Road to The Horse

Ranger, Shaman, Rascal and Black Elk, mustangs adopted from the wild.

If I had a TV, I would have watched Road to the Horse. But, I don't have a TV, so I rely on the internet. Not that I didn't already have opinions about the gentling and riding of a horse within a three hour time period. I have plenty. The first one is why are our top teachers modeling this behavior? Don't they realize this sends all of us a message that faster is better? The one that does it the quickest wins after all! I think this is nuts! Pat Parelli says; Take the time it takes so it takes less time. I say 'walk your talk'!

Ina and Ranger have a good connection- He is willing and feels safe.

I have learned so much from the unique combination of Linda Parelli's  teaching style and Pat's in deapth and intuitive understanding of horses. So, why do this? Why go on national TV and model that 3 hours is enough.  Turns out, he like many of us, made a bit of an error of judgement and either slid off  or fell off, depending on how you look at it. That's no biggie.. except it tells us the horse wasn't ready. Duh!  I think this is a perfect example  'learned helplessness' in the horse.

Mustang from Robert's Mountain in the Nevada Range

I feel the same way about the 'Mustang Makeover'. There the trainers have 100 days. In comparison this sounds like forever. But, it's not! It's a tiny amount of time for a prey animal to accept a predator on his back. I can assure you that rushing horse training will not pay off in the long run.

Betty and her Anglo-Arab Leo

I made a bit of a study of the results of the Mustang Makeover and to see how those horses make out after being adopted. Some seemed to be OK, somehow managed to integrate a massive amount of information in a very short time, some have their nervous system fried- and will hopefully recover with a long rest, some needed to be restarted from the begining and I would imagine many of the new owners are still scratching their heads as to why they can't get the horse to do what they saw the horse do at the Makeover. I know, I know they do that competition to let folks know how smart and amazing mustangs are.. but, like Road to the Horse -  the message is not good. Mustangs are amazing, but they are wild horses.. they need time!

Shaman who drops his head so 5 yr old Nyah can halter him.

I never heard Walter Zettle, or Nuno Oliveria, or any of the great masters brag about how quickly they can gentle and ride a horse. They say instead that the foundation is so very important, that what you do in the begiinning will show up again and again, and that training a horse should be as subtle as grass-growing.

Rascal gives his first riding lesson to a Kiatan

So, what's the rush? Don't think quicker is better! If it's all about the horse, do you think you are doing him any favors by rushing each excercise? I say love your horse and show him that by going slowly and watching for his interest and enjoyment in your play and training. Watch for his relaxation, the softness in his eye, his desire to be with you.

Horse Training at The RiverFarm

Natural Horsemanship Training at the RiverFarm in Whatcom County- Near Bellingham, WA.

Monday found me on the ferry from Orcas Island on my way to the River Farm in Deming,WA to resume  training and teaching with the horses. It was cold but dry in the am, but the weather was supposed to turn later in the day. It's about 90 minutes of 'petal to the metal' to Deming once you get to Anacortes. I had a good ride over on the ferry, studying my Jin Shin and doing some treatments on my feet, which tend to get tired when I train horses and teach most of the day.

River Farm is a suistainable community east of Bellingham on the Nooksack River. The two horses are Sally and Sadie, who are progressing very nicely in their Natural Horsemanship Training. 

These Halflinger/QH cross mares are very sweet- just loook at those eyes! Holly and Rosie had done a good job keeping them tuned up over the winter, but now it was time to start making some progress again.

We reviewed the Seven Games, and worked on Compainion walking to get the horses really tuned in to me. It's like a dance and very relaxing for both trainer and horse. The horse gets really responsive and soft and the trainer/leader gets into the right  mind set. While working on this we wandered down to the River, where an eagle sat perched in a tree. I reflected on how lucky I was to be working out doors in such a beautiful place, with eagles and horses and such great folks.

I was so absorbed in my engagement with Sally, I did not see Holly and Sadie come up behind me. Sally was so tuned in to me, she did not even fuss with her pal catching up with us! Holly and I worked the horses on the River for a while, reviewing what we had done last summer and fall.

