Ross' Soap Box
27 January '10
I have so much catching up to do that the Soap Box is going to continue to be a little neglected until next week. Harry went home yesterday and Michele and I are off to Bright this weekend for a 2 day clinic, so I don't really have time to get a whole lot of computer work done. But I promise I will be more diligent next week.
Harry Whitney Clinics
I have to say that I am very happy with how the clinics were received. The auditor numbers at the first clinic in Pakenham were quite low, but there was a better turn out in Geelong and the final clinic in Pakenham had an almost a full house. People came from as far as Bathurst, ACT and South Australia. Thanks to everyone who made the long trip and I'm glad you all found it very worthwhile. Harry told me yesterday that he really enjoyed his stay. The people and horses were all interesting and he really liked Australia. He said that if it wasn't for the terribly long flight he would be back often. Michele and I hope to visit him in Arizona later in the year and will try to do a little arm twisting to talk him into a return visit next year.
Next week I will talk more about Harry's teaching and what I saw at the clinics and put up some photos of the events. In the meantime, there has been some discussion about his Australian clinics on Cyberhorse and you can check them out here and here.
Harry Whitney Clinics
I have to say that I am very happy with how the clinics were received. The auditor numbers at the first clinic in Pakenham were quite low, but there was a better turn out in Geelong and the final clinic in Pakenham had an almost a full house. People came from as far as Bathurst, ACT and South Australia. Thanks to everyone who made the long trip and I'm glad you all found it very worthwhile. Harry told me yesterday that he really enjoyed his stay. The people and horses were all interesting and he really liked Australia. He said that if it wasn't for the terribly long flight he would be back often. Michele and I hope to visit him in Arizona later in the year and will try to do a little arm twisting to talk him into a return visit next year.
Next week I will talk more about Harry's teaching and what I saw at the clinics and put up some photos of the events. In the meantime, there has been some discussion about his Australian clinics on Cyberhorse and you can check them out here and here.
_____________________________
19 January '10
Internet
We have had internet blackout since the 7th of January morning. The line has been faulty and Telstra has taken their time to getting around to fixing the problem. I have a lot of e-mailing and other things to catch up with, so it will be a very short entry tonight.
Harry Whitney
It has been very busy with Harry and the clinics. We had a Pakenham a week ago and Geelong the past 3 days. Both clinics have been extremely well received. It is gratifying to hear how people are appreciative of Harry and his message. Several professional trainers have been to watch the clinics and know they are seeing someone very special work with horses. It is my hope that if Harry will come back that we can organize a clinic where only professional trainers will ride, but the general public can watch. There will be other clinics for the non-professional, but I think there is a real need for clinics where the professionals can get more ideas and help with their horsemanship. We don't have people of Harry's calibre in Australia and not enough folk know that yet. IMO the very best trainers in this country have a lot to learn from Harry.
There is one more clinic to be held this coming weekend in Pakenham - click here for details. Spectators are welcome by just showing up at the door.
I will try to report more about the clinics in future soap box entries.
We have had internet blackout since the 7th of January morning. The line has been faulty and Telstra has taken their time to getting around to fixing the problem. I have a lot of e-mailing and other things to catch up with, so it will be a very short entry tonight.
Harry Whitney
It has been very busy with Harry and the clinics. We had a Pakenham a week ago and Geelong the past 3 days. Both clinics have been extremely well received. It is gratifying to hear how people are appreciative of Harry and his message. Several professional trainers have been to watch the clinics and know they are seeing someone very special work with horses. It is my hope that if Harry will come back that we can organize a clinic where only professional trainers will ride, but the general public can watch. There will be other clinics for the non-professional, but I think there is a real need for clinics where the professionals can get more ideas and help with their horsemanship. We don't have people of Harry's calibre in Australia and not enough folk know that yet. IMO the very best trainers in this country have a lot to learn from Harry.
There is one more clinic to be held this coming weekend in Pakenham - click here for details. Spectators are welcome by just showing up at the door.
I will try to report more about the clinics in future soap box entries.
_____________________________
5 January '10
Harry rang yesterday. He has a cold - the worse in 6 years. He said he is not looking forward to getting on the flight with a cold, but I told him that chances are good that the other the passengers will let him off the plane halfway across the Pacific.
The forecast for the clinic this weekend is 38, 31 and 38. That won't be a problem for Harry coming from Arizona, but it will be hard on the horses and people. The arena is covered with an open side to let some breeze flow through. We'll have plenty of water available to people to drink and the wash bay will be kept busy with horses needing cooling down.
I Despair !
I constantly came across the ignorance of some people about horsemanship, but yesterday a pet peeve of mine was raised. A lady made the comment that she would never teach her horse to do hindquarter disengagements because her horse is a dressage horse and you never want a dressage horse to disengage it hindquarters - only engage. It boils my billy to hear such ignorance from people. Similarly, I was told that it is a good thing when a horse gets upset when the rider has a clumsy moment because the rider then knows he/she is doing the wrong thing and can correct it.
These notions are completely ignorant and anti good horsemanship. People who believe such things only see horses as vehicles for riding movements or performing tasks and not as horses. Horses are capable of responding to the slightest aid, but also ignoring the clumsy touch of a spur or a jab in the mouth. A horse is capable of disengaging his hq when asked and the next moment engaging them in response to a request from the rider. To say that disengaging the hq inhibits engagement of the hq is stupid. Or that a horse feels okay enough not to be bothered by a clumsy rider means he is a dull and unresponsive horse is naive.
A horse is a horse and capable of being so much more than we humans are capable of inspiring. They are not stupid beasts of burden who need to be treated like brain dead lumps of flesh. They can be taught just about anything we can teach them and that includes separating mixed signals like teaching them to go forward in response to a riders leg and teaching them to go backwards also in response to the leg.
The other pet peeve of mine regarding ignorance is the notion that horsemanship is something you do separate from your chosen discipline. This is nonsense. Horsemanship encompasses all aspect of riding and handling of horses. Horsemanship is integral to dressage, reining, shoeing, polo, driving, racing, eventing, breeding, etc. It is not something you do when you are not doing other things. It is the life and breath of everything we do with horses. The fact that it is not taught at riding schools, pony club, riding clubs, show jumping clubs etc is a sad reflection of the horse world and people's priorities and a large part of the reason why horsemanship is of such poor quality in this country. Let's look at some examples.
On the weekend, a commercial television stations showed the show jumping phase of a recent 3 day event. All but two of the top horses in the country were ridden with martingales to give the riders leverage to control their horses. Only one horse was not rushing around the course and jumping hollow. It was the winner of the event. Wouldn't you think the other riders would want to know what the winning rider knew to get his horse soft, relaxed and responsive. But instead I guess it is just easier to stick on martingale and hope for the best.
A second example comes to mind when I think of one of Australia representative dressage riders being presented with the winning ribbon at Dressage With The Stars and running side ways the length of the arena because of the horse's fear of the rosette. The horse had competed successfully many times at Grand Prix level both in Australia and overseas, yet was so emotionally tightly wound that it exploded at the presentation. So why does this person have a large number of students and fills clinics? If their horsemanship is so poor that their horse lives on the edge, I wouldn't be too interested in how they train.
Why is this accepted by the industry? Today I went to do a lesson on loading a horse into a float that runs out in a panic. The owner told me that her riding instructor suggested they get help with the problem. I was the second trainer they called out and the session went very well. By why can't a riding instructor help a client with something as simple and common place as a floating problem? Why is it necessary to have a trainer who breaks in horses or re-educates horses deal with the problem. Floating issues are something every person and especially every professional person should know how to deal with. To me, it is no different than knowing how to saddle a horse.
Maybe I am just becoming a grumpy old man. But it bothers me a lot that horses have to suffer at our ignorance because we are too ignorant to understand them. If more people felt the same way there would be fewer troubled horses.
The forecast for the clinic this weekend is 38, 31 and 38. That won't be a problem for Harry coming from Arizona, but it will be hard on the horses and people. The arena is covered with an open side to let some breeze flow through. We'll have plenty of water available to people to drink and the wash bay will be kept busy with horses needing cooling down.
I Despair !
I constantly came across the ignorance of some people about horsemanship, but yesterday a pet peeve of mine was raised. A lady made the comment that she would never teach her horse to do hindquarter disengagements because her horse is a dressage horse and you never want a dressage horse to disengage it hindquarters - only engage. It boils my billy to hear such ignorance from people. Similarly, I was told that it is a good thing when a horse gets upset when the rider has a clumsy moment because the rider then knows he/she is doing the wrong thing and can correct it.
These notions are completely ignorant and anti good horsemanship. People who believe such things only see horses as vehicles for riding movements or performing tasks and not as horses. Horses are capable of responding to the slightest aid, but also ignoring the clumsy touch of a spur or a jab in the mouth. A horse is capable of disengaging his hq when asked and the next moment engaging them in response to a request from the rider. To say that disengaging the hq inhibits engagement of the hq is stupid. Or that a horse feels okay enough not to be bothered by a clumsy rider means he is a dull and unresponsive horse is naive.
