Over the years, there has been a lot of discussion about different learning styles and modalities of children. It’s common knowledge (I think!) for parents and teachers to consider the style that is most comfortable for their child to learn and also the modality in which that child learns best. It appears that the different learning styles might parallel personality traits and the modalities are the ways that information is transmitted to and processed in the brain.
Now, take that with a grain of salt because I’m not a child educator and don’t even have children, I’m just looking at this from an analytical perspective…
I look at this information and it makes perfect sense to me. Next, I wonder why so many horse trainers tend to treat all horses as if they are the same, as if they have one learning style and one modality? Seems limiting at best. Yes, different trainers talk a great deal about personalities, but not about how that personality processes information, which is what matters when it comes to training, after all.
As an effort NOT to limit them, I think it’s worth looking at these same learning styles & modalities and seeing how they apply to horse training.
The modalities fit into this scenario when we look at how horses “process” information. The most common modalities are visual, kinesthetic and auditory. In my experience, horses can and do use all three of these, how much depends upon how much encouragement they get to utilize all of their ability to process the information that comes into their world.
Visual in the context of human children normally means reading, pictures, graphs, some sort of visual presentation. Clearly my horses don’t read nor do they have much opportunity to process pictures and graphs, BUT they can process what they see other horses do. Foals have this ability from the day they are born, they see their mom eating solid food and they try grass, hay, grain. They see their mom pin her ears at a lower ranking horse or move away from a higher ranking horse, and they follow suit. It’s more than just mimicking, they are learning what behaviors work as communication techniques. Horses are remarkably visual, taking clues from body language, both horse and human. Some are more sensitive to the visual clues of humans than others as some horses tend to tune out human “body language” and ignore a great deal of what doesn’t fit with their understanding of correct Horsetiquette
Kinesthetic is receiving information via touch. In children that normally means hands on activities such as projects and experiments. With horses this probably seems like a no brainer, because they are physical creatures, but it’s also something they learn early on, their mom bumps them out of the way, or she may shove the foal toward the milk bar on that first exploration trip looking for food. Horses use their prehensile lips to investigate new things, being curious by nature, they use touch to investigate and often determine if something is worth being wary about This is the modality being used when horses are asked to touch something that scares them and face their fears.
Auditory may be less obvious and less prevalent, as it is often less common in children as well. But horses are surprisingly aware of sounds and can make the connection quite rapidly between sound and what that sound means. For example, how many horses have you seen that stop moving on a lunge line when the handler says “good boy!” or “good girl!”. As a prey animal they need to be very aware of sound, what many rider’s don’t consider is how many different words they can assimilate into their vocabulary. Clicker training is a great example of auditory learning, as horses quickly understand that the bridge signal has significant meaning.
It only make sense that if understanding your child’s learning style helps make education easier and time spent more effective, wouldn’t the same apply to horses?
I’ve tweaked the 4 basic learning styles so that they fit the limitations of horses (for example, mine don’t read!)… and I’ve given them names for ease of discussion. I will caution that learning styles are not fixed attributes and a horse can move from one style to another at times, so they should not be used to pigeon hole the horse into a narrow scope, but one style may be preferred most of the time. Some horses will bounce back and forth between styles based on the task at hand or in adaptation to a human’s training style.
Doer: This learning style may be most prevalent in horses that tends to be higher energy and more inclined to movement (right or wrong) rather than pondering a choice before making it. This horse just goes into action and depends upon the trainer to help it know if the “action” was right or not. They tend to be more of a reactor than a thinker.
Thinker: This personality also often hesitates before offering a potential solution. This learning style appreciates structure in tasks, with clear steps leading from one point to another. The Thinker considers options before tossing out a potential option. The Thinker also often doesn’t like being wrong, so he doesn’t want just toss out a possible option, he wants to consider it and try to get the RIGHT one. Routine and consistency of requests works best for this learning type.
Problem Solver: This learning style likes to sort out the point and works best in a free shaping environment where it is allowed to figure out the point based on feedback from the trainer. Horses are natural problem solvers and learners in a free shaping environment, starting from the day they are born when they must find the “milk bar” which is the ultimate reward for their search and discovery mission. This learning style is often not encouraged by “traditional” horse trainers but is commonly rediscovered by clicker trainers using a bridge signal to let the horse know they are closing in on a desired behavior.
Social Butterfly: This type thrives on personal interaction and the interaction is of more interest to this type than the tasks at hand. This is a very people oriented horse and can be very sensitive to aversive training techniques because the more aversive the technique, the larger the rift placed between the social butterfly and the person they are with.
There you have it, four basic learning styles that mirror human learning styles (yes I keep saying horses aren’t so different from humans as we often think!).
