Horse Relationships and Training

They are several relationships within a herd of horses. There is, of course, the one that is most commonly recognized, the alpha horse to the herd. In the wild she get to decide where the herd will go to the watering hole, when and where they will go graze, and how long they will stay. She will bully, bite, kick and shove any horse who does not wish to follow her decision.

The stallion of the herd is not the herd’s boss, he just keep other stallions from stealing any of his mares, and will run off the younger stallions when they become old enough to want any of his mares until he loses his job to a younger stallion. Procreation is his only job in the herd.

Within this framework are a number of smaller relationships that are easily observed in any pasture with more than three horses. Three, by the way, is a bad number for a herd for one will always be the odd man out, and struggle to get in the click. Horses develop buddies and antagonists. If you will look you will see that the same pair of horses always seem to hang together, sometimes resting their heads on the wither of the other horse. They graze together, sleep next to one another, and after the heard is dispersed always find themselves back together. You will also note that some horse will act ancy toward one another every time they come near one another.

I was a wrangler for a Tennessee State Park some time back, and we had a herd of 35 to 75 horses, depending upon the time of year. When we selected horse for the renter in a trail ride we had to know which horses like each other, and which could not stand each other and place them in the line accordingly  Buddies next to buddies, antagonists separated by neutral horses.

Now the point of this is the grouping of buddies. All the buddies cooperated with their buddies. They would stand head to tail in the summer shooing flies away from one another’s heads, they would stand together against the aggression of another horse, and pick the best place to graze together. Even the alpha mare had a buddy, and this buddy was not the second alpha horse, it was just a horse she liked.

If you observe buddies in a pasture you will see that one does not boss the other one, not even the alpha bosses her pasture buddy, they make their decision in a nonaggression manner, when one wants water, they both make their way over to the water troth, then decide together what to do next, when the heard moves they take their place with in it, and play horses games with the herd, then when the herd spreads apart they stay together for the pleasure of one another’s company. 

Now I have been called upon to explain how I can believe that the way to a horse’s heart is through his feet and into his mind. I have observed horses at work and at play for many years, and I have read books, watched all the clinicians, via in person, CDs, and on television. I have then gone into the round ring with a lot of horses to work out what works best for me.

This is what I have found: Everything we do with horses involves control of its feet. You think getting it to give its head to pressure has nothing to do with control of its feet? If you could not get its feet to stop moving you could not apply the pressures to have it give its head too. Teaching a horse to stand tied is teaching it to keep it feet from moving. To teach a horse to be cough in the pasture is to teach it either to move its feet in your direction; of not to move them at all, I prefer the former to the latter.

The wild horse wants with all its heart to run away from me, so, with the confines of the round ring, I let it run. In fact, I, as the alpha, insist that it run. I do not let it pick the direction of its travel; I apply whatever pressure required getting the horse to move its feet at a speed and direction on my choosing. My control of its feet brings it into the center of the ring with me, without me putting a hand upon it. I let it learn that it does not have to move its feet so fast if it will stand by me like a buddy. If it leaves my side without my asking, then like an alpha I set it to moving its feet again in my direction and at my speed.

Now it is through its feet you can gained control over its mind, it will, within two or three days, come to me in the center of the ring when I extend my hand in a come here gesture. It will stand beside me until I start walking, then just like a pasture buddy, it will walk off with me, stop when I stop, back up when I back up. It will stand still untied to be brushed, washed, and saddled. Teaching it to give its hindquarters, is a more refined control of its feet, that is, keeping its front feet in from of me, and moving its hind feet to bring its rear diametrically from me, and then not to move its feet until I ask it to. By this time the horse is starting to let its heart touch mine.

About this time I will teach the horse how to lunge, that is control of its feet at the end of a lunge rope, again, I choose both the speed and direction of the horse’s feet. I teach it that its feet cannot carry it away from the rope or me. It learns to watch for which way I point my arm to decide which way to move its feet. It listens for my whoa to know when it can stop moving its feet. After it learns to lunge I start teaching it to side step with its feet, to walk backwards with its feet.

A horse lives in the now with its instincts and memories, it does not use its mind to weigh options, only to act on decision that the impulse of the moment has dictate. As a trainer it is our job to teach the horse that they are other option then it’s the one it has acted upon all through its life until we met. A spooky plastic bag might not call for the rapid movement of feet that it has always thought. That something around its head does not mean that its feet have to carry it away from it. Like a bird that come with its 'preprogram' to build its nests, the horse comes with his own 'preprograms'. And flight, moving his feet, is its prime program, and that is the one you have to work with first.

To touch a horse’s mind is not the same thing as touching another human’s mind. I do not claim to know how a horse’s mind works, how they contemplate, whether in picture or in emotions, but I can see behavior, and from the behaviors I can make some deductions and draw some conclusions. Horse act from habit, they come to us with a set of habits that they have learned through both through the life they have live, and that which is there nature or instinct if you will. The trainer’s job is to teach it new habits, new responses to things within its environment. It matters not from where the behavior had its genesis. Is the horse head shy because it has always been head shy or because it was beat about the head with a whip? Regardless, the trainer's job is the reprogramming (or if you rather, the training) is the same.  So I never concern myself with why a horse is the way it is, I can do nothing about that in any case. What I concern myself with is the behavior and how best to change the horse’s mind about how it reacts.

Once started under saddle the way to a complete partnership is still through its feet. Everything you do from the saddle involve controlling the horse’s feet! The first thing I start a horse with under saddle is a slow walk around the round ring, then figure eights, and then small circles. As he is learning this I start teaching it the whoa, to stop moving its feet, with the one rein stop. Then I move on to having it moves its feet a little faster, to the trot, then to the canter, and lastly at the gallop doing larger circles, small circles, spiraling from large to small, figure eights, and one rein stops. All feet control!

Next I take it out into a larger paddock, and start teaching it to walk, trot, cantor in a straight line for point to point, to maintain the gate I have asked of it, all feet control. By now we are starting to become like to pasture buddies, the horse want to play with me, looks forward to tacking up, sometime get miffed I saddler another horse.  Each horse is different, and how fast it learn its new job cannot be determined until after it has learned it.