It was hard to believe that one day last summer Rosie led Sadie (pictured here) into the River and they swam together!
From the river, we went on to ground driving, as our goal is to get the horses pulling this summer..It was a good thing we started early in the day, as by 4 pm, the rains and then snow started. Burr.. it was cold!
Turns out all that Jin Shin really worked and I went home tired, but my feet did not hurt at all!

Dancing with My Horses

My Wild Boys!

 The quiet rainy months on Orcas Island in the Pacific Northwest are such a contrast to the sunny long days in spring and summer. Now the days are short and the mists draw you inward.

Rascal give me horse kisses!

 I have taken to singing and dancing with my horses. I like for them to have a chance to work in a fun, relaxing way during what is a quiet time on Orcas Island. I want them to be 'in tune' with me.  I have found that the singing relaxes me and my horses and our play just flows. We do circles and changes of direction, changes of gait, lateral movements, frontwards and backwards - like a cha-cha. When I halt, it's their job to lift their shoulders and bring in their noses. Then they get a small slice of apple.

Ranger and Rascal love to Play!

 I want to be more relaxed and dance like in my riding, so I am working at being more fluid in my movements on the ground with my boys and it will be interesting to see if this carries over. I am betting it will..in the meantime, it's fun!

Black Elk - almost FREE from the BLM!

Walter Zettle says: 'do 1,000 transition -  and.. nothing beautiful can be forced'

I know that a  balanced horse is a horse that is fun to ride. I am sure a balanced person is more fun for the horse.

I'd love to hear what you think of my new webiste: Horsemanship on Orcas

Learned Helplessness in Horse Training

Black Elk, Shaman and Rascal Running Free!

The more I teach and train, the more I have come to question how we go about training and working with our horses. When I was young, I did as I saw people around me do with horses, althought I always was on the gentle end of the spectrum. Still there were plenty of times I was told: 'just kick 'em!' 'make him do it!' or 'show him who's boss!'.

Rascal

Taking a green horse down the road with no thought to how the horse might be experiencing all the new sounds and sights, as well as the genuine fear about being separated from the herd, was something that we all did casually. When the horse balked,  the mantra was 'just keep 'em going forward'! Don't let him stop!  Barking dogs, traffic, flapping laundry, all this I expected my horse to take in stride. When he didn't I was surprised, when he bolted or froze, I got mad. Not much of a friend to my horse was I?

Polly and Shaman - Relaxed and Confident!

The term 'breaking a horse' always sent a shiver down my spine. I tried to tell myself, it didn't really mean how it sounded...who would want to do that to a horse? That and so many other abusive terms are so ingrained in our language around horses. Recently I read a blog post where the horse was lunged in deep sand until the horse was dripping wet (with a photo to prove it) prior to being ridden. Then the horse bolted in the very small round pen due to a small change in her surrondings. It made my heart pound to read this, and it was hard to fall asleep that night with that image of that amount of  fear. I wonder why the rider and trainer thought the horse had learned something good from that?  The horse was terrified for her very life! Yet, all the comments were about how 'brave' the rider was, and what a good job she did!  When does brave cross the line to stupidity and cruelty?

Black Elk having fun!

Don't get me wrong. We all make mistakes when training, well maybe Walter Zettle doesn't any more, but most of us are a work in progress. I look back at some of the things I did to and with horses in my youth and shudder. I am so ashamed, deeply ashamed. Yet, everyone around me did as much or more. Now, I am looking and exploring a different way of being with horses.

Rascal - Interested in Everything!

I think getting in a hurry gets us into more trouble than just about anything. Having a timeline dictate our 'success'. I am trying in my own way to change that. To put my horse's comfort and happiness in front of my ego. To teach my horses in a way that allows them a measure of choice. To use 'attraction' rather than force.  To judge my time with my horses with the measure of are they happier now than when I started, are they more relaxed?

Many of the ways of gentling a mustang and training horses in general, have to do with flooding the horse with sensations, pressure until the horse stops or gives up. With our first two mustangs, Ranger and Rascal we found that sharing space with them and allowing them to follow us and sniff our hair, graze on the lawn worked wonders. I discovered this when we put up electric fence across the driveway, so we had to walk through their space every time we went to the car or brought groceries home. They loved it! They were curious about us.. we were not focusing on them and they felt safe as a result. It was so easy! The gentling evolved at their pace. When I first went to back Rascal, he stood quietly as if to say: "wow, my girl is all over me now!"  He did not seem fearful and all I asked was that he stand, just stand, it was enough.