Of the different learning styles, there is often some overlap and some horses can be as much one type as another. For example, many horses are “Social Butterflys” as well as another learning type simultaneously. Often nature and nurture during the formative months/years have a lot to do with if a horse fits into this learning style.
Doers and Thinkers are often on two different ends of the same spectrum, but that’s not to say that a Doer is never a Thinker or vice versa. But most horses tend to either act first or think first, how your horse fits into this is most easily determined by his initial reaction to a request.
Problem Solvers are often the exception rather than the rule and problem solving often is born of boredom. For example, that horse that learns to unlatch his stall door or paddock gate. This may not be something he chooses to apply to most normal training situations, but it CAN be encouraged and developed with a technique like operant conditioning where he is encouraged to figure out what’s being asked of him with a bridge signal to let him know when he’s on the right track.
So, lets look at these learning styles and modalities and how that horse reacts to a standard training technique. Go to just about any “traditional” horse trainer and they will tell you if a horse doesn’t respond, increase the pressure. This means if you ask the horse for a behavior and he doesn’t respond, you increase the force behind the cue. Some use a 5 second rule or a 3 second rule, where the horse has a set time to react properly before the “trainer” uses more pressure to force a point.
The Doer is more reactive by nature and is probably off “doing” before pressure can escalate if the cue was to inspire movement. But this learning type is one that is in motion first and finds slowing down or being still more of a challenge. This is the type of horse that novices often decide a stronger bit is in order when the horse doesn’t seem to hear their request for it to slow down. But in fact, the learning style of this horse says “go” first, think about the request later, and any escalation of cues tends to inspire more flight instincts and less thinking, which is just the opposite of what the rider wants when thinking of slowing the horse down. After all, increase the pressure means increase the energy level to this particular horse, he/she is a Doer after all.
The Thinker may appear dim to some trainers at the point of escalating cues for non responsiveness. But the truth is, this type just doesn’t jump to a conclusion and toss any old thing out there in the face of a request. By escalating pressure and asking HARDER, it actually distracts the thinker from choosing an option. Some may become visibly irritated by in increase in pressure. It’s akin to taking to someone who doesn’t speak your language and yelling when they don’t respond. It’s just down right RUDE! What works best with The Thinker is to give him/her a chance to make a choice and pick a potential solution. The key to knowing if the Thinker understood your request is what action he/she took. The only flaw to that idea is if the horse is standing still, and does nothing, it could be because the horse didn’t understand. The key to think type is asking again is fine, but escalation of pressure is akin to screaming, sometimes asking more softly helps or asking a different way, because a change may help clarify if the original request wasn’t clear. Clarity is everything to The Thinker.
The Problem Solver is an interactive learner. This horse enjoys experimenting to figure out the answer. Some horses don’t relish making a choice, particularly if it might be a wrong choice, so although they all experiment, this type really likes the process. So, being wrong isn’t such a big deal to this type, it’s part of the process of learning and trying different things. BUT this type doesn’t need more pressure if they pick the wrong answer, he just needs a sign that he’s heading down the right road. One note on this type, punishment tends to decrease the horse’s desire to problem solve, which is why these horses may not seem so brilliant when they are being trained by a human, but left to their own devices, they can get out of fences and into feed rooms. Also, gimmicks that restrict movement tend to inhibit a problem solver because it restricts his options. This type needs to be given the liberty to try different options and be encouraged when he’s made a right choice. Positive reinforcement and a bridge signal to pin point when the horse is right really gets the problem solver engaged and working with the human toward a specific solution.
The Social Butterfly loves the interaction of training and relishes the partnership. Punishment can be particularly daunting to this personality type because it is the ultimate sign of criticism and displeasure. Punishment often confuses a Social Butterfly because they enjoy training because of the relationship with their person, not because they love to learn. They do best with a positive reinforcement training technique that supports the positive relationship building that this type craves.
What does this do for you? Hopefully give you some food for thought on the topic if what escalation does to your horse based on his learning style and help you answer the question, does escalation help or hurt a horse’s ability to learn?
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Extending the Olive Branch
Being a bit of wordsmith wannabe, several online dictionaries send me daily definitions. Call me odd, I’m ok with that, but I enjoy reading the definitions and pondering thoughts they inspire.
So, the word “aggression” came to me via email a week or so ago and I started pondering aggression and well that definition really applies to different species.
