was thinking, and I have written on this before, that people often accuse a horse of being naughty or plotting to undermine a show performance or a trail ride. The day a person comes to a clinic or training and brings a horse who has the ability to display logic, I will call the international bodies of scientific research into animal behavior, because as far as I know, the only animals able to do so are humans and perhaps chimpanzees. There are probably other great apes as well (here I display my ignorance, I apologize), but I do think horses as well as most of the animal kingdom are unable to intentionally make decisions that will affect others.
If you haven't yet seen this, please do. It's amazing and beautiful. It brings tears to my eyes each time I see it. How sappy am I? Gives you hope for what is sometimes a very confusing planet:
