15/08/2024
Warranted discipline or abuse??
The truth is some behaviors are absolutely not acceptable, and horses are 10 times bigger than us. If a horse swings their head the wrong way and knocks into our head, it would be like Babe Ruth taking a swing at us with a ball bat. If a stallion playfully nips or strikes at us, the way he would another stallion, it could put us in intensive care. Sometimes we must be very “loud” in order to override a horse’s fear response, or ingrained habit, or even a playful gesture, that our weak tiny little bodies cannot sustain- not even once.
As a teenager I was exposed to trainers that make the video of Charlotte look unfortunately mild. 😭 (I’m horrified by her video, so please don’t twist my words into thinking I’m justifying any of it- I’m not.) Sadly, I was taught that horses needed harsh discipline, and I delivered. (I think it’s pretty clear that I’ve gone in a very different direction since.)
Since I have become much more educated , I am now much better at preparing a horse for the next step. I now completely understand that all of that harsh discipline that I dished out, and that those trainers dishes out, was entirely unwarranted. That said, I have also been in positions where horses did require some pretty sharp discipline at times! I work with stallions that naturally think biting is a game. In my 20s I had a lot of horses in training and I was the lowest priced person around. I got exactly what clients you would expect- the horses that had been so spoiled/shut down/etc that already came with deeply ingrained and dangerous responses, and I only had minimal time to make huge changes. Some behaviors needed stopped immediately and effectively, which often required a large amount of pressure.
So when I first heard there was video of Charlotte Dujardin whipping a horse, I didn’t immediately judge. But then I saw the video- and it’s bad.
So how do we determine what’s acceptable but intense, versus what’s abusive. And here’s my thoughts….
1.) Why?? Why is someone beeting this horse? If a Horse strikes out at me, I am likely going to, rather violently, chase that horse backwards. I’m going to make it very clear that striking out a human is not acceptable behavior ever. If a horse is about to jump on me, regardless of the reason, I will use whatever force is required to protect my personal space because I don’t want to die! What is absolutely vile is when someone is bludgeoning a horse in order to make it perform better to win a prize. I don’t mind some well-timed, tap taps to get a horse to cross over more or increase engagement (especially if the horse is a little stuck in his body, and I know that the long-term benefits of changing his posture are going to make him more comfortable and more sound for years to come). But when someone is sharply disciplining a third level horse to make it a fourth level horse (or up) that is absolutely doing it TO the horse, and not FOR the Horse. You’re not doing it for safety, and you’re not doing it to improve the overall life of that animal. You’re doing it to win a stupid ribbon.
2.) There MUST be an easy obvious “out”. As a dressage rider and a professional trainer and instructor I have no idea what the horse in that video could have done to make Charlotte stop whipping him… and that is absolutely not okay. I have a very low energy lesson Horse that occasionally gets belligerent and when students ask him to move forward, he balls up instead. That’s a behavior that obviously needs fixed- that is something that can become dangerous. I had a student with a solid seat, work on retraining his response to leg and stick by putting by applying light pressure and slowly escalating. When she pressed the stick against him, he would brace through his whole body, and when she quickly but lightly tapped he bulged into it, and when she first escalated to an actual whack he kicked out the back similar to the horse in the Charlotte video. I had my student keep rhythmic pressure on this lesson Horse until he went forward. The only pressure from the bit was just enough to keep him from dodging to the right (which is his go to) and the absolute moment he went into a trot we released all the aids and verbally praised him. And within a few repetitions, he no longer kicked out the back, and within about 15 minutes, she could put very light pressure on him, and he trotted forward immediately without the brace.
In our scenario the horse had an obvious out- do a very easy thing that we know that you know, and the pressure is released immediately. We were not pushing him forward while holding him backward. We didn’t put the pressure on randomly when the horse was close enough. 🙄. We kept on steady pressure that was released the moment the horse gave a semi correct “you are getting warmer” answer. What we did was CLEAR and FAIR.
When pressure never comes off, it doesn’t take much to really stressed a horse out. The pressure we used never lasted more than 20 seconds, and when it released, it released completely. If you can’t get a correct answer within 20 seconds, then the horse doesn’t know the answer and you need to use a very different method.