From Websters:
Aggression
1: a forceful action or procedure (as an unprovoked attack) especially when intended to dominate or master
2: the practice of making attacks or encroachments; especially : unprovoked violation by one country of the territorial integrity of another
3: hostile, injurious, or destructive behavior or outlook especially when caused by frustration
Definition 1 only makes sense when applied to predators. I can apply it to humans and to other predators that dominate in order to supply themselves with food. Definition 2 is apparently the world view of aggression as it relates to territory (also probably applies to religion, but that’s another blog). Again, doesn’t seem to apply to prey animals. Definition 3 appears to have the closest application to animal aggression, but it doesn’t fit entirely because there seems to be a missing component: FEAR.
I Googled “fear aggression” and found a plethora of information on fear aggression in dogs but nothing very useful about horses, which of course is where I was going with this blog. I googled aggression in horses and didn’t find much of use, well, unless you consider using a stun gun on a horse as useful, which I do not.
Fear aggression in dogs is defined as “Aggression produced as a result of fear.” Ok, that is simple & obvious enough. So, why do some animals react to fear with aggression and some do not? It is clearly an opposite reaction, one is to flee and the other is to stand and fight back, both based on the same emotion, but with opposite reactions.
In search of why some dogs become aggressive lead me to this comment from Dr. Nicholas B. Carter in an article on a Border Collie Rescue site: “What produces fear aggression is a mixture of things - socialization, temperament, abuse, genetics, training, or just rotten luck. Like all behaviors, this is not a nature vs. nurture issue - it's a nature AND nurture issue. What is inevitably true however is that untreated, fear aggression only gets worse.”
Ok, I’m confident that statement can also apply to horses who experience fear aggression.
Horses are prey animals and although they may at times be aggressive with each other they not normally aggressive with predators (humans) Here is Webester’s definition that applies to horses: Prey: an animal taken by a predator as food.
In this big world we are either predator or prey, basically. The horse is prey and it's standard reaction in the face of a predator is to flee in order to avoid becoming someone’s lunch. But in the end, prey animals will fight back when they feel they have no other choice.
Continuing to poke around on the internet, I found this on www.paw-rescue.org/
Helping A Fear-Aggressive Dog:
* Use positive reinforcement to train the dog. Reward appropriate behavior with treats, praise and petting. Earn and build the dog's trust.
* Don't punish a dog for bad behavior. Instead, use humane, properly executed corrections.
* Don't reward a dog for aggressive behavior (this includes cooing, cuddling and petting in an attempt to soothe).
* Avoid reinforcing dog's fear with your own anxiety.
* Remember: fearful dogs don't like surprises. Establish rules and order to help the dog adjust, and make sure everyone in the house follows the rules.
* As with dominance aggression, the person needs to become leader of the pack.
Dr. Nicholas B. Carter’s opinion is that “more dogs are put down by their owners in this country for fear aggression than old age.” So, why do some humans find these things so hard to do in order to deal with the problem?
Ok, time for MY opinion (after all, this is my blog!) it’s hard for us because humans are not good at controlling our emotions. We think we are but we aren’t. We think putting on a happy face tells the world we are happy even if we are seething inside. The problem is that the only creatures that fall for that ploy are other humans. Dogs and horses KNOW what is going on inside of us. They know when we are sad, hurt, angry, happy, irritable, and they react to how we are really feeling, not how we pretend to feel.
Simple as that. Frightened humans tend to lash out. When humans expect the target of their aggression (the horse) to be submissive and it doesn’t behave as expected, that increases the human level of anxiety and fear, hence, the human tends to become more aggressive. Suddenly the bad vibes bouncing back and forth between horse and human are like the spin cycle on a washing machine going around and around and around. Only the spin cycle never stops, and the easy answer is to never handle the horse, or get “rid” of it. Often the latter seems to be the answer.
If I were going to write an instruction manual for horses about how to handle aggressive humans, here are the guidelines I would offer:
Helping A Fear-Aggressive Human
* Use positive reinforcement to train the human. Reward appropriate behavior with polite behavior, soft eyes and affection. Earn and build the human’s trust.
* Don't punish a human for bad behavior. Instead, use kind but clear (dare I say humane?) corrections.
* Don't reward a human for aggressive behavior
* Avoid reinforcing human’s fear with your own anxiety.
* Remember: fearful humans don't like surprises.
* As with dominance aggression, the person needs to become leader of the pack.
I’m seeing a pattern here… (-;
The flaw I see in how most humans deal with equine aggression is to meet aggression with aggression. They respond with that idea that the challenge has to be met “head on” and defeated, as if this is a battle of wills. The problem is this: the lesson the horse learns is humans can’t be trusted and can’t be bothered to listen to the horse’s side of the issue.
