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"The horse will teach you if you'll listen"
Ray Hunt
Horse's eyes are windows to their soul, if you can catch a horses' eye
you can glimpse inside their sould and feel their emotions.
I truly believe that you have to look at the horse-human relationship as a whole picture to find out what is and what is not working in the relationship. Once behavior patterns in that relationship, whether physical or emotional, are identified, I can then establish a plan to change those behaviors and develop a positive, healthy and fulfilling relationship for both horse and human.
In all the years I have been working with horses and humans, not once have I seen a human being take responsibility for their actions. They have always blamed the horse. If only human beings could perceive their intentions from the horse’s point of view, they would be amazed at how predatory we humans are to them.
My goal is to not only teach the horse, but to instruct the horses’ owner, so they may work with their own horse, developing a relationship of trust and mutual respect which will build partners for life.
BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP
After a foal is born in the wild, the herd and the mother start building a relationship with the foal. They tell the foal when to eat, drink, sleep, play, run for its life and when it is safe, all with the use of body language. A gentle nudge to encourage a behavior, a bite to reprimand an unwanted behavior, a kick telling the foal to keep its distance and “Hey, that’s my food”.
When a foal is born in captivity it only briefly has its mother to build a relationship with until …along comes a human. (Foal imprinting is a valuable tool – Dr. Robert M. Miller, www.robertmmiller.com)
Humans are predators and direct line thinkers. They go from A to B in a straight line. When a plastic bag blows in front of them, they know what has caused the bag to move and are not scared. Horses are prey animals and as long as they have safety, comfort, play and food nothing shakes their world, that is, until the plastic bag shows up.
So, in order for us humans to build a true relationship with any kind of prey animal, we have to ditch the direct line thinking and think like the prey animal we are working with, in this case, the horse. We have to tell the horse when to eat, drink, sleep and play; when it should be scared, and when it is safe, all with the use of our body language. Approach and retreat to encourage a behavior, getting big and energetic to reprimand an unwanted behavior.
In the case of the plastic bag, you just wouldn’t walk up to a horse and shove the plastic bag under its nose, scaring it into the next County. You would start with your horse haltered and untied, at a distance, with the plastic bag scrunched up really tiny in your hand. Approach the horse and let him smell the plastic bag. If he gets scared, retreat. Approach and retreat until the horse is calm. Then, let the plastic bag get bigger and move more, until the day you can rub him all over with that plastic bag and he knows that you have caused the bag to move and he is no longer scared. To approach and retreat with any scary object, including yourself (because we scare them the most), is the start of developing your relationship.
Even if your horse has severe behavioral problems like, rearing, striking, bucking, biting and pulling back, I can help you find a solution, so that respect, trust and a balanced relationship can grow.
“The rider needs to recognize the horses’ need for self-preservation in Mind, Body and the third factor Spirit…….he needs to realize how the persons approach can assure the horse that he can have his self-preservation and still respond to what the person is asking him to do.” Tom Dorrance
