The Equuschick wrote this for her instructor many moons ago, and has been rather fond of it ever since.
If You Want to Get Your Horse’s Attention- Whisper
The majority of equestrians today know that one of the first steps to training is to gain the attention of the horse. The question of how this is best to be done, however, raises much more of a debate. I believe the best place to start is understanding the sensitivity of the equine species. The amount of people who don’t understand this never ceases to amaze me. They look at the horse and see only mass and muscle, and they think like this-“This is a large, powerful, animal. To control him I must prove that I am more powerful, and to do this I must shove him around.” They miss the entire point! It is the mind that we must understand to gain the attention of our horse. Though the horse’s body may have the mass and muscle of a professional wrestler, the horse’s mind has the discretion and subtlety of a ballet dancer. How does the mind of a horse work? It is extremely alert. It has to be. Despite the size and mass of a horse, speed is his greatest defense against attack. But in able to escape a predator in time, the horse must be able to sense his presence. The “supernatural” sixth sense of horses is, I believe, actually an acutely developed physical awareness. The horse has thousands of years experience in observing and reacting to the smallest possible visual, tactile, and audio cues.
Let’s say that I am working with an untrained horse on backing away from me. If I walked up straight off and punched him in the chest, he would probably move but it would also, depending on the individual horse, irritate, intimidate or confuse him. He would be very hesitant to work with me thereafter. But suppose I went about it this way- I straightened my shoulders, looked out at the distance to avoid intimidation and placed (gently, oh so gently) my fingertip on his chest. The key word here is placed- I am not to remove my finger until he steps back. The horse will probably not move immediately, but I will have gained that vital article- his attention. He has noticed, all right. “What in the world is this all about?”he will ask. His first impulse will probably be to push against the pressure, but this does not mean I have lost! At his first sign of resistance, I would increase the pressure the tiniest little bit (a human might not notice the difference, but a horse will) and continue to do so if he continues to resist. At the very, very first sign of the horse relaxing against the pressure, which is felt in the chest, release the pressure entirely. Now you will have gained not only the horse’s attention, but his comprehension as well. “Aha!” he will say now, “That’s what it was all about. This interesting biped wanted me to move away.” After a few repetitions, the horse will step back at the first brush of my finger. He has recognized that subtle cue. In a great deal of cases the final minutes of this game will find you shoving against the horse anyway, but as long as you started smallest and gradually worked up to strongest this will be acceptable. Overemphasis is fatal to training.
This same concept also goes for voice cues. I own a horse who, after years of abuse before he came to me, has learned to resent tactile interactions and responds best to voice. So I holler at him, right? No. Let us say that I am working with him on a longe-line. He is doing well so I reward him with a soft and relaxed“Good boy”! Then his attention is distracted. Do I increase the volume or change the pitch and the emphasis? The latter. I lower the pitch and change the relaxed tone to a sharp “Paca, pay attention!” He responds instantly, and the volume of my tone never altered.
A horse’s communication system is by necessity very discreet, and we as trainers ought to try and communicate in their language as best as possible. Subtle, discreet, and understated ought to be our constant motto.
Well! I wish you had been around when I was learning to ride horses. I am scared to death of them now because I was always told - the horse has to know who's the boss. Which meant (by demonstration as well) that one had to be quite physically tough with them. I could never punch or shove a horse around - so that was the end of it for me.
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