Back to the rules I listed above, although I was writing somewhat tongue-in-cheek, there is a lot of truth to those words. The problem is that the horse isn’t going to read my “instruction manual for how to deal with an aggressive human” and they need the human to extend the olive branch to them, so they know they have no reason to continue the fight. And with some horses, those that have been fighting with humans on some level for a prolonged period, it may take a while to actually build their trust and belief that the rules of engagement have changed. Remember, the rules as this aggressive horse understands them, are that humans are aggressive and the only tactic to get the human to leave the horse alone is to match aggression with aggression.
Some theorize that it’s all about dominance, but the problem with that theory is that we aren’t horses so herd dynamics don’t really apply to human interaction. Also, I’ve seen during the process of rehabbing these horses that they are much more relaxed when they aren’t on the defensive. Who wants to be seething and churning emotionally inside? Not humans, not horses either.
So, back to how humans can change their behavior in order to help the horse change HIS behavior:
Helping A Fear-Agressive Horse
* Use positive reinforcement to train the horse. Reward appropriate behavior with treats, praise and petting. Earn and build the horse’s trust that you will behave rationally and fairly.
* Don't punish a horse for bad behavior. Instead, use humane, properly executed corrections. It is more effective to reward desirable behavior than punish undesirable behavior.
* Don't reward or reinforce aggressive behavior (this includes fighting back which communicates he was in fact threatened and his aggression was necessary to protect himself).
* Avoid reinforcing horse’s fear with your own anxiety.
* Remember: fearful horses don't like surprises or confusion. Establish rules and order to help the horse adjust, and make sure everyone in the barn follows the rules.
* As with dominance aggression, the person needs to become leader of the herd. This means being a good leader that is fair & consistent.
I would add one more:
* Make your expectations clear. Clear communication is the key to consistent behavior from a horse. Frustration gives birth to anxiety which for some horses is only a step or two away from aggression.
These rules sound all too simple, but they aren’t. They are difficult for humans for two reasons: One is that as much as we humans want the animals around us to control their emotions, we have a hard time controlling our own. We need to get a grip on our own anxiety so that we don’t let our own fear drive us to aggression. We also need to avoid feeding the horse’s anxiety with our own. That can be a tall order.
Punishment is the most common human reaction to aggression in horses, without significant thought or planning. The problem is that brings out the worst in an aggressive horse and validates his need to fight back.
In theory, the rest of the guidelines aren’t all that hard to follow, except the human has to go through a paradigm shift away from a couple of generally accepted training tactics:
1. If the horse doesn’t react appropriately or promptly enough, up the pressure.
2. If the horse behaves badly, punishment it.
These two standard operating procedures in horse training tend to bring out the worst in a horse with aggressive tendencies. I imagine that this statement leaves some folks wondering what a person is to do if they shouldn’t increase pressure or punish aggression. The answer is to change the human’s behavior and the horse’s behavior will follow suit. I know that’s not the message most folks want to hear, but it’s the truth. And it isn't an immediate fix, in our culture of instant gratification, it's probalby bad news for some people. But it takes time for a horse to conclude that the rules have changed. Learning to deal with an aggressive horse can be a life changing experience that impacts every aspect of a human’s life, it requires a lot of soul searching to get a grip on the human emotions that lead us to lash out first and ask questions later.
Horses are not aggressive without provocation. Only it’s not always obvious to humans why the horse felt provoked. We have to put ourselves in the horse’s skin for a while to see that. That’s my suggestion, borrow that horse suit and ponder how it feels to be trained with punishment and given unclear instructions with increased pressure every time you guess wrong. Consider having no control over your environment. Consider feeling helpless and afraid in the presence of the very predator you depend upon for food and water. Consider what it would be like to be hit with a stun gun for expressing your opinion. EEEK!
So, the word “aggression” came to me via email a week or so ago and I started pondering aggression and well that definition really applies to different species.
From Websters:
Aggression
1: a forceful action or procedure (as an unprovoked attack) especially when intended to dominate or master
2: the practice of making attacks or encroachments; especially : unprovoked violation by one country of the territorial integrity of another
3: hostile, injurious, or destructive behavior or outlook especially when caused by frustration
Definition 1 only makes sense when applied to predators. I can apply it to humans and to other predators that dominate in order to supply themselves with food. Definition 2 is apparently the world view of aggression as it relates to territory (also probably applies to religion, but that’s another blog). Again, doesn’t seem to apply to prey animals. Definition 3 appears to have the closest application to animal aggression, but it doesn’t fit entirely because there seems to be a missing component: FEAR.
I Googled “fear aggression” and found a plethora of information on fear aggression in dogs but nothing very useful about horses, which of course is where I was going with this blog. I googled aggression in horses and didn’t find much of use, well, unless you consider using a stun gun on a horse as useful, which I do not.
