On horses and humans

I’ve always claimed that I don’t like horses. I’ve never had a traumatizing experience with them, yet I’ve always stated vehemently that I don’t like horses. Maybe it was because I was a sandbox, truck playing little girl and I was raging against the pink frilly dress “Horsey!” type toys marketed for girls. Maybe I didn’t like horses because the mystic horse murals on 1970s Ford Econoline vans made me uncomfortable.

I’ve been wondering more recently if I say I don’t like horses because I don’t understand them. Maybe I don’t dislike them at all, I just simply don’t understand them. I haven’t spent an extensive amount of time around horses. I don’t know what their movements mean, what their noises mean, why their ears are moving one way or the other. I know nothing about horses apart from what almost everyone knows about horses. They are animals. They have a tail. They have four legs. They eat hay. They live on farms and ranches. They neigh. Princesses in fairy tales ride them. Prince Charmings too.

Well horsies, I’m giving you another chance.

Yesterday our cohort went on a fieldtrip to a horse expo where we watched the “Trainers’ Challenge.” There were three horse trainers, each with an untrained colt. They had 3 days, an hour each day, to train their colt. Even a horse dummy like me knows that’s no easy feat.

Each trainer had a very different style and different methods. As I watched in amazement I began to learn a lot about these creatures and a lot about the complexity of horse and human interactions.

Each horse had already spent an hour with its trainer. When it was his turn to work with his colt, each trainer immediately spent time re-establishing trust and a relationship with the horse. This was done in 3 different ways. The first trainer did something similar, in part, to what I do when I meet new students. Of course the actions, manners and gestures were all different, but the approach was similar. He walked gently to the horse and put his hand out to allow the horse to have a sniff. Then he turned his back on the horse and walked away. This was repeated several time until eventually he rubbed the horse’s nose. When I meet new students, I want them to gain my trust and I do so by not doing anything to scare them. I allow them time to “sniff” me out and give them space to think about what they have just discovered about me. When I feel that the trust has been gained, then we are ready to move forward onto something new.

The second trainer entered the ring full of bravado. As the horse did laps of the ring, he chased it, cracking his whip just short of the horse’s haunches. I thought that he was being far too aggressive towards the horse and I was incredibly surprised when he stopped whipping and the horse started to follow him around the pen. But horses are herd animals, and the trainer had just presented himself as the dominant horse. (In flashy chaps with tassels.) Are humans herd animals too? Some educators definitely use this “cracking the whip” method to force respect and strict discipline in the classroom. Personally, I’m not interested in chasing anyone around and if I did, doing so while “cracking the whip” would only serve to damage a relationship rather than build it. I don’t know enough about horse body language to know if the horse genuinely respected and trusted the trainer, but over the next 50 minutes, the trainer was able to render some amazing results from this colt.

The third trainer seemingly did nothing to rebuild the relationship with his colt when he entered the ring. The colt immediately began following the trainer around the ring while the trainer gave the appearance of ignoring the horse. This to me was fascinating. What has transpired the day before between these two? What was transpiring at that moment that I clearly didn’t understand? Whatever it was, it was happening and there was a clear bond and respect between horse and trainer. This trainer too also produced some impressed results over the next 50 minutes.

Landscape played a paramount role in the behaviour of the horse. The horses were confined in a small ring about 10 metres in diameter. This is not a natural setting for a horse. The ring was inside a huge warehouse-sized barn. This is also not a natural setting for a horse. Lastly, there were bleachers full of spectators clapping surrounding four fifths of the training ring. Not natural. Add this to the fact that the colt has never received any training and you have one confused animal. As I was watching the trainers, I kept wondering “how different would this horse be acting if it was in an outdoor ring on the ranch that it came from?” It would be surrounded by sights, sounds and smells familiar to it. Everything at the Trainers’ Challenge was new to the colts. I know nothing about horse behaviour, but humans do not act like themselves in a brand new setting and they don’t respond well when someone in this setting is telling them what to do. No wonder one of the colts was bucking. I would have been bucking too. In fact, I was surprised that all 3 horses didn’t offer more resistance than they did. Is that how humans fall victim to dictators? Are we defeated before we even have the chance to resist?

By about the 40 minute mark, the colts each seemed to have accepted their circumstances and were doing largely what the trainer was asking of them. But then the landscape changed and so did the behaviour. Each trainer set up obstacles for the horses to go over. They included props such as a tarp and horse jump bars laid on the ground. The change in the horses’ body language was incredible! It was at this point that I realized that I was starting to have a greater understanding and respect for these animals. Each horse was suspicious of the props. Two of the horses were obviously wary, but also very curious. Their facial expressions changed drastically and it was the first time I was aware this change. Their expressions softened, but their ears were perked up with one pointing back and the other front. Their eyes widened and they looked back and forth between the tarp and the trainer with a questioning glance. The spectators all noticed and many laughed at the childlike body language being exhibited by the horses. With the props in the ring, the trainers were faced with new sets of behaviour challenges. The horses were no longer going to do what the trainer wanted. They needed to be convinced that the props were not a safety threat.

Over the three hours that I watched the Trainers’ Challenge, it became increasingly obvious to me that in order to train a horse, one must understand the psychology of horses. Horses are herd animals and follow a dominant horse. They are a prey animal and anything can scare them and make them feel threatened. Horses are playful, loyal and capable of respecting and following a human leader. Like all animals, humans included, horses need time to develop a relationship with the other beings around them. They need time to make sense of their surroundings and to feel safe. Only then will there be positive training gains. Each trainer had to adapt his techniques and methods to suit the personality of his horse. The trainer needed to read the mood of the horse and gauge the horse's behaviour. As with teaching children, each horse may have responded completely differently to the other trainers, or to the same trainer on a different day, at a different time or in a different setting.

so much depends
upon

an unbroken
colt

glazed with salty
sweat

confined by the
ring
 

One question remained at the end of the Trainers’ Challenge: If a horse trainer can be that effective with a colt in 60 minutes, how much more effective can we be in 60 minute with our students? (Without running around the room and cracking a whip.)