About 30 years ago I got a phone call from a teenage girl asking if she could come and work for me during school holidays as part of the work experience program run by her school. I spoke to the school and the parents and we finally agreed she could come for 3 weeks and be a lackey and in return, I would give her some riding lessons.
The first few days went well. She was a good kid and did her job well. But after about a week I noticed she began to disappear during the day for periods. I would give her a job to do like cleaning a saddle, and later when I went to see how she was doing I couldn’t find her. When I went looking for her I discovered her playing with the dogs or down the paddock smoking a cigarette or wandering off to pet a few of the horses. I told her not to wander off without telling me where she was going, but the behaviour continued. She would do the job I asked then disappear. I was surprised by her behaviour because I wanted and expected her to ask me what I wanted her to do next rather than wander off into her own world. Nevertheless, she had no interest in finding out what I might want next after completing one assignment.
In hindsight, I did not handle it well. I approached the problem by warning her I would report her to the school and her parents. By the end of the second week and several warnings, I told her not to come back. I got rid of her.
I see horses do the same thing all the time. We ask them to perform a job and once we release the pressure to tell them “well done”, they mentally disengage. They do the task but don’t prepare for the next task. In my view, this is the perfect definition of obedience – a horse does the job. But it is not the definition of willingness.
A horse that is willing not only does the job obediently but is also prepared for the next job. A willing horse asks the question, “What’s next?” It doesn’t disappear to play with the dogs, go off to have a cigarette, or wander to pet the other horses. A willing horse prepares for the next job by keeping the lines of communication open between them and the human.
So how do you get a horse to be willing rather than just obedient?
There are lots of factors that go into it.
One of the more important elements that we need to make part of every aspect of our work is to move away from driving a horse and make directing them part of the mainstay of training.
Let me remind you of the difference between driving and directing.
Driving is when a horse’s thoughts and feet are going away from each other. Directing is when a horse’s thoughts and their feet are going in the same direction. There is a video about this on YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRKgW7TbUuw&t=657s
Most people rely on driving a horse into movement or a task. It’s universal irrespective of the country or the discipline or the school of training. We do it because we can and because horses are inherently submissive. However, because it is the nature of driving to make a horse do one thing while their brains are thinking about doing something else, driving puts anxiety and ill feelings inside a horse. One of the most common coping mechanisms that horses utilize when this happens is to shut off after they have completed a task. They perform one task, but knowing another driving pressure is soon to follow they mentally disconnect as a way of coping and getting a few moments of relief from the trouble.
The second contributor to a horse “turning off the lights” after finishing a task, is that we allow it or even encourage it. Either we are not aware it is happening or we are aware but do nothing about it. When a horse goes into its own world by switching its mind off, there is often quietness with it, and people like the quietness. They see quietness as a form of relaxation and do not recognize it as a horse disconnecting. People often fail to appreciate that a horse can be relaxed and still alert and willing. If you don’t know the difference between relaxed but disconnected and relaxed but willing, ask your horse to do something. An alert and willing horse will be immediately available with minimum resistance and delay. But a disconnected horse will have a lag and brace.
You can overcome the mental shutting down by recognizing it happening and offering the horse new directives. Every time your horse puts up a mental wall, interrupt that idea and present it with a new idea. But be aware there is a fine line between helping your horse and harassing your horse. If you overdo the “do this and now do that...” game, you can cause them to shut down just as quickly.
I learned a lot from the work experience girl. I learned that I failed to motivate her to take an interest in the work. I learned that she volunteered for the job because she wanted to ride horses and not be my slave. I learned that instead of threatening her with a stick to shape her behaviour, I could have found a carrot-type approach to motivate her to be a better worker. She didn’t know it at the time, but she also taught me a little about keeping a connection with my horses.
From a clinic Theresa and Drago are discussing and exchanging ideas for what they should do next.