Fear aggression in dogs is defined as “Aggression produced as a result of fear.” Ok, that is simple & obvious enough. So, why do some animals react to fear with aggression and some do not? It is clearly an opposite reaction, one is to flee and the other is to stand and fight back, both based on the same emotion, but with opposite reactions.
In search of why some dogs become aggressive lead me to this comment from Dr. Nicholas B. Carter in an article on a Border Collie Rescue site: “What produces fear aggression is a mixture of things - socialization, temperament, abuse, genetics, training, or just rotten luck. Like all behaviors, this is not a nature vs. nurture issue - it's a nature AND nurture issue. What is inevitably true however is that untreated, fear aggression only gets worse.”
Ok, I’m confident that statement can also apply to horses who experience fear aggression.
Horses are prey animals and although they may at times be aggressive with each other they not normally aggressive with predators (humans) Here is Webester’s definition that applies to horses: Prey: an animal taken by a predator as food.
In this big world we are either predator or prey, basically. The horse is prey and it's standard reaction in the face of a predator is to flee in order to avoid becoming someone’s lunch. But in the end, prey animals will fight back when they feel they have no other choice.
Continuing to poke around on the internet, I found this on www.paw-rescue.org/
Helping A Fear-Aggressive Dog:
* Use positive reinforcement to train the dog. Reward appropriate behavior with treats, praise and petting. Earn and build the dog's trust.
* Don't punish a dog for bad behavior. Instead, use humane, properly executed corrections.
* Don't reward a dog for aggressive behavior (this includes cooing, cuddling and petting in an attempt to soothe).
* Avoid reinforcing dog's fear with your own anxiety.
* Remember: fearful dogs don't like surprises. Establish rules and order to help the dog adjust, and make sure everyone in the house follows the rules.
* As with dominance aggression, the person needs to become leader of the pack.
Dr. Nicholas B. Carter’s opinion is that “more dogs are put down by their owners in this country for fear aggression than old age.” So, why do some humans find these things so hard to do in order to deal with the problem?
Ok, time for MY opinion (after all, this is my blog!) it’s hard for us because humans are not good at controlling our emotions. We think we are but we aren’t. We think putting on a happy face tells the world we are happy even if we are seething inside. The problem is that the only creatures that fall for that ploy are other humans. Dogs and horses KNOW what is going on inside of us. They know when we are sad, hurt, angry, happy, irritable, and they react to how we are really feeling, not how we pretend to feel.
Simple as that. Frightened humans tend to lash out. When humans expect the target of their aggression (the horse) to be submissive and it doesn’t behave as expected, that increases the human level of anxiety and fear, hence, the human tends to become more aggressive. Suddenly the bad vibes bouncing back and forth between horse and human are like the spin cycle on a washing machine going around and around and around. Only the spin cycle never stops, and the easy answer is to never handle the horse, or get “rid” of it. Often the latter seems to be the answer.
If I were going to write an instruction manual for horses about how to handle aggressive humans, here are the guidelines I would offer:
Helping A Fear-Aggressive Human
* Use positive reinforcement to train the human. Reward appropriate behavior with polite behavior, soft eyes and affection. Earn and build the human’s trust.
* Don't punish a human for bad behavior. Instead, use kind but clear (dare I say humane?) corrections.
* Don't reward a human for aggressive behavior
* Avoid reinforcing human’s fear with your own anxiety.
* Remember: fearful humans don't like surprises.
* As with dominance aggression, the person needs to become leader of the pack.
I’m seeing a pattern here… (-;
The flaw I see in how most humans deal with equine aggression is to meet aggression with aggression. They respond with that idea that the challenge has to be met “head on” and defeated, as if this is a battle of wills. The problem is this: the lesson the horse learns is humans can’t be trusted and can’t be bothered to listen to the horse’s side of the issue.
Back to the rules I listed above, although I was writing somewhat tongue-in-cheek, there is a lot of truth to those words. The problem is that the horse isn’t going to read my “instruction manual for how to deal with an aggressive human” and they need the human to extend the olive branch to them, so they know they have no reason to continue the fight. And with some horses, those that have been fighting with humans on some level for a prolonged period, it may take a while to actually build their trust and belief that the rules of engagement have changed. Remember, the rules as this aggressive horse understands them, are that humans are aggressive and the only tactic to get the human to leave the horse alone is to match aggression with aggression.
Some theorize that it’s all about dominance, but the problem with that theory is that we aren’t horses so herd dynamics don’t really apply to human interaction. Also, I’ve seen during the process of rehabbing these horses that they are much more relaxed when they aren’t on the defensive. Who wants to be seething and churning emotionally inside? Not humans, not horses either.
