I had a beautiful experience recently that highlighted an aspect of horse training that I feel deeply affects how our horses respond to us. I had the opportunity to work with a new horse who I was familiar with, but we’d never done a session together. He was a pacer who had raced all his life and then found himself in a new home where he had paddock rest for a long time. I’d been told about his training regime as a performance horse. He had a lovely race trainer who never abused him, but who did train in a traditional manner. The horses’ bodies were condition to be fast and strong, their emotional and mental well-being was not an aspect of this style of training. He did quite well and raced for quite a few years. The result was a horse who knew his manners, was very aloof and who became narky toward people when something went wrong, or he had pain.
When I took him into the training yard, he was suspicious, and as I asked him to do a simple task, he became elevated and avoidant. I downgraded what I was asking for and he gave me one little try. Immediately I stood at his head and relaxed. He looked away so I asked him gently to face forward. He looked the other way and I asked again. After a while he could stand with me without needing to avoid the space we were in. Then he began to relax. At that point I asked him to do the task again. This time he was a bit more confident and did it easier and quicker. I stopped and stood calm and still. He took less time to relax and stand with me this time. We continued in this manner for the whole session and at one point I realised that he had never in his life experienced a full connection with a human. It almost brought tears to my eyes. By the end of the session, he had achieved several tasks easily and could relax and stand with me. I could by then feel a strong and healthy connection between us, and for the first time he even enjoyed someone rubbing his forehead.
After the session, which had evolved organically and intuitively, I asked myself what had just happened. We spent most of the time doing nothing. At least two thirds of the time we were just standing together. Yet after this session his personality changed, and he wanted to be with people. He didn’t walk off as quickly as he could after feeds but hung around to enjoy human company. He was happier in himself and easier to do everything with. And future sessions in the training yard were a breeze.
I realised that what I offered him was space. His experiences with humans had been all about pressure. Pressure to do this, pressure to do that. I gave him lots and lots of space between the doing. Over and over again I removed 100% of the pressure. In these moments he then had the opportunity to relax and digest what we had just done. He didn’t need to hold up his protective walls. He couldn’t really because I didn’t give him anything to protect against or push against. Then when I next asked, he was open and receptive. I kept my asking small and within his capabilities and earned his trust in one session.
I was thinking about music. If we just played notes one after the other, it would sound dreadful. It’s the spaces we put between the notes that makes the beautiful melody. The spaces between when we are working with horses are more important than the work. I’m clear on this now. This is especially true with horses who in the past have been treated like a machine. It’s in the spaces that the connection and trust is created.
Suzy Maloney B.Eq.Sc.Dip.Couns.
Happy Horses Bitless
Considerate Horsemanship
Email: suzy@happyhorsesbitless.com
Lismore, NSW, Australia
Ph: 0401 249 263
Comments