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by
Jorene Downs
CEOates Ranch
www.CEOates.com
originally posted to the rec.equestrian newsgroup
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author credit.
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re: "Act like a Horse" and your horse will
understand you better.
More correctly, learn the nuances of horse behavior so you can better understand
the horse, pay attention to what the horse is telling you, and communicate in a
way the horse can understand. Yes, this will resemble "acting like a
horse" but you want to be careful which horse behavior you choose to try
and emulate or you'll send the wrong kind of messages to the horse.
re: squeal at a horse when he does something wrong, act like the
lead horse.
You don't "act" like the lead horse - if you're doing this
right you are the established lead horse 24/7. ;)
But squealing is a more aggressive audible in the herd that is often a
step from a more physical discussion. If you're at a
"squealing" level you didn't see a problem coming and anticipate or
prevent the escalation. Better to see a problem
coming, and head it off at the pass ... but the objective is to keep the
situation calm rather than aggravate it. So choose the appropriate
"lead horse behavior" for the situation.
The horse will normally read your "No" body language before
you accompany it with an audible. The audible - in most situations - is
more like reinforcement of the visual message you're sending. The two
audibles I have a habit of using are "Quit!" or a sharp
sounding "Eh!" ... and the tone of voice reinforces the
"don't do that" body language. Prior to that point often
offering a calm distraction will prevent the incident, and with calm
repetition of prevention the horse learns "don't do that" as a
consistent behavior boundary established by the boss, while as handler
you reduce the
potential for a situation requiring direct confrontation with an animal
substantially larger and stronger.
re: horses in the herd are often challenging and fighting
What you aren't seeing is the less obvious leader role in the herd,
the quiet leadership with the subtle communication where the other
horse willingly complies. ;)
When there are two horses, one is the leader, the other is subordinate.
Always. There is no "equal" relationship in the horse world
... horses by nature will quickly establish who is the boss and
sometimes that discussion results in the kicking or biting you have
observed. Other times there is simply posturing for discussion regarding
who is the boss, and one horse may yield leadership to the other without
a real challenge or even a discussion. Throughout the herd you'll find
individual relationships established between each two horse combination -
a hierarchical herd environment - and some examples of leadership you'll
want to avoid, like the herd bully who seems to be aggressive with every
other horse in the herd.
The leadership example you're looking for is the two horses standing
relaxed next to each other. They are herd buddies, but one horse
is the quiet leader and the subordinate horse is comfortable
around him ... a willing follower who trusts the calm consistency of the
boss instead of being wary he's about to get kicked or bitten.
That quiet leadership status is the role you want as the human in the
herd. Often simply moving with confidence is sufficient to establish
your leader status. The person who has a more volatile personality or is
quick to show impatience will find it far more difficult to achieve this
kind of quiet leader status because the subordinate horse will be more
relaxed around consistency in leadership. The horse is good at reading
body language, and if you're tense, the horse will be tense and wary
wondering why you're tense. If you're calm and relaxed, the horse will
more likely be calm and relaxed. So sending the right message is
critical for good leadership.
In the herd a "warning" communication might be a swishing
tail, a shift in body weight, a change in posture angling the neck or
head, a flick of an ear without necessarily pinning the ears yet, etc.
And with this subtle action one horse sends a warning communication to
another horse. Often the warning is space / distance related ... like
"you're too close" ... and the other [subordinate] horse will
simply move off until the warning messages stop. The bite or kick occurs
when the subordinate horse fails to respond appropriately to more subtle
communication ... and often the bite or kick isn't even intended to
connect but is a next level of escalation. Next level up might be
contact. Some horses will escalate
faster than others or give little warning, and these are the less
trusted leaders within the herd ... not the right role model for the
human.
A slight change in your body language sends a quiet message as a
request, another slight change makes that message more insistent,
another adjustment presents the message as a demand. This is all degrees
of pressure, and different horses will respond differently so you need
to adapt. Your body language is talking for you, and essentially you can
turn up the volume or turn it down. The average horse will easily
understand the "normal volume" communication and provide
feedback, some horses need a bit more clarity, a hint more volume,
additional cues, etc., to open lines of communication, but the goal is to
reduce the volume to a clearly understood whisper of communication
between horse and human.
To put it another way ... if the alpha horse in the herd consistently
uses aggressive pressure with little warning, the subordinate horse will
be wary around that alpha horse. The warning posture of the quiet leader is a form of soft pressure, and the subordinate horse calmly
responds / yields until the pressure is removed. So how the pressure is
presented and perceived is an important issue in your status as subtle
herd leader. Slower movement is less threatening than sudden movement,
your posture can make a polite request or shout an order, etc., so choose
the right message to send. Your horse will be communicating
messages back to you, simply adjust what/how you're communicating
according to what the horse is telling you. How the horse
perceives and responds to your communication is the measure for success
regarding how well you're communicating and the quality of your
relationship with your horse.
Horses aren't particularly complicated, so building fundamentals in a
quality relationship isn't as difficult as it appears once you get a
handle on things. Until the human figures out and applies the quiet leader role, odds are there is some fear and confusion down at the barn
because the horse is getting mixed messages instead of calm consistency.
7/02/01
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