So, back to how humans can change their behavior in order to help the horse change HIS behavior:
Helping A Fear-Agressive Horse
* Use positive reinforcement to train the horse. Reward appropriate behavior with treats, praise and petting. Earn and build the horse’s trust that you will behave rationally and fairly.
* Don't punish a horse for bad behavior. Instead, use humane, properly executed corrections. It is more effective to reward desirable behavior than punish undesirable behavior.
* Don't reward or reinforce aggressive behavior (this includes fighting back which communicates he was in fact threatened and his aggression was necessary to protect himself).
* Avoid reinforcing horse’s fear with your own anxiety.
* Remember: fearful horses don't like surprises or confusion. Establish rules and order to help the horse adjust, and make sure everyone in the barn follows the rules.
* As with dominance aggression, the person needs to become leader of the herd. This means being a good leader that is fair & consistent.
I would add one more:
* Make your expectations clear. Clear communication is the key to consistent behavior from a horse. Frustration gives birth to anxiety which for some horses is only a step or two away from aggression.
These rules sound all too simple, but they aren’t. They are difficult for humans for two reasons: One is that as much as we humans want the animals around us to control their emotions, we have a hard time controlling our own. We need to get a grip on our own anxiety so that we don’t let our own fear drive us to aggression. We also need to avoid feeding the horse’s anxiety with our own. That can be a tall order.
Punishment is the most common human reaction to aggression in horses, without significant thought or planning. The problem is that brings out the worst in an aggressive horse and validates his need to fight back.
In theory, the rest of the guidelines aren’t all that hard to follow, except the human has to go through a paradigm shift away from a couple of generally accepted training tactics:
1. If the horse doesn’t react appropriately or promptly enough, up the pressure.
2. If the horse behaves badly, punishment it.
These two standard operating procedures in horse training tend to bring out the worst in a horse with aggressive tendencies. I imagine that this statement leaves some folks wondering what a person is to do if they shouldn’t increase pressure or punish aggression. The answer is to change the human’s behavior and the horse’s behavior will follow suit. I know that’s not the message most folks want to hear, but it’s the truth. And it isn't an immediate fix, in our culture of instant gratification, it's probalby bad news for some people. But it takes time for a horse to conclude that the rules have changed. Learning to deal with an aggressive horse can be a life changing experience that impacts every aspect of a human’s life, it requires a lot of soul searching to get a grip on the human emotions that lead us to lash out first and ask questions later.
Horses are not aggressive without provocation. Only it’s not always obvious to humans why the horse felt provoked. We have to put ourselves in the horse’s skin for a while to see that. That’s my suggestion, borrow that horse suit and ponder how it feels to be trained with punishment and given unclear instructions with increased pressure every time you guess wrong. Consider having no control over your environment. Consider feeling helpless and afraid in the presence of the very predator you depend upon for food and water. Consider what it would be like to be hit with a stun gun for expressing your opinion. EEEK!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
All About Intentions
All my life I've heard people talk about horses being able to sense our emotions. I've had it proven to me time and again, even as a child, if I was angry about something, my wonderful mare, Holly, would be uncatchable. If I was sad, she would be there for me with her soft nose in my face, or ruffling my hair. If I was distracted, she would be the same. When I was focused, she was on target and fabulous.
I always thought of these emotions - the ones horses could detect - as being rather black and white, easily grouped and definable; obvious, not rooted in a lot of complexity. And then after my knee fracture last year, nothing has been obvious or black and white, my role with horses has been filled with shades of grey and loads of complexity.
It's not what it might appear on the surface, it's not a fear of horses, because I wasn't hurt by a horse, I was hurt because I made a bad choice. This idea of blaming myself for what happened - well, it's the truth and sometimes the truth just hurts. So, where did that leave me? After a lot of pondering over my situation I realized that I lost a lot of confidence after that fall, not confidence in my riding or training ability, but confidence that I would make the right judgement call in a split second when I have to make an instantaneous decision. And this has potentially frightening repercussions when that decision can have disastrous results. And the loss of confidence wasn't instantaneous, it took a while to sink in, with all of it's complexity.
Of course, it's easy to say no one died, it was only a fracture, surgery, no walking for 3 months, and a big ol' wad of money spent on barn help, doctors bills, rehab... it was a life changing event that I don't want to go through again, as long as I live.
That has left me oddly unsure. Not hesitant to handle my horses but just not confident in my ability to make the right choice in a pinch and I can see that this lack of confidence has bled over into how horses interact with me. I think the ones that know me well have tried to look the other way, because this change isn't what they expect from me.
