For years my training focus was on how the horse behaves. But slowly it's shifted toward what the horse's behavior tells me about his emotional state. Why? Because it’s very hard for them to do what I want or how I want if their emotional state is not quite right.
What I've learned from my own horses and also watching trainers train & watching videos of many of the commercial Natural Horsemanship trainers is that they tend to ignore signs of stress and just push on past it, opting for a behavior that they want, rather then being overly concerned with how the horse behaves. I think they realize the horse is stressed, but think that they need to push the horse past his threshhold in order to make progress.
I'm convinced that a prey animal really can't relax unless he's confident that he's safe. I mean REALLY safe. And it's really very hard to relax if any fiber of your being anticipates being on the lunch menu. That's why pushing a horse past his threshhold is not a very useful technique.
Etude, my driving pony, has a mysterious past that makes him fairly reliable in harness most of the time, but boy does he have some issues with humans. He's shown me that humans can create a reliable performance animal who is still very afraid, not trusting humans in the least, and one who is constantly on his guard. He's actually much easier to get him to relax in harness with a closed bridle, where his vision is blocked, than it is when he's got full vision and can see humans around him. My conclusion is that humans have become a poison cue for him. Now that's a hard thing to overcome - the source of his fear trying to reason with a scared pony!
So, why does this matter? Mostly because I want him to trust me and most of the time he does, but there are certain things that scare him (water out of a hose, wormer tubes, clippers, and any gesture that looks like a preface to someone grabbing his face (flash backs to a twitch perhaps?). I'm slowly chipping away at these but I'm finding that although he made decide I'm ok, it's hard to generalize confidence in my behavior to include other humans.
This reminds me of is a lovely quote by the poet and wise lady, Maya Angelou:
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Substitute the word "horses" for "people" and I think this quote says it all. Horses have amazing memories, we need to keep in mind how we make them feel when we make training choices.
2 comments:
Wow, what a great post, Elaine! =] I love your quote at the end. This is something I really want to remember in continuing my work with Reese. Thank you! =]
I have only now been able to take the time to read this latest addition to your blog, Elaine, and it couldn't have happened at a more perfect moment! I picked up Samson last weekend. He is my first Curly Foster Child and he is only 2 years old. His body score is also only 2, and that is after 30 days of all the hay he could eat and 4 qts. of grain daily! He was neglected and not handled, but not abused or mistreated, I'd say. He will do the Curly "freeze in place" reaction even if he is so scared that he quivers in fear!! It is easy to get him to relax and accept things though because he hasn't been deliberately hurt. He is the victim of severe neglect. When I first adopted Dream 3 years ago, she was scored at a 3, and she HAD been badly treated. She still has scars and white hair places as the visible signs of that abuse. She had learned to put her shoulder into a person to push them out of the way to escape. Because she has all of this emotional baggage and memories of pain, it took a lot of work to slowly build her trust. It took 3 years for her to trust me enough to allow me to handle both of her ears, and rub the insides. Her right ear is thick with scar tissue. Luckily, curls hide the scars! It is so sad what some humans do to horses, and other animals. So, I love your quote!! Thanks!
Post a Comment