#horsementality

If you've spent even five minutes with me, talking horses, you have heard me talk about the "Black and White, NEVER Gray" way of being with horses.

I know it seems almost cruel to not have a "sometimes" clause in your horse/human partnership, but believe me, horses (animals in general) do NOT understand "sometimes"!!! If you won't think having them shove you with their head, to push you around, is cute ALL of the time, then it should NEVER be ok, or excused.

Here is an example of how easy it is to create a gray and I believe you'll see the obvious progression of what that can turn into.

When Teddy first arrived, he thought his food bucket was the most important thing in the world. If you were taking off his halter or just not clear of his path, Teddy was going for his bucket even if it meant pushing you out of his way or seeming to try to just go up and over you.

Well, that is completely unacceptable!!! Not only is it disrespectful, IT IS DANGEROUS!

So how do you fix this with an already 16 hand yearling?

So, I send Teddy into his stall and wait for him to turn and face me. (I have a rule that my horses' stalls are their personal space. I do not go into their stalls to halter or unhalter them. I expect to be greeted at the door and said goodbye to, at the door.) Once Teddy has turned around and faced me, I immediately place my left hand on the nose, basically on the nose piece of his halter. I then ask him to back up two steps, then I will remove his halter, immediately placing my hand back on his nose. This indicates to him that we are not done with this process. I then wait on him... if he is leaning into my hand, with impatience and anticipation of getting to his food, I hold steady. When he gives to my pressure, accepts that he is just not going there yet... that's when I release. This teaches him that he is expected to listen to me, right up until I release him and say it's ok to go to his bucket.

Now, if I were to miss any step in that training process, I would create gray. The gray, in this case, could potentially encourage him to just push harder, if he is not asked to back up "two" steps, he might try to push past at one. If you give in, then next time he might not even step back at all and is already on top of you, in a control position. If I release before he gives, in acceptance, then the next time he might feel encouraged to push harder, be stronger or bigger than me. Dominance is not just aggression, in fact, most dominance games are played just like this. It looks like ridiculous strict obedience training, but trust me, without the gray, taught consistently, your horse will walk into the stall, turn face, back and wait!

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.