But Cal, the newest addition to the herd, didn't know me before the accident, so I think he most clearly reflected what he read in my intentions. He was more aware of this than I was for a long time. OK, I guess I was in denial to some degree, aware that I had these concerns but not sure what to do about them, so in a true procrastinator fashion, I hoped if I ignored them, these feelings would just go away.
Then a few weeks ago, I was working with Cal on trailer loading. He had some past issues with loading and clearly if he came off the trailer on his own, he had been backed as punishment. I'm assuming that because once he started backing off, he backed for probably 50 feet before he stopped with a high head and concern in his eyes.
After taking a strictly positive approach using clicker training concepts and his favorite rewards for forward movement, he got the idea that he didn't need to keep backing, coming off the trailer was acceptable.
But he hesitated to come all the way in the trailer until I asked him to follow me into the straight load stall. Now, I'd been avoiding this for several reasons, one being I'm not as agile as I once was and a straight load trailer isn't a huge space for a horse and a human. And with a stiff knee and if he panicked or got an attitude, which he sometimes does, I'd be trapped in a small space with him, and no easy way out. I also ultimately wanted to be able to send him into the trailer, but at that moment, he was telling me that he was unsure and I knew sending him in wasn't likely to happen that day.
The other, and perhaps more important message that I got from Cal was that he needed me to be a confident leader, not to hesitate being in a small space with him, I needed to be able to welcome him into MY space, and share my confidence that this was a safe step for him to take.
It all happened so fast, it's as if I decided that I was safe with him and within moments he decided he was safe with me, and suddenly he was in that trailer stall, next to me, looking pleased with himself and happy as a clam in that confined space. He was focused enough to step forward and back and forward again, when I asked rather than getting stuck in gear like many horses tend to do once they begin backing out of a trailer.
Looking back on this experience, I'm reminded that it's not enough to want or try to project an emotion, because horses aren't fooled by any of that. They can feel what is in our hearts, and they can ferret out any hesitation or glimmer of failed confidence. They are truly our mirror in so many ways. Not necessarily a mirror in our mood, but the feelings beneath our mood, the ones we often try to ignore or deny. I think they show us what we project that we may not want to see or admit or acknowledge, in addition to our strengths.
If we allow them, these fabulous creatures can be our guide in the evolution of the human spirit. The key is that we have to welcome them into our space, literally and figuratively. They offer every day, but do we always accept their offer? (-:
I always thought of these emotions - the ones horses could detect - as being rather black and white, easily grouped and definable; obvious, not rooted in a lot of complexity. And then after my knee fracture last year, nothing has been obvious or black and white, my role with horses has been filled with shades of grey and loads of complexity.
It's not what it might appear on the surface, it's not a fear of horses, because I wasn't hurt by a horse, I was hurt because I made a bad choice. This idea of blaming myself for what happened - well, it's the truth and sometimes the truth just hurts. So, where did that leave me? After a lot of pondering over my situation I realized that I lost a lot of confidence after that fall, not confidence in my riding or training ability, but confidence that I would make the right judgement call in a split second when I have to make an instantaneous decision. And this has potentially frightening repercussions when that decision can have disastrous results. And the loss of confidence wasn't instantaneous, it took a while to sink in, with all of it's complexity.
Of course, it's easy to say no one died, it was only a fracture, surgery, no walking for 3 months, and a big ol' wad of money spent on barn help, doctors bills, rehab... it was a life changing event that I don't want to go through again, as long as I live.
That has left me oddly unsure. Not hesitant to handle my horses but just not confident in my ability to make the right choice in a pinch and I can see that this lack of confidence has bled over into how horses interact with me. I think the ones that know me well have tried to look the other way, because this change isn't what they expect from me.
But Cal, the newest addition to the herd, didn't know me before the accident, so I think he most clearly reflected what he read in my intentions. He was more aware of this than I was for a long time. OK, I guess I was in denial to some degree, aware that I had these concerns but not sure what to do about them, so in a true procrastinator fashion, I hoped if I ignored them, these feelings would just go away.
Then a few weeks ago, I was working with Cal on trailer loading. He had some past issues with loading and clearly if he came off the trailer on his own, he had been backed as punishment. I'm assuming that because once he started backing off, he backed for probably 50 feet before he stopped with a high head and concern in his eyes.
After taking a strictly positive approach using clicker training concepts and his favorite rewards for forward movement, he got the idea that he didn't need to keep backing, coming off the trailer was acceptable.
