05/08/2021
DON'T BE A JERK
After 40 something years of training horses, very little surprises me anymore. Yet, the longer I do this, the more I am amazed. Out of the hundreds of horses that I've learned from, so far there have not been two exactly alike. Horses physical talents aside, the ability to effectively ride them all, no matter the differences, is because of the fact that all have individual tendencies depending on what motivates them, worries them, scares them, makes them mad, creates anxiety , or relaxes them. When you know how to recognize, at any given moment, what response a horse is having to a certain situation, be it mental, physical, or emotional, not only on a daily basis but often in a split second, you can then assess and alter accordingly. I believe the number one goal is to build trust, no matter what is happening at the time. Some horses develop trust by being rewarded with kindness. Oddly, some build trust by getting their ass kicked once in awhile. I suppose it depends on if they're a snowflake or a warrior. It's interesting to me how much horses are like people. One of the current horses I have in training has an obvious emotional problem previously conditioned by trained responses to her reactions to "things". Of course I know that's how it all works, yet this horse has such a glaringly predictable response that it finally made sense to me how so many other horses have had similar, though more subtle, reactions to conditions that often puzzled me. In her case, she gets mad instantly after getting scared, in an obvious way. You could look at it in two basic ways. For example she may take it personally, like a person who gets mad at themselves for being afraid of the dark. They argue within that they have nothing to be concerned with and get angry at their own perception that they're being a chicken $ #@+. The opposite personality trait is to get mad at the person who tells them that they are being a chicken $ #@+. In this mare's case it's obvious that she gets mad at me. She gets scared regularly by many different things. A flag, a cow, a dog, another horse, a rope, noises, and anything else that changes. Then she instantly gets mad at the tools I would use to help her through it; a leg, my hands, a rope, a flag, noise, cows, etc. Obviously, I wasn't there for her previous training, yet I can make some assumptions due to the fact that in a previous life, I did the same things. She spooked, they got mad and spurred and je**ed. Perhaps not to the literal sense, but get over your high and mighty self; you know what I mean. We've all reacted in a dominant way when we get scared or mad too. The reason that it's possibly a go to reaction on our part is because in some cases, it works. It is possible to teach a certain type of horse to hide their fear out of the fear of consequences. That's the warrior; a soldier. We pretend to become a drill instructor preparing them for battle in a way we think could actually save their life when under fire. Unfortunately, we may want our horse to be a warrior given our own goals, but what if your horse is a snowflake. What if they actually are scared and not being stupid. Desensitizing and exposure are important tools in creating trust. That's a given. Yet what is often missed is that we also need to desensitize and expose them to the tools we would use to help them, like hands, feet, seat, legs, and voice. If you're following me here, you know where I'm going. She would first be afraid of the tool, then get mad at it in a split second. For example if you lay a leg she'd first jump, then she would kick. If you made a connection with your hands she'd first be afraid, then try to rip the reins out of your hands by throwing her head and doing everything including rear up and run off. In this case, desensitizing and exposure are important. Avoiding using legs or making contact with your hands will never fix this. It's how you go about it. Spurring and jerking likely caused it. The law of cause and effect means that if you are at the effect of it, you need to take cause over that same thing to change it. Taking a hold and using legs is how you fix it. Draw the slack, don't move your hands and let her get used to contact. Horses won't fear still contact. They fear the jerk. You just have to hold and wait, sometimes for hours, days and weeks; again and again; same with legs. Horses don't fear a steady leg or a squeeze with purpose. They fear being harpooned. You have to lay the leg and wait without reacting to whatever happens. The concept is simple; whatever you're going to reprimand them with, you also have to be able to pet them with. Once they know they can trust being pulled and pushed, anxiety and emotional defensiveness will be overtidden by relaxation and trust. Is there ever a reason to be briefly quick with a hand or to spur one fairly hard to get a response? Yup. They are late to stop, late to go, or it would be unsafe for you not to. But only if they trust you first, will they make the adjustment to being on time without holding it against you, and only if you have created the ability to use your tools of hands, feet, seat and legs in a non-threatening or emotionally charged way.
There is no such thing as a correction unless it first becomes a maneuver. A horse will accept the occasional extra effort you are in search of as motivation rather than fear. It's abuse if they don't trust you or you try to force them into an emotionally charged conflict. It's winning big things if they do trust you without anxiety.
The goal of this horse is, once again, to be a reiner, cowhorse, ranch horse that doesn't run off. She'll get there once she knows she's never in trouble, even if she's late. That's what will make her willingly guided with no resistance and on time too. Some will get high and mighty and say there's never a reason to be quick with a hand or foot. Reasoning that a recreational or "natural " rider doesn't need those tools. I wish you well when a deer jumps out of the woods and your horse runs off toward a tree thats aiming for your knee and suddenly comes blindly to a cliff. What are you willing to go out there without? Knowing what you're going to need before you need it is horse training. Not having the tool when you need it is not the horses fault, it's yours.
The point to this entire story is to create trust first through desensitizing and exposure to well thought out use of tools and showing them how to accept them before you ask them to occasionally hand you their heart under fire when it's important, like winning something big or saving your own life. Most people who have a conditioned fear of riding due to an accident could have avoided the accident if certain important tools had been in place under pressure. In short, don't be a jerk.
