0809 When Horses Fool Us (Training Article)

When Our Horses Fool Us

If you took the time to read the Welcome section above, you know I just related a story about my daughter fooling me with her math skills and in effect training me to help her with more than she really needs. This is not unlike the number of horses who have their owners fooled, with their knowledge, learning ability, and braveness hidden inside an apparent skittish body. Time and time again I’ve been called to help someone with a horse that they described as stubborn, hard to teach, or a coward who is afraid of everything. If it isn’t one of those things, then it’s several of them.

When I show up to meet a new horse, I’m often told about all the issues the horse has and all of the problems that the horse has been giving the owners. At this point, I will usually let the owner handle the horse and ask them to lead the horse along and make some simple right and left hand turns. This gives me a chance to assess how they’re both doing. Often during this process, the horse runs ahead or lags behind, or sometimes drags the owner to the grass at the side of the arena or driveway. Oftentimes an owner will tell me about an area on the property where the horse is very skittish and that the horse “seems afraid of its own shadow.” And sure enough while they’re handling the horse, he does seem to be bothered by many things.

Once the initial assessment is over, the conversation goes something like this: “Well, I think your horse is pretty smart, isn’t afraid and in general has you pretty well trained.”

The look I get back is often one of bewilderment and confusion. Sometimes they even defend their position by saying things like, “Well, she’s better today than most days,” trying to indicate that I haven’t seen the horse at its worst.

At this point I will usually begin to work with the horse and in a few minutes have its attention on me and be leading it in a better manner than they were. I will then usually show how I can walk fast and the horse walks fast, and I can walk real slowly and the horse follows my pattern. Often times I will ask the horse to side pass a little bit and they will exclaim, “I didn’t even know she could do that.” I will walk past the grass and the horse will not drag me to it.

I will usually do some ground work with the horse, moving it around me, teaching it to back up properly, teaching it to yield its neck, poll, and chin, and then teaching it a balanced-turn-on-center.

I won’t let it run over me, be rude to me or drag me anywhere. I also will not drag it anywhere. I will teach it to move out of my way on the right hand turns, teach it to back up and move its shoulders. I will often walk the horse to the very spot where the horse spooked everyday and the horse will stand quietly looking around. And it will all be done in a few minutes, because the horse knows how to do it.

Since the horse is a body language animal, when it sees the owner out of position, moving away when they should be standing their ground, being drug when they should be preventing the horse from dragging them, acting as if the horse might be afraid of some object on the ground or in the bushes, and in general treating the horse as if it doesn’t know how to do something, then the horse immediately starts acting as if he doesn’t know how to listen and behave properly.

This is similar to my daughter pretending not to know the answer to the math questions so that I would help her. In her case she wanted me to help, to give her an answer, to sit next to her, and to be her “school dad for the day.”

Your horse acts like she doesn’t know what you want her to do for a different reason. Your horse realizes through trial and error if it acts “dumb” or is resistant, you soon get tired and put it away. If it acts skittish, you might just get out of the area and go back to the barn and end the day, put her up, and let her go back to eating grass or eating hay in her stall. Soon the horse acts as if everything scares it, and it doesn’t know anything. Before long she is making it so difficult that you don’t want to work her, and if you do you end it as quickly as possible.

When I arrive to work with a new client, I watch all of this and more and then, when I take hold of your horse, I become the leader and I lead the dance. I don’t have to act calm. I am calm. I don’t have to act as if your horse is smart because I already know she is. I don’t have to act as if your horse is scared because I have already seen in her eyes that she is not. Hence in a few minutes she realizes her bluff has been called, that I will be in the right position to get a side pass from her. I will stop her from dragging me to the grass, and when we walk over to the scary object, I genuinely will not be afraid or worried about her reaction to it. And most of the time the horse doesn’t react.

Just as the teacher knew what my daughter was capable of, I know what your horse is capable of.

So how do you find out all of this and more, come to “school” for your horse like I did for my daughter and find out. Attend a clinic “school” in your area. And if the clinics aren’t close enough then organize a “school” session in your area. Find out what your horse knows and how you can get it from them. And then go to recess.