But he hesitated to come all the way in the trailer until I asked him to follow me into the straight load stall. Now, I'd been avoiding this for several reasons, one being I'm not as agile as I once was and a straight load trailer isn't a huge space for a horse and a human. And with a stiff knee and if he panicked or got an attitude, which he sometimes does, I'd be trapped in a small space with him, and no easy way out. I also ultimately wanted to be able to send him into the trailer, but at that moment, he was telling me that he was unsure and I knew sending him in wasn't likely to happen that day.
The other, and perhaps more important message that I got from Cal was that he needed me to be a confident leader, not to hesitate being in a small space with him, I needed to be able to welcome him into MY space, and share my confidence that this was a safe step for him to take.
It all happened so fast, it's as if I decided that I was safe with him and within moments he decided he was safe with me, and suddenly he was in that trailer stall, next to me, looking pleased with himself and happy as a clam in that confined space. He was focused enough to step forward and back and forward again, when I asked rather than getting stuck in gear like many horses tend to do once they begin backing out of a trailer.
Looking back on this experience, I'm reminded that it's not enough to want or try to project an emotion, because horses aren't fooled by any of that. They can feel what is in our hearts, and they can ferret out any hesitation or glimmer of failed confidence. They are truly our mirror in so many ways. Not necessarily a mirror in our mood, but the feelings beneath our mood, the ones we often try to ignore or deny. I think they show us what we project that we may not want to see or admit or acknowledge, in addition to our strengths.
If we allow them, these fabulous creatures can be our guide in the evolution of the human spirit. The key is that we have to welcome them into our space, literally and figuratively. They offer every day, but do we always accept their offer? (-:
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Is Your Horse a Rock Star?
I found an interesting little book that I wish I had read YEARS ago, back when I was teaching dressage, when I was working with so many students who were riding a horse that were not suited to their personality. The book is titled: "Is Your Horse a Rock Star" by Dessa Hockley.
What's so great about this book is it basically looks at horses using a simple analysis tool:
Is the horse:
dominant or submissive
energetic or lazy
curious or afraid
friendly or aloof
One of the things that I like best about her method is that she doesn't tie into any particular training fad or methodology, she just defines the personality type and then talks about the challenges, advantages, and suitability of that type. One of the things she delves into is who that personality type often suits the best and how to adapt to that type if you need to change YOUR approach.
The best time to have this information, of course, is BEFORE a person buys a horse and finds they are butting heads with that same horse. But it is also useful afterwards, assuming a person is willing to try to adapt their behavior and style to the horse than they already own.
I used to think that the rescues that came to live with me were the clear and simply product of poor handling and poor training. I still feel that way, but I can see from this book, exactly what mistakes those "poor trainers" made. It's been fun to do a quick analysis of all the horses in my barn and get a feel for what type of person they are best suited for. I think this could be an excellent tool to help match the right horse with the right rider, however I suspect some "buyers" will not want to be told that Old Faithful is better suited to their personality than their first choice, Hot Stuff...
At any rate, it's a fun read and has great potential to help a lot of horses, IF their humans are willing to make some changes in their approach. In many cases, humans feel that the horse should be adaptable and change to fit the human's style, but honestly, that often just doesn't happen and the end result is that everyone is miserable.
So, hats off to Dessa Hockley for trying to put all of this into clear perspective and help people see why there can be so much variation between horses, even of the same breed.
What's so great about this book is it basically looks at horses using a simple analysis tool:
Is the horse:
dominant or submissive
energetic or lazy
curious or afraid
friendly or aloof
One of the things that I like best about her method is that she doesn't tie into any particular training fad or methodology, she just defines the personality type and then talks about the challenges, advantages, and suitability of that type. One of the things she delves into is who that personality type often suits the best and how to adapt to that type if you need to change YOUR approach.
The best time to have this information, of course, is BEFORE a person buys a horse and finds they are butting heads with that same horse. But it is also useful afterwards, assuming a person is willing to try to adapt their behavior and style to the horse than they already own.
I used to think that the rescues that came to live with me were the clear and simply product of poor handling and poor training. I still feel that way, but I can see from this book, exactly what mistakes those "poor trainers" made. It's been fun to do a quick analysis of all the horses in my barn and get a feel for what type of person they are best suited for. I think this could be an excellent tool to help match the right horse with the right rider, however I suspect some "buyers" will not want to be told that Old Faithful is better suited to their personality than their first choice, Hot Stuff...
At any rate, it's a fun read and has great potential to help a lot of horses, IF their humans are willing to make some changes in their approach. In many cases, humans feel that the horse should be adaptable and change to fit the human's style, but honestly, that often just doesn't happen and the end result is that everyone is miserable.
So, hats off to Dessa Hockley for trying to put all of this into clear perspective and help people see why there can be so much variation between horses, even of the same breed.
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