What Do I Do When My Horse ... ~!?!?!??!~

What Do I Do When My Horse ... ~!?!?!??!~

Rears, lunges, pushes through me, nips, won't stop, won't pick up hooves, doesn't listen, etc. etc. etc.

While rearing and lunging and kicking out are dangerous behaviors and shouldn't be tackled by the inexperienced, pushy, nippy, bargy, won't do this, won't do that ... those are things that can be "discussed" with your horse in a easy, non-forceful or hurtful manner BUT (there's always a "but", isn't there?) it means something or someone needs to change and guess what? It ain't the horse! All of the mentioned and more "disrespectful" behaviors from the horse are simply behaviors from the horse! They aren't "wrong" behaviors or "bad" behaviors. They're simply your horse's way of trying to tell you something and that "something" is ... you're not his leader.

Leadership isn't just a set of mechanical cues. Leadership is an attitude. Leadership is a state of being; a state of thinking and feeling. The "air" of leadership is one that can be felt strongly by both horse and human even though it cannot be seen or tangibly felt. Leadership IS. Why is leadership so important to establish when working or playing with horses? Because horses are hard-wired to HAVE to have a leader. That means, if the human is not the leader then the horse HAS to be the leader. So you see, its not about the horse being mean or stupid or dumb. It's about YOU and how you're thinking and how you're carrying yourself and what sort of "essence" you're emitting to your horse.

There's one simple way to become your horse's leader and thats to change your thinking. Change your thinking from "training" your horse to TEACHING your horse. That puts a whole different light on the topic and one that will change your demeanor and the energy you transmit to your horse. While many horses must "test" on a regular basis of just who really is the leader, that's OK ... that's part of how they function. Much like dealing with children, one wouldn't "train" a child to read by repetition, one teaches a child to read, step-by-step. Starting at the beginning with "A". In addition to this, if the child gets frustrated or upset a good teacher is not going to punish the child for not understanding but, instead, will try to change things in order to make the lesson easier for the child to understand. All the while, encouraging the child to relax, breath and try again.

When we change our thinking from "training" our horses to "teaching" our horses we become good leaders. Encouraging, enlightening, correcting, helping - with patience, a smile and an attitude that tells the student, "You CAN do this! Yes! You're getting it! See?" All of these things are positive energy and will reap positive results. Because there are no negative threatening energies the "student" will respond with the same positive attitude of willingness and courage.

Horses can't change their hardwiring; people can change their thinking, their mannerisms, their communication skills. Once you change your thinking from being "victimized" by the horse or from being "the boss" to being an encouraging teacher of the horse, you'll start to see changes in your horse's responses to you. Be a good TEACHER for your horse and forget about being the 'trainer'. Stop thinking in terms of the horse being "wrong" to that of the horse not understanding what you're asking. Ask, don't tell and be willing to break the "ask" down into the smallest chunks of steps that the HORSE needs - not what you think he outta understand. Then encourage the horse. Give the horse time and most of all ... if it ain't working then make a change! Don't forget to reward the small accomplishments, the "tries" in your encouragement to the next step. Become your horse's teacher.

Control that Animal!

Control? OK, here's a question ... do we REALLY HAVE CONTROL of a 1200# animal? Ever?:) -- Gwen"

Hi Gwen,

I gonna stick my neck out and answer this one, ...and the answer is a short and simple "No!"

We can attain a simple, very primitive form of 'control' through the use of pain, ...for a while, ...until the fear and the adrenaline kick-in to over-ride the pain, ...and then we've got B-I-G problems 'cos sometime, and somewhere, it *is* going to happen! -The horse *is* going to be pushed over the edge and is going to do whatever it takes to get out of the situation it's in ...-and I certainly never even want to be around when that happens!!!

The only way that I can see of "controlling" a horse is through its mind, -through contact, -through working together, -through learning from each other and through creating a partnership, as pain and force will only work for a limited time at best and will never bring out the best in the horse!

Say that I own an island. I have food, equipment, supplies, ..everything I need, not only to survive and defend myself, but to live very comfortably, ...-and then, one day, another person is washed up on the beach and I take them prisoner and tie them up in a way that limits their movements.

Allow also for this scenario that I am equipped with guns and Tazers and cattle prods and whips, etc., so I can force them to work for me and to do whatever I want, quite literally "on pain of death".

I can stick metal bars or other gags in their mouth, bind their mouth shut with straps, I can force them to carry heavy loads, I can prod them with sharp artefacts or whip them when they don't move fast enough, I can force them to run, I can force them to stand still while I set various straps on them to control the position of their heads, adjust the length of their stride and then force them to run in un-natural ways; I can blind-fold them and make them jump obstacles that they can't see, ....I can, in fact, do whatever I like, both to them and with them, ...but one day they *are* going to snap, they *are* going to rebel, they *are* going to "have a go at me" ...-and what do I do then, -especially if they are bigger than I am??? ("Ahhhh!!!", my pistol is still in my holster and I've let them get too close!)

Now, as this mythical prisoner is a human, the chances are that they would have been able to find out where I slept and would have killed me in my sleep, , but horses don't tend (normally anyway!) to work in this way, even though elephants do, so isn't some sort of "open revolt" the only choice that they have? ...Do we not generally try to do with our horses as "I" have done with my mythical prisoner on my island in the above scenario, ...-and are horses and humans really that different in their natures??? -Prey or predator, we all have similar survival instincts!

Of course, there is something else that I could have done with the person who was washed up on the beach.... -I think! ...Isn't there????

Gordon.