KNOWS WHEN YOU KNOW…
There is a saying that was popularized by Ray Hunt and which has been repeated again and again by many people, “A horse knows when you know and knows when you don’t know.”
I applaud the intent behind the saying. I think its purpose is to motivate people to get their act together and learn to be the horse person your horse needs you to be. There is an enormous amount of merit behind this concept. We should all be working to be the horse people our horses would want us to be. There is no room for complacency or apathy in good horsemanship.
But I don’t actually believe that a horse knows when you know and knows when you don’t know. From the point of view of teaching people about horses, it is a terrific concept for motivating people to become better horse people. But from a horse’s perspective, I don’t have a clue what it means or that it has any useful meaning.
I don’t know that horses know when we know and when we don’t know (know what I mean?). But I do believe horses can know our intent and the confidence we carry. I think more than having knowledge (or knowing stuff), having confidence in ourselves is the key to helping a horse believe we know what we are doing.
Many years ago, a friend and her husband went on a trail ride. Her husband was a total novice and had no real interest in horses. But he liked to ride, maybe once a year. My friend was a nervous rider, but had been riding for most of her life and had a lot of know-how. She rode the quiet horse, and her husband rode the nervous Nelly. During the ride, a mob of horses came running along the neighbour's fence line. The wife’s heart skipped a beat, and she immediately became worried. Her husband just rode on like there was nothing unusual happening. My friend’s quiet horse was very much on edge as she rode past the mob of horses, while the normally nervous horse continued on with hardly registering the other horses. I believe my friend’s husband exuded confidence because he didn’t know that things could go badly. But his wife was very aware of what could have happened, and her worry infected her normally quiet horse.
I think horses know when you lack confidence in your own ability and leadership. I don’t think they know when you don’t have skill or knowledge. I think a person with minimal skills can get a lot done if they behave confidently. But a skilful person with considerable self-doubt will really struggle to convince a horse that they are a good leader.
For a long time, I have told people that if they don’t know how to do something with their horse, fake it. I have often been criticized for telling people to fake it. Some have said you can’t fake it because a horse can always tell when you don’t know. Others have said you can’t fake confidence if you don’t have it. But it’s my experience that neither of these things is true. People can fake confidence, and if done well, horses can’t tell. Horses read us through body language cues, and faking it means sending out the correct body language cues. It’s not easy, but it is possible. I have ridden horses where all I had to work with was my ability to fake confidence.
Every time I approach a horse or step up into a saddle, I have no idea what I am going to do or even if I am going to be able to help that particular horse. But I approach each horse with absolute confidence that I am going to get a change. I may not know how or when I’ll get that change, but I am certain it will happen. Horses respond to that.
So when you aren’t sure what or how to do something, fake it with absolute confidence. Remember something that I was once told “I may not be right, but I am certain.”
This is a great example of a rider faking confidence. The horse cleared 8ft 3 1/2in