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Ever wonder why your horse only comes part
of the way to the gate? Ever believe they WANT to come, but their feet
seem to just get stuck about 10 feet from the gate? Ever get clipped on
and feel your horse try to rush out of the gate? Ever get bumped out of
the way or even stepped on? Where is the herd when you try to take out
your horse? Where does your horse rank in the pecking order ladder?
Please
get your horses out of the field or paddock with herd dynamics in mind.
When horses want to come in and crowd the gate.... the dominant or
"leader" owns that gate. Others can show bravery to stand strong there
too, but truly ONE owns the gate. If that one is NOT your horse, you
have to recognize the respect having to be shown by your horse to the
leader. When the leader guards the gate, he/she can be quite aggressive
to any lower members looking to encroach.
When we go out to get
our horses, we have one thing in mind... to "get" our horse. We don't
recognize that our horse is not making it all the way to the gate out
respect for the leader not out of disrespect to us. Then after we
reluctantly lock the gate behind us, walk up to our horse to clip on, we
don't recognize "fear" in their eyes.
See, you are now telling
the low man, they have to walk through a tough gang of mean bullies and
to "suck it up". Well, this is not only hard for the horse to do, they
get VERY scared. So as soon as you open the gate, they bolt out, bumping
into you, or even knocking you over. Your horse isn't doing this to
disrespect you, but to get out of the way of being bit or kicked.
It
is your job as the leader of "your" herd of two, to now protect your
horse. Recognize who is the owner of the gate, the next in command and
so on, so that you can be prepared to defend your herd member. If you
show your horse that you take your job seriously to protect him/her from
the bullies, he/she can and will start to feel safe enough to walk
quietly through the gate. If, however, you just clip on, drag your
horse through the angry mob, not noticing the nipping and aggression
towards him/her, your horse will likely go into self preservation mode
and do whatever it takes to get through that gate untouched. If that
means bumping into you, stepping on your foot or even knocking you down,
that is what they will do.
Knowing the dynamic of your horse's
herd is so important. Spend an afternoon, watching and just observing
the interaction of all the horses. Learn who is the boss, who is his
friend and see if you can figure out the chain of command. Where does
your horse rank? You might see now why getting your horse can be so hard
for you..... it's hard for him too!
I have found much of the work I do conflicts
with "normal" trainers. I don't feel over powering and "showing them
whose boss" is exactly the best approach. I find that developing a
language that is understood and respected works MUCH better. It is so
tough for me to watch other "trainers" use these over bearing
techniques.
One technique that is particularly disturbing to me
is the scissoring of a horses mouth. What, might I ask, is the real
teaching goal here? They pull hard to the left, then hard to the right,
sometimes leaning back in the saddle for the real "pull" leverage. Is
this some illogical way to get a horse to "give" to the bit?
Let
me explain how horses learn. Horses main goal in their interaction with
one another, or us, is to maintain comfort and safety. They are more
than happy to comply with our requests if there is comfort and safety in
the end. To teach a yield, or a give, there has to be an answer to
find. Apply pressure, wait, let the horse "find the answer" and it's
reward is the release. If there is no release they keep looking for the
release or right answer. Over and over a horse can give to the
scissoring, find the right answer, but there is NO release. They tuck
their head to the right rein only to get caught in the mouth with the
left. Who invented this technique and why are people so blind to see
they are not giving the animal any way to be right?
Most
commonly..... (and I suggest you take a moment to look for this when you
see this technique be applied).... the horse will, tuck and "give" but
because they did not get a release, they keep looking for the right
answer. The next attempt to find the answer is the lean on the
"trainer's" hands or throw their head up. To the "trainer" the horse is
being defiant and now gets after them. By now the "trainer" is getting
stronger in the mouth so the horse hollows out his back trying to escape
the pressure. They even starts to look for the answer in their feet
and start stuttering with their feet, not sure to go or stop. This again
causes the "trainer" to get after them and now the kicking, spurring
and whipping begins.
I have watch one of these "trainers" do
this technique to four horses. Each and EVERY one had the exact same
reaction, each was confused, frustrated and getting MAD! Horses either
"give" to pressure or 'lean" on pressure, those are the two options....
if you don't tell them they are right when they give, they then try
option number two and lean. Both answers they come up with have no
release so they hollow out their backs in a form of escape. They stall
out their feet because they try to find the answer as if this rein abuse
is supposed to talk to the feet. That answer is met with MORE abuse.
There is nothing but abuse in this technique. These "trainers" climb on
these young horses with NO language, because ground work is apparently
over rated, and DEMAND head position and obedience without any
understanding. Then when met with confusion, turned resistance, the more
obvious abuse begins. I am sickened by the so called "normal" ways of
training horses!
I am wondering if people really know how to
read horses at all. Can you tell the difference between a horse
reacting in fear verses a horse acting out in disobedience?
The
other day I watched a young lady riding a horse who, obvious to me, had
issues with change. There were some real changes made recently to the
area where the horse was being ridden. This horse was clearly feeling
some fear about this change. Even my horses wanted to look, digest and
be allowed to get over the change.
This horse's fear and anxiety
built with each pass of this area, to the point of an explosion. The
horse bucked... Now, horses buck for two reasons, well three, if you
count just feeling good in turnout. One reason is fear, it's a
knee-jerk reaction to fear and feeling trapped or without escape. The
second reason horses buck is from pain. OK, this horse was not likely
in pain, it was his fear of the change that cause this animal to buck.
Riders
don't see....or feel the signs and just walk right into trouble. The
first time this horse shied, cocked an ear, tilted his head, bowed his
body out from the area, the rider should have brought attention to the
situation, not just push him to "deal" with it. Horses don't just deal
with things and when gone unaddressed their anxiety builds, especially
when they don't know or trust the rider.
What do you think the
reaction was? The horse bucked and the rider started hitting the horses
with a crop. She "got after" him. So, am I the only one that sees
this as a bad thing? The horse is scared so we get mad at him. I'm
glad my horses live in a much more understanding and tolerant world than
that.
The next thing that was done, was some of the objects were
moved, assuming, now, the fear was recognized. Instead of dealing with
it, they just moved stuff.... avoidaholic behavior.
Now, this
horse was afraid, was beat for being afraid and still never digested
that there is NO danger. The rider, supposed leader, has made the horse
WRONG for being afraid, proceeding to damage any trust the horse might
have had in the human. Then wanted to jump the horse right where the
issue was. Does anyone else see a potential accident waiting to happen?
Why
is it, we have services to protect our children from being abused, yet
an arena full of people doesn't see anything wrong with "getting after" a
horse for being scared? You hit a horse out of anger, frustration or
most commonly, your own fear.... you are abusing that animal!
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