I'm pretty sure that whatever advise most of us have received in our lives, after about the age of 6 it wasn't to simply "go out there and have lots of fun"!
Before the age of 6, it's perfectly ok to play, imagine, create and indulge (24 x7), in fun making activity. Then it changes, and after about the age of 6 or 7, it becomes increasingly taboo and discouraged! What fills the gap? In my view an over emphasis on Control. Control your self, your emotions, what you say, what you wear, what you do, how you spend your time, what you eat, when you do your studies, and on and on.
It plays out in our riding too. As I've said before in earlier posts, too often when we interact with, or ride horses, other 'more knowledgeable' so called experts bark at us to "tell her who is boss" and "make her get over that jump" etc!. It's always about control and us exerting control over a half ton horse.
Yet do any of us stop for a moment to consider the horse? Does the horse actually understand our need for control and therefore submission to it (should they even have to)? Is it a meaningful concept? Is it based on equality and compassion and therefore help us to really connect; human to horse and vice verse?
The origins of this need for control seem to come from our fundamental belief that we are the central or most significant species on the planet (known as an anthropocentric view). This in part explains why we assume these roles and positions of control over other species. Be it at Zoos, in the domestication of animals for pets, or sports; the use of animals in agriculture, drug testing and research. We simply barge all over other species - their rights, feelings and emotional and physical needs. Often without a thought!
Is our need for control actually setting us up for a fall, literally? Let's take for example the possibility that it is us that creates a spooky horse! Our need for control is so ingrained in us that it takes over and gets in the way of letting our horse figure out situations and dangers, for himself.
The moment a horse's attention leaves the menage we grab hold and pull his head back down, dismissing what he needs to look at and often causing tension as a result. As soon as he slows down on the hack, head going high up to look ahead at something in the distance, we again push on, dig in, and exert control. In either situation what the horse actually needs is to assimilate the context of his new observations. He/she needs to take in data, to look, pay attention, smell, sniff, and sense with his all of his body and being.
This happened once with Grace, when I was not the jockey due to injury. While Grace was being schooled by an experienced "trainer" another livery was readying herself to ride her horse next. She placed her boy's saddle on the menage fence. I presume it must have given off a strong smell, something undetectable to me, as what happened next was a classic in horse human mis-communication.
Grace suddenly wouldn't go past that section of the menage fence, she spooked, she cavorted, she was snorting, and genuinely 'concerned'. Instead of the rider bringing her calmly over to the fence to investigate the foreign object, and quietly move on once the threat of danger was eradicated, she went into 'control' mode. The rider kicked, pushed, shouted and bullied Grace. Grace in return threw everything back at her; more spins, running backwards and a big bout of nappy behaviour.
It was a great demonstration of how 'control' was completely the wrong approach and did not create a solution for horse or rider. The situation became unsafe, burst horse and rider's confidence bubble and the next two trips into the menage Grace was on 'high alert'. (It's the only time she has ever had a poo in a menage, such was her legitimate fright).
The moral of the story here is; give a horse time to take in a change in their environment. Say no to bully, strong, power based control techniques and give the horse a moment to figure out if he needs to nap and spook, or walk calmly on by!
If a horse doesn't know who he is or where he is he becomes a ticking time bomb! Think about it; we want instant results, fast training methods, short cuts, guaranteed solutions and quick fixes. None of which plays to the innate skills of a horse and how he takes in the world to decide if it's safe or not, which takes time and careful consideration.
Surely even if we are the 'so called dominate species on the planet' it is our duty to make sure our horse is not helpless, or turns into a reactive animal with his senses overwhelmed and frazzled, without time to assess. Especially when we are on his back!
Francesco De Giorgio puts it beautifully when he says "a relationship can not be developed when it is based on a behavioural outcome that has to be controlled". He goes on to say horses spookiness is due to their living conditions rather than it being their "innate state of being".
Before the age of 6, it's perfectly ok to play, imagine, create and indulge (24 x7), in fun making activity. Then it changes, and after about the age of 6 or 7, it becomes increasingly taboo and discouraged! What fills the gap? In my view an over emphasis on Control. Control your self, your emotions, what you say, what you wear, what you do, how you spend your time, what you eat, when you do your studies, and on and on.