3.) Does the horse know the answer? This obviously links in with the story I just told- our lesson in Horse already knows that leg means go forward. Yes, some beginner students might have accidentally trained it out of him, but overall, this is something he’s known for many years. We definitely put more pressure on him that I would a young horse that I’m sitting on for the first time. I do a heck of a lot of work with young horses to teach them that leg means forward because they don’t just come out of the womb knowing that!! On the ground, I will touch them with a stick and have them move their hip over and then go forward. We repeat that enough that I can replicate it under saddle. Then I would touch with my left leg and then touch with the left stick on the hip to move their hip over and then send them forward. I’m going to repeat that stuff until they understand one leg at a time, and eventually, they understand that both legs together means go forward. And if the 15-year-old lesson Horse really needed it, I would go through that whole process with him as well, but the truth is he knew the answer so we could put on more pressure and fix the problem in 20 minutes, but if it would not have satisfied the additional things below, I would have taken the week or two to explain it to him like I would a baby horse.
4.) How is the horse afterwards? If you smack a horse with a stick and they are now afraid of you, you know that you went too far too quick. But sometimes you smack a horse with a stick, and their expression is more like, “ha ha, yeah I know- just checking!” (yes, that’s anthropomorphizing, but wording like this has helped some of my students so I’m going to use it here.) If the horse seems more relaxed, and more trusting, AFTER you’ve disciplined him, then I’m gonna say you probably did a good job of gauging your pressure. (Not to be confused with learned helplessness but that is pretty extreme and a lot of people love to throw that phrase around when it doesn’t apply.)
Gauging how much pressure to use is a big part of horsemanship!! In general, horses don’t care if they are in charge or if you are in charge, but they want to make sure that whoever is in charge should be! Often if you increase pressure to make yourself very very clear, they actually appreciate it. They aren’t real big on having to guess what it is that you want!
A great example is an electric fence. Horses respect the hell out of a good electric fence, but they aren’t afraid of it- they will graze right up against it! No horse has ever been attacked by an electric fence. It’s clear. It’s fair. And it’s predictable. It also really really hurts!! But most people agree it’s the safest boundary for your horse. I don’t know too many people who think electric fences are abusive.
So if I set a boundary with my horse, and I clearly explained the boundary and they cross it, and I deliver discipline that is harsh as an electric fence (which I doubt I’ve ever been THAT harsh), but the horse saw it coming I knew it was fair, they are unlikely to be afraid of me afterwards.
But if someone is not clear and not fair with their discipline, then the horse is (rightfully so) likely to remain upset for quite a long time! Lol and that’s a good indicator to know that what you did was not okay and you need to find a better method. BTW- the lesson horse’s expression and behavior was much better after our session. He’s still easy to catch, and shows zero fear of humans or whips. And he’s been great for the rest of his lessons this week.
5.) Premeditated or emotional? When I put that student on my lesson horse a few days ago, and had her work through his forward issue, I knew what the lesson plan was going to be before her car pulled in the driveway. I explained to her the timing and the method, and I picked a student that I knew would be able to carry out proper timing.
When a trainer is rushed or angry, or feeling immense pressure and starts wildly “disciplining” a horse, we all can see and feel the difference. It’s gut wrenching.
Someone in the charlotte video was laughing every time charlotte went after him- it was NOT a funny ha ha laugh. It was an uncomfortable laugh. Humans often times laugh to try to downplay or dissipate strong tense emotions. It’s actually a fairly typical response when stuck in a situation where emotions are very high and we are trying to regulate, not only our own emotions, but other peoples as well. Charlotte appeared emotionally “done” in that video. She was not regulating her emotions. She was not taking a moment to problem solve. She just wanted the thing and wanted it now so that she could be done.
Unfortunately, I get it. I went through a very ugly time last year as my marriage imploded, and there were so many days that I refused to work a horse because I knew I didn’t have the ability to emotionally regulate. Thankfully, I was still confident and happy while teaching lessons. But if I’m really emotionally done, and I sit on a horse, it’s too easy for the bu****it that I learned as a teenager to rear its ugly head. But I know that about myself, so I try really hard to not put myself in those positions.
I could probably write more, but this post is already tremendously long - it could probably be its own book to be honest… A book that I really honestly don’t want to write. This whole thing kind of has me on the muscle so I’m going to go chill out so that I can emotionally regulate before I go ride!!!