Black Elk, first week on Orcas

With Black Elk, it was winter and muddy, using the lawn and the driveway was not an option. So,  I tried Leslie Neuman's Bamboo Pole Method. (This involves putting a bamboo pole lightly on the horse's withers and removing it when he stops. It allows you to have contact with a wild horse) OH.... Black Elk was terrified and he was the calmest mustang I'd ever known! ( he ran in circles, obvously very frightened) It made me feel sick to try to conect with him this way, literally sick. I wrote pages and pages in my journal about it, and I only tried it for a few minutes!  So, instead I just hung out with him, feeding him handfuls of hay and eventually bites of apples. Then I started using the clicker and a language was created between us. He was completely at liberty to interact or to leave but he chose to stay almost always. If he left, then I left. If I left first, he'd often follow me around from the inside of his corral. It made me sad he had to be fenced in, and especialy in the corral that winter. But, I figured he'd trade running free for good grub, and he knew all about starvation in the mountains in the winter.

Ranger and Rascal making friends with Ina

There are lots of ways to flood or overwhelm your horse. Overwhelm means: " To be confronted with more than one can bear." 

Ranger greeting Ina

 This is a training method? Yes, this is a common training method. Look for it, and you will begin to see it many places in the training of horses. 

Ken asking Rascal to flex at the poll

What happens when the horse cannot bear what is happening? Well, they shut down, most of them go inside, they freeze. They may explode later, but for for right now they freeze, like when the know they cannot excape the lion and they are going to die. Is this how we want to train? Is this the relationship we are seeking with our horses? You know these horses.. you see them on Dude strings, Camp horses, you don't have to look far to find them, they look blank, shut down, depressed. They have lost what is the best in them. Their spirits. I realize that this method teaches the horse to be helpless. 

Niah and Kiatan teaching Ranger to drop his head

Learned Helplessness is what you see in abused children and women. It results in depression and a lack of ability to think and act proactively. It makes horses and people 'docile', and sad. It actually prevents learning.

Rascal is always interested and offering new ideas. He makes me laugh!

I think that's what many horse training techniques, including 'breaking a horse' rely on - learned helplessness. 

It's not how I want to teach or train.  I am after something completely different. How about you? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Trails at Liberty with Shaman

Shaman is our Kiger Mustang and he is full of brio! He has been a challange for me in some ways. First of all he was supposed to be my husband's horse, but Ken never found the time, so I started working with him. He was fiesty and full of it, but also very sweet. He is very light and attentive and loves the ground work. However, I have been frustrated because after two falls from him  (ride # 1 and ride #2 - both bareback) I have not wanted to risk a third. I have chosen to have a younger, more athletic rider who is adept at the emergency dismount to ride under my supervision. Now, she's gone, and Shaman and I are back to working it out. Riding Shaman is such a dream for me due to his natually collected movements and lightness.

I have been working on just building a good conection with him. He loves working at liberty, even when all 4 ouf the boys are out in the arena together, Shaman will come and play games with me; circling at a trot and canter, standing on the stump, side passing over barrels, backing up with his tail, or hand signals, coming to me at a canter.

Yesterday, I asked him to jump the barrels, and even  with the other guys horsin' around, he willing jumped over several times.

Today when we played, we upped the anty. First we played our games in the arena, and he was very enthusiastic!  Then we went out of the arena. I took him up past the rabbits, with those guys scrambling around and all the construction stuff there, this is the horses' least favorite place. But, I felt we had such a good conection going that Shaman would be OK, and, he was! Quietly he watched me for cues and quietly he walked along. Once on the trail, I took his lead rope and put it over his back. He was free to do as he chose. Now it would be interesting to see what happend. He is not generally confident on the trail, so it was going to be a challange. The other horses were calling for him, he could chose to go to them, or come with me. At first I had to encourage him a lot. Just a few steps at a time. Then further and further, I was armed with tiny bites of apples. Then, I made a shift, and let go of all expectations. After all what could happen? He'd run home is all!