It plays out in our riding too. As I've said before in earlier posts, too often when we interact with, or ride horses, other 'more knowledgeable' so called experts bark at us to "tell her who is boss" and "make her get over that jump" etc!. It's always about control and us exerting control over a half ton horse.
Yet do any of us stop for a moment to consider the horse? Does the horse actually understand our need for control and therefore submission to it (should they even have to)? Is it a meaningful concept? Is it based on equality and compassion and therefore help us to really connect; human to horse and vice verse?
The origins of this need for control seem to come from our fundamental belief that we are the central or most significant species on the planet (known as an anthropocentric view). This in part explains why we assume these roles and positions of control over other species. Be it at Zoos, in the domestication of animals for pets, or sports; the use of animals in agriculture, drug testing and research. We simply barge all over other species - their rights, feelings and emotional and physical needs. Often without a thought!
Is our need for control actually setting us up for a fall, literally? Let's take for example the possibility that it is us that creates a spooky horse! Our need for control is so ingrained in us that it takes over and gets in the way of letting our horse figure out situations and dangers, for himself.
The moment a horse's attention leaves the menage we grab hold and pull his head back down, dismissing what he needs to look at and often causing tension as a result. As soon as he slows down on the hack, head going high up to look ahead at something in the distance, we again push on, dig in, and exert control. In either situation what the horse actually needs is to assimilate the context of his new observations. He/she needs to take in data, to look, pay attention, smell, sniff, and sense with his all of his body and being.
Grace taking her time to breath in a human!
This happened once with Grace, when I was not the jockey due to injury. While Grace was being schooled by an experienced "trainer" another livery was readying herself to ride her horse next. She placed her boy's saddle on the menage fence. I presume it must have given off a strong smell, something undetectable to me, as what happened next was a classic in horse human mis-communication.
Grace suddenly wouldn't go past that section of the menage fence, she spooked, she cavorted, she was snorting, and genuinely 'concerned'. Instead of the rider bringing her calmly over to the fence to investigate the foreign object, and quietly move on once the threat of danger was eradicated, she went into 'control' mode. The rider kicked, pushed, shouted and bullied Grace. Grace in return threw everything back at her; more spins, running backwards and a big bout of nappy behaviour.
It was a great demonstration of how 'control' was completely the wrong approach and did not create a solution for horse or rider. The situation became unsafe, burst horse and rider's confidence bubble and the next two trips into the menage Grace was on 'high alert'. (It's the only time she has ever had a poo in a menage, such was her legitimate fright).
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| Control: Can you turn it on or off? |
The moral of the story here is; give a horse time to take in a change in their environment. Say no to bully, strong, power based control techniques and give the horse a moment to figure out if he needs to nap and spook, or walk calmly on by!
If a horse doesn't know who he is or where he is he becomes a ticking time bomb! Think about it; we want instant results, fast training methods, short cuts, guaranteed solutions and quick fixes. None of which plays to the innate skills of a horse and how he takes in the world to decide if it's safe or not, which takes time and careful consideration.
Surely even if we are the 'so called dominate species on the planet' it is our duty to make sure our horse is not helpless, or turns into a reactive animal with his senses overwhelmed and frazzled, without time to assess. Especially when we are on his back!
Francesco De Giorgio puts it beautifully when he says "a relationship can not be developed when it is based on a behavioural outcome that has to be controlled". He goes on to say horses spookiness is due to their living conditions rather than it being their "innate state of being".
Imagine! If it actually ISN'T a "given" that horses will always spook - and that instead of being something we have to accept, we now take responsibility for it being something we create!
Wonderfully, that means we can do something about avoiding and minimising it, horse by horse. Some practical tips for doing this:-
and enjoy....!
1. Spend time with your horse in the paddock together, doing NOTHING!
2. Introduce items to your horse in the paddock or menage, one at a time, over days and weeks be that wheelbarrows, tarpaulin, buckets, door mats
3. Let your horse stop, look, smell - anytime he wants to or needs to
4. Bring your breathing consciously down whenever your horse seems tense - breathe in for the count of 5 and exhale for the count of five - filling your belly and emptying it on each respective in and out breath
5. Take time with your horse - stop rushing to get him moving, trotting, into canter, progressing etc
6. Go for walks, down lanes, round the yard, paddock on a long line, with him taking the lead and you following
and enjoy....!
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