A horse is a horse and capable of being so much more than we humans are capable of inspiring. They are not stupid beasts of burden who need to be treated like brain dead lumps of flesh. They can be taught just about anything we can teach them and that includes separating mixed signals like teaching them to go forward in response to a riders leg and teaching them to go backwards also in response to the leg.
The other pet peeve of mine regarding ignorance is the notion that horsemanship is something you do separate from your chosen discipline. This is nonsense. Horsemanship encompasses all aspect of riding and handling of horses. Horsemanship is integral to dressage, reining, shoeing, polo, driving, racing, eventing, breeding, etc. It is not something you do when you are not doing other things. It is the life and breath of everything we do with horses. The fact that it is not taught at riding schools, pony club, riding clubs, show jumping clubs etc is a sad reflection of the horse world and people's priorities and a large part of the reason why horsemanship is of such poor quality in this country. Let's look at some examples.
On the weekend, a commercial television stations showed the show jumping phase of a recent 3 day event. All but two of the top horses in the country were ridden with martingales to give the riders leverage to control their horses. Only one horse was not rushing around the course and jumping hollow. It was the winner of the event. Wouldn't you think the other riders would want to know what the winning rider knew to get his horse soft, relaxed and responsive. But instead I guess it is just easier to stick on martingale and hope for the best.
A second example comes to mind when I think of one of Australia representative dressage riders being presented with the winning ribbon at Dressage With The Stars and running side ways the length of the arena because of the horse's fear of the rosette. The horse had competed successfully many times at Grand Prix level both in Australia and overseas, yet was so emotionally tightly wound that it exploded at the presentation. So why does this person have a large number of students and fills clinics? If their horsemanship is so poor that their horse lives on the edge, I wouldn't be too interested in how they train.
Why is this accepted by the industry? Today I went to do a lesson on loading a horse into a float that runs out in a panic. The owner told me that her riding instructor suggested they get help with the problem. I was the second trainer they called out and the session went very well. By why can't a riding instructor help a client with something as simple and common place as a floating problem? Why is it necessary to have a trainer who breaks in horses or re-educates horses deal with the problem. Floating issues are something every person and especially every professional person should know how to deal with. To me, it is no different than knowing how to saddle a horse.
Maybe I am just becoming a grumpy old man. But it bothers me a lot that horses have to suffer at our ignorance because we are too ignorant to understand them. If more people felt the same way there would be fewer troubled horses.
_____________________________
2 January '10
Principles vs Methodology
I was recently accused on a horse forum of talking too much about the theory and philosophy of horse training and not enough about giving practical advice on fixing a problem. I think this is very true, but I don't consider it a vice. I know most people just want an answer to how to fix their horse. It's like me when we had the repair guy out to fix our washing machine. I didn't want to know about how washing machines work. I just wanted it fixed so I could have some clean clothes. Lots of folk are like that with their horses too. But unfortunately, fixing a mechanical device and fixing an animal with a brain are two very different things.
I don't see how a person can ever be good with horses if they don't understand how horses work. It might be possible to get away with a level of ignorance for one or two very accommodating horses, but it won't be long before you meet a horse that is less than impressed with a mechanical approach to being trained. In fact I believe that understanding of why a horse does something is far more important than learning a method to fix it. Any method will have it's limitations. There will always be some horses who won't change with a particular method or methods. But with an understanding of the cause behind the behaviour a person can develop a feel for which methods will or won't work with a certain horse OR be able to invent or adapt their own approach to suit a specific animal.
My book, "Old Men and Horses - A Gift of Horsemanship" is all about developing an understanding of the way horses tick. I don't think there is any chapter that outlines a specific method to be used on any horses. But the stories are there from which you can learn a lot about how to approach helping any horse in most situations.
Having said that, I realize that every method is based on some understanding of how horses behave. In fact, there is a school of training whose methods almost entirely rely on the scientific study of horse behaviour. But I believe this approach is also flawed when it comes to be able to work with the widest possible range of horses. The problem comes from 3 difficulties.
1. Behaviour is highly variable - not only between individuals but also within the same individual. The variables that account for an individual's behaviour are so many that they can't be reliably taken into account in any study that tries to scientifically pin down a behaviour or predict a behaviour. We are poor enough at this with the study of human behaviour that it does not seem possible that we are any better when studying horses.
2. The results of any study of behaviour are easily biased by the design study and the people interpreting the results. People look at animal behaviour with a knowledge that can only come from being human. It does not come from an understanding of the world that a horse experiences. Just look at the old IQ tests and how they are biased by the experience of the tester rather than the subject. So to interpret a horse's response to an experiment designed by a human may have nothing to do with a real interpretation of how a horse ticks.