But, with the other horses calling he still chose to come with me! Then I made a second shift, I began to whistle and to not worry how 'close' he was. I relaxed and he relaxed. ( Ha, just like I tell my students!) We walked and trotted down the trail together, I never picked up his rope, never needed to.  Part of the time he walked beside me proud and relaxed. His expression was eager, alert and totally happy. Sometimes he followed me nibbling on grass when he found some. When  he got far behind, I'd 'trot' and he'd trot to catch up. This is a huge breakthrough for both of us. This is where I want to go with my horses - I want them to feel free and happy, enjoying adventures together.  ( photos not from today)

Fear Issues with Horses

Note how fearful Shaman it, and how Abby is reassuring him.

FEAR - it raises it's scary face with most of us with horses at some time or another. I know all about fear and horses. My fear became deep seated when my 8 year old daughter fell from my sweetest and safest horse ever, lost her helmet and sustained a traumatic brain injury. Two weeks in a coma after neurosurgery, two weeks when she could neither talk or walk or swallow. A long path to recovery and still she struggles every single day with things most of us take for granted.

Shaman still is frightened, Abby is relaxed and reassuring.

First, the experts did not expect her to live, then they did not expect she would be capable of much, then they suggested  long term rehab center, then it was 'special classes'. A nightmare for a little girl.

I had different opinions. Good nutrition and being at home with her family, and therapy, hours and hours of therapy. We started with the basics: crawling. Up and down the hall, we crawled together. I followed many of the ideas of an independent thinker, Glen Dolman who wrote "Your Brain Injured Child". He believed in pattering and rebuilding the neural pathways or making new ones if necessary. It was a long road. She went swimming, jumped on a trampoline, when to a chiropractor, had PT and OT every day, and I made sure she had time with children her age to regain her social skills. It was a long hard road. She still is recovering almost 30 years later. We both are.

My Sweet Girl all grown up!

My sweet girl, Felicity graduated high school with her class, she got scholarships to the U. of Miami and graduated in 4 years with a double major. She lived in her own apartment from the time she was 19, as she was not into wasting her time with the party atmosphere at college. She's a hard worker and smart as a whip!

Felicity in Mexico

As for me, my lifetime passion with horses came to a screeching halt. Once my solace and happiness, they became my biggest fear. Eventually, I put aside horses as they brought up the pain and fear and the guilt.

Ken picking bales out of the field in Crow Valley

My husband, dear man felt that I needed to reclaim that part of myself, and over time began by quietly bringing horse magazines home. ..then we went and looked at some horses..  Well, here I am riding my mustangs - but, don't think for a minute that I am done with the FEAR. I have to deal with it all the time. I have tools to deal with it, gentle tools like EFT, and Stephanie Burns : 'move closer stay longer' , and most importantly learning how to read the horse. We, as the leader need to learn to help the horse with his fear issues. For it is when the horse is afraid that we get hurt.

I don't believe that 'just make him do it' works for the horse, or for the person! I believe if we take our time you and the horse will become more confident and competent. Learning how to handle a horse with expertise on the ground will give you more skills than you can imagine once you begin to ride. Understanding how to move the horse's body while standing next to a horse is a logical step to understanding how to move the horse's body while riding. So, lunging, ground driving, games with your horse, trail walks - all these things are building blocks for your future together. Every time you handle your horse, you are training your horse, that is why I feel it's so important to learn all the foundation steps. The payoffs are great. A safer and happier horse, a more confident and relaxed rider and much less fear!

When I met my student Betty, she said she didn't know if she ever would ride again.. but, here she is on Rascal - looking happy and relaxed. When I asked was she afraid, she said: "oh, no, not at all!"

Working in the Rain

So how many of you are willing to stand in the rain and work with your horses? I am not talking a little mist.. I am talking real rain, where you get cold and wet?

Do you think your kids would love to be with a horse this much?

Um.. warm fire and hot chocolate or rain and horses?? Even Shaman thinks he'd rather be cozy. (But I think it's good for a horse to learn sometimes he has to work in the rain!)

So, not to expect too much from Shaman, we got Black Elk out.. he's less concerned about discomfort.

Polly's working on having him listen to her by dropping his head.

 In case you think Polly would rather be somewhere else.. it was totally her choice..work in the rain or come back tomorrow.. this is what she wanted to do!

As usual, we had a blast!