If we dig deep enough to find the root cause of a training problem we find the vast majority of them stem from psychological/emotional trouble with some caused by physical issues such as medical, conformational, or equipment. But in my work I find most problems are rooted in the way a horse feels and thinks. So that’s what I want to talk about today.
Horses are a mixture of their genes and their experiences - nature versus nurture. We can’t do much about their genes. My horse is stuck with the way his genes are expressed forever and there is nothing I can do about that.
Likewise, we can’t do much about the experiences our horse has lived through. Those experiences are stuck in the emotional memory bank for life. Our horses can’t unlearn whatever they learned from experience.
The only thing I can influence is my horse’s experiences going forward into the future.
These are important parameters to remember when working with a horse to solve problems. We can’t eradicate their genes and we can’t remove their history. The horse that comes to us with emotional problems on day one is the same horse we have years later because genetics and history are still there ready to influence how our horse responds to what comes next.
I say these things because I want to make the point that training never works to unlearn something.
When a horse comes to me for help, my job is NOT to eliminate anything it already knows. My job is to either minimize the triggers that cause the problem or to help a horse find a better way to respond to the triggers that caused the problem. But the trigger is still there and the old ways of responding to the trigger are still there. All that training has done is to help a horse find a different way of feeling and responding, but not eliminate the old way.
As an example, a client told me that when she had finished working her horse at home and took it back to the paddock, her horse would pull away and kick out the moment the halter was removed. Removal of the halter had become a trigger to pull away and take off. The pattern needed to be changed. I decided to fit the horse with 2 halters (and only 1 lead rope). When I took the horse to the paddock I removed the top halter and kept the lead rope attached to the bottom halter. When the first halter came off the horse went to pull away and was shocked to learn I was holding the lead rope with the second halter fitted. I was able to block the horse from leaving. I rubbed the horse, gave it some scratches, and let it graze for a moment.
Then I put on the two halters again and took it for a walk. I repeated the exercise several times. Soon the horse did not try to leave when the first halter was removed. Then I repeated the exercise with only 1 halter, but a rope around the horse’s neck to encourage it not to run away. When that was working well I repeated the exercise with 1 halter and only my arm rubbing under the neck to encourage the horse to stay with me. The entire exercise took about 30-40 minutes. But I had the horse at work for a few weeks, so I was able to reinforce the lesson nearly every day. The horse never tried to pull away when I took it back to the paddock. Similarly, it was perfect when the owner took it back to the paddock.
But alas, after a few weeks of the horse being home, the behaviour returned when the owner’s daughter started to work with the horse. I never eliminated the problem. All I did was suppress the trigger and help the horse find a response that felt better.
By avoiding the triggers we avoid the behavioural problems. However, the moment the reasons for the bad behaviour (triggers) come to the surface again, the instant the old problem will return. Nothing is ever eradicated.
For this reason, we must be vigilant not to fall into old habits. If we let our guard down and fall into the old habits, so will our horse. Those problems that got us into so much trouble are still lurking deep below and ready to surface if we let them. Don’t betray your horse. As your horse gets better, you be better.
Working with Sara's beautiful gelding, Rain at a clinic in 2013 (I think?). It looks a more exciting session than it actually was. Although maybe Rain would have a different view.