3. Any study involving horse behaviour is mostly confined to small numbers. The cost and logistics of studying the behaviour of several thousand animals becomes impossible. Therefore, the results obtained from a few animals may not truly reflect the nature of horse behaviour. And more importantly, it is very unlikely they reflect the nature of any individual animal. For example, any study of human behaviour may conclude that humans are strongly motivated by greed. This may be true as a trend across the entire population of humans. But when dealing with any individual person you can not assume that greed is their primary motivator. The same thing can be true of horses. I think most ethologists would agree that horses have evolved to expend a minimum amount of energy as a survival strategy. But there are individuals that are not like this. And even the horses that are hard to motivate to expend energy can be that way for different reasons that have nothing to do with evolution. You can't treat them all the same and still expect to get the same result.
I am not trying to discount the scientific study of horse behaviour. It has a valuable place in expanding our knowledge. But I find it to be just as limiting as a training aid as using a set series of training methods to teach horses, irrespective of the individual. In fact, they fall short as horse training approaches in virtually the same way, if you think about it.
We all can argue behaviour all day, every day and never agree. But I think the best understanding comes from handling a lot of horses (thousands if possible), being aware of what does and does not motivate each one of them, trying not to group individuals into categories and loving them for what they are and not what you want them to be.
I was recently accused on a horse forum of talking too much about the theory and philosophy of horse training and not enough about giving practical advice on fixing a problem. I think this is very true, but I don't consider it a vice. I know most people just want an answer to how to fix their horse. It's like me when we had the repair guy out to fix our washing machine. I didn't want to know about how washing machines work. I just wanted it fixed so I could have some clean clothes. Lots of folk are like that with their horses too. But unfortunately, fixing a mechanical device and fixing an animal with a brain are two very different things.
I don't see how a person can ever be good with horses if they don't understand how horses work. It might be possible to get away with a level of ignorance for one or two very accommodating horses, but it won't be long before you meet a horse that is less than impressed with a mechanical approach to being trained. In fact I believe that understanding of why a horse does something is far more important than learning a method to fix it. Any method will have it's limitations. There will always be some horses who won't change with a particular method or methods. But with an understanding of the cause behind the behaviour a person can develop a feel for which methods will or won't work with a certain horse OR be able to invent or adapt their own approach to suit a specific animal.
My book, "Old Men and Horses - A Gift of Horsemanship" is all about developing an understanding of the way horses tick. I don't think there is any chapter that outlines a specific method to be used on any horses. But the stories are there from which you can learn a lot about how to approach helping any horse in most situations.
Having said that, I realize that every method is based on some understanding of how horses behave. In fact, there is a school of training whose methods almost entirely rely on the scientific study of horse behaviour. But I believe this approach is also flawed when it comes to be able to work with the widest possible range of horses. The problem comes from 3 difficulties.
1. Behaviour is highly variable - not only between individuals but also within the same individual. The variables that account for an individual's behaviour are so many that they can't be reliably taken into account in any study that tries to scientifically pin down a behaviour or predict a behaviour. We are poor enough at this with the study of human behaviour that it does not seem possible that we are any better when studying horses.
2. The results of any study of behaviour are easily biased by the design study and the people interpreting the results. People look at animal behaviour with a knowledge that can only come from being human. It does not come from an understanding of the world that a horse experiences. Just look at the old IQ tests and how they are biased by the experience of the tester rather than the subject. So to interpret a horse's response to an experiment designed by a human may have nothing to do with a real interpretation of how a horse ticks.
3. Any study involving horse behaviour is mostly confined to small numbers. The cost and logistics of studying the behaviour of several thousand animals becomes impossible. Therefore, the results obtained from a few animals may not truly reflect the nature of horse behaviour. And more importantly, it is very unlikely they reflect the nature of any individual animal. For example, any study of human behaviour may conclude that humans are strongly motivated by greed. This may be true as a trend across the entire population of humans. But when dealing with any individual person you can not assume that greed is their primary motivator. The same thing can be true of horses. I think most ethologists would agree that horses have evolved to expend a minimum amount of energy as a survival strategy. But there are individuals that are not like this. And even the horses that are hard to motivate to expend energy can be that way for different reasons that have nothing to do with evolution. You can't treat them all the same and still expect to get the same result.
I am not trying to discount the scientific study of horse behaviour. It has a valuable place in expanding our knowledge. But I find it to be just as limiting as a training aid as using a set series of training methods to teach horses, irrespective of the individual. In fact, they fall short as horse training approaches in virtually the same way, if you think about it.
We all can argue behaviour all day, every day and never agree. But I think the best understanding comes from handling a lot of horses (thousands if possible), being aware of what does and does not motivate each one of them, trying not to group individuals into categories and loving them for what they are and not what you want them to be.