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WooHoo Winter! Brrrr :o)
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Learn the Lingo - learning how to speak horse.
Ever try talking to someone that didn't want to hear what you had to say? Wasn't paying attention to you? Isn't that frustrating? Not much point in talking to someone that isn't listenting, right? I think horses are like that with us. I think somewhere along the line they just give up trying to talk to us because we just aren't listening...
Basic Miss-communication
Horses are masters of subtlety, they are constantly communicating to us (too bad we so often miss the message). We all know the obvious ones, like the flattened ears and raised foot indicating you're about to get a nice new bruise if you don't move out of the line of fire :o) I don't mean those, I mean the 2mm shift in ears that differentiates between annoyance and intense concentration or the 3 inch difference in ears and shift in head angle that indicate a request for permission and not an act of aggression. This is going to be a tricky page as I'm not sure how best to explain the variances (degree of difference) because there are so many. It took one of my girls (Rina) getting smacked in the nose by someone I thought knew far more than I to get me to start issuing a brief Horse 101 lecture prior to any horse visits. This was one of the things that laid the foundation for my desire to share horses as they really are.
The Teacher's Tale
In a nutshell, Rina was punished for being polite. Sound ridiculous? Not really (happens all the time - just ask a horse :o) I had a "horse person" that I assumed (and yes, I lose points for that) was miles ahead of me in the area of horse expertise come for a visit. She taught riding, had competed and seemed (key word) to be very knowlegeable; in fairness she was - about many things (except, perhaps body language). We had walked out to the yard to see the girls, and were standing in the shade chatting a bit afterward. Rina approached our visitor, head lowered and ears laid back in a request for permission to enter her space (if you watch it enough, it doesn't really resemble aggression at all). Before I could say a word, the woman smacked Rina smartly on the nose and shooed her away stating no horse was going to bite her, honestly (the nerve).
What did I learn from this? Anyone that comes to visit gets "body language basics", and I don't care if you are a budding rocket scientist or not (that's immaterial :o) It's all about mutual R-E-S-P-E-C-T ~ you tell it Aretha! (ha).
Basic Miss-communication
Horses are masters of subtlety, they are constantly communicating to us (too bad we so often miss the message). We all know the obvious ones, like the flattened ears and raised foot indicating you're about to get a nice new bruise if you don't move out of the line of fire :o) I don't mean those, I mean the 2mm shift in ears that differentiates between annoyance and intense concentration or the 3 inch difference in ears and shift in head angle that indicate a request for permission and not an act of aggression. This is going to be a tricky page as I'm not sure how best to explain the variances (degree of difference) because there are so many. It took one of my girls (Rina) getting smacked in the nose by someone I thought knew far more than I to get me to start issuing a brief Horse 101 lecture prior to any horse visits. This was one of the things that laid the foundation for my desire to share horses as they really are.
The Teacher's Tale
In a nutshell, Rina was punished for being polite. Sound ridiculous? Not really (happens all the time - just ask a horse :o) I had a "horse person" that I assumed (and yes, I lose points for that) was miles ahead of me in the area of horse expertise come for a visit. She taught riding, had competed and seemed (key word) to be very knowlegeable; in fairness she was - about many things (except, perhaps body language). We had walked out to the yard to see the girls, and were standing in the shade chatting a bit afterward. Rina approached our visitor, head lowered and ears laid back in a request for permission to enter her space (if you watch it enough, it doesn't really resemble aggression at all). Before I could say a word, the woman smacked Rina smartly on the nose and shooed her away stating no horse was going to bite her, honestly (the nerve).
What did I learn from this? Anyone that comes to visit gets "body language basics", and I don't care if you are a budding rocket scientist or not (that's immaterial :o) It's all about mutual R-E-S-P-E-C-T ~ you tell it Aretha! (ha).
It often strikes me, when I am watching a horse being schooled, how very little intelligence the trainer is displaying and how very good natured is the animal he is trying to teach. ~ M.F. McTaggart
Shadow's Frightened Feet
I wonder how often in the past I've punished a horse because I couldn't figure out what they were saying (okay let's be brutally honest here: because I missed the fact that they were saying anything at all). The potential for self recrimination is huge :o\
One winter day, I was attempting to pick out Shadow's feet before a ride. We had worked our way past many of his issues, and had worked particularly hard on his foot fears (a biggie - visit his page for more information on Shadow's past). He was doing very well until this point and we had reached the stage where he was gallantly offering me his feet when I lightly touched the leg and said "foot please" (It's a manners thing :o) On this particular day, however, his feet seemed to be permanently set in concrete - he flatly refused to pick up any of them.
I caught myself becoming irritated and figured it was time to back up and regroup (something I was working very hard to do; patience NOT being one of my virtues). Racking my brain to think what the problem could possibly be, I checked the surface area of each of his hooves and saw nothing. Hmmmm...I checked his legs for any small cuts or abrasions and found nothing wrong there either. Picking at a chestnut (which is a less obnoxious way to get a reluctant horse to lift his foot) I could get him to pick it up, but the moment I tried to clean it or even look at the frog he'd snatch it away and slam it back down to its previous position on the ground. What in the heck was going on? It was only me for crying out loud, we had the same grooming bucket we'd been using, there were no other horses anywhere behind him...WHAT ON EARTH IS IT MAN??????
All of a sudden it hit me (duh) I was wearing riding gloves, and people that show horses generally tend to wear gloves. Could that be it? Surely not! Peeling off the gloves, I touched his leg once more and asked for his foot which he promptly presented and stood calmly as I picked his hoof. Well now, isn't that just something? Shadow wasn't being uncooperative at all; on the contrary he was telling me in the best way he knew how that he did not like the gloves - they were scary. Had I actually bullied my way through the situation and forcefully picked his feet anyway with the gloves on, I would have completely reinforced his fear of the gloves and undone a lot of hard work in one fell swoop. Aside from burning up some brain cells and needing to blow on my cold hands a bit afterward, this was not a big deal (but it sure could have been :o)
