WARNING
Today’s post has the potential to get complicated, so if today is not the day to have your brain challenged you should probably go to YouTube for some funny blooper videos.
This is another essay on a horse’s thought. If you have followed my work at all you will know how much emphasis I place on directing a horse’s thoughts before it commits its feet to the task. Good horsemanship is all about directing a horse’s thoughts. If the horse has the idea, it has little resistance or worry about carrying out that idea. So the secret to having a good relationship with a horse is to help our idea be their idea. That’s the skeleton principle behind good horsemanship. When a horse has an idea, it’s an idea he wants to carry out. When we try to make him do something, but his idea is to do a different task, there is trouble, resistance, anxiety - there is an argument. But when it is his idea to do what we want the horse to do it is easy and peace and harmony reign across the land.
Got it? Okay.
But there is the potential for a paradox in this notion that many people fall into.
If the road to happiness for a horse is to carry out what it is thinking when we try to change its thinking we are creating trouble. Giving a horse an idea it can do causes a horse to commit to the idea. So changing that idea means getting in its way and making it feel like a bad idea to the horse while we add a new idea that feels a better option. Do you know what I mean?
If I ask my horse to come to me in the paddock and it takes on board that coming to me is a good idea, it will begin to walk towards me. But if when it gets halfway I then ask it to stop I need to make coming to me seem like a bad idea and stopping at the halfway point seem like a better idea.
The horse says to itself, “it’s a good idea to go to that good looking fellow Ross.” Then at the halfway mark it says, “it’s a bad idea to go any closer and a better idea is to stop here.” That creates anxiety and has the potential to damage our relationship and how a horse feels about working with us.
Or does it?
This is what I think.
I believe asking a horse to do a job and then interrupt that idea with another idea DOES create a problem IF we direct a horse with an idea to carry out a task and the task is all they are thinking about.
For example, if I direct my horse’s thought to go over a jump and the horse’s mind is consumed with the idea to negotiate the jump, any attempt by me to change that idea halfway to the jump will be faced with argument and upset from the horse.
However, if I direct my horse’s thought to a jump, but maintain a constant and open two-way communication with my horse every step, we minimize the potential for trouble because a change of thought is not an interruption to an idea. The conversation between my horse and I is constant. Changing from one idea or task to another is just the result of a continuous stream of chatter and sharing ideas between us. It’s not the jump that is important, but the journey to the jump.
Me: Riley take your thought to the left and let’s trot straight to that small cross rail.
Riley: Okay, but first I need to get my weight onto my hq a bit more and look at the dog chasing the ducks.
Me: Riley give a little more to the left rein and relax your trot. The dog is not your concern. Let that go and follow the line.
Riley: Yep, see the jump.
Me: No, think 5m in front, not at the jump. Stay with me, not the jump.
Riley: Got ya. Look at the pretty clouds.
Me: No, don’t worry about the clouds. Soften a little on the inside rein and stay with me.
Riley: But the jump is coming up.
Me: Think about the inside rein. Think about what it is telling you and don’t think about the jump.
Riley: Okay.
Me: Now let’s stop here just in front of the jump and soften your topline, please.
Riley: Okay.
Me: Now let’s go and have a beer.
Riley: Good idea.
For those that are familiar with half-halts, you will know their intent is to connect with the horse and create a re-balancing before a new job. In dressage, the half-halt is applied before most manoeuvres to help establish a new balance and tell the horse something is about to change. But if we have a constant connection and conversation open with our horse, the half-halt is redundant and unnecessary because the connection we seek is already established. If you need a half-halt it is a clear sign that the horse and the rider are on this journey alone and not together. Use the half-halt to re-establish the communication, but be aware that it is telling you there is a communication problem between you and your horse.
If we have an open and constant conversation with our horse, changing from one thing to another is not an interruption but the result of our constant chatter to be on the same page. it becomes a mutually agreed plan when it’s done well. That avoids the trouble that an interruption of a horse’s thought can cause.
This is what it is to have a partnership with a horse.
Photo: Riley wearing his party halter and lead.
Riley wearing his party halter and lead