“That horse looks angry, Mummy.” That was a statement made by a 6 year old child watching a popular clinician work with a young horse at a recent expo.
The bleachers were crowded and overflowing with people enthralled by the demonstration. This was day 2 of a 3 day series in which the popular clinician was starting a young horse under saddle.
Each session was an hour. The horse, he had told the audience, before coming to the expo had been living a quiet life in a field and, although he had had a rider on his back a handful of times, he had not been worked for months.
On day 1, Popular Clinician, had done some groundwork with the horse, saddled and bridled him, and worked him at walk, trot, and canter.
On day 2, he did the same. P.C. worked with the horse before his session and the youngster was huffing and puffing as the session began.
His tail was clamped (a sign of fear) and he was showing obvious signs of stress. To be expected for a horse who was taken from a field and put into a small ring in front of about 1000 people.
After the work he did on day 1, you can bet he was feeling some sore muscles.
As P.C. worked the horse, he explained his training philosophy, talked about his travels, and had the audience laughing with his funny stories.
The audience didn’t seem to be concerned about how the horse was feeling about what was going on. But, the 6-year-old child noticed.
The 6-year-old child noticed because she wasn’t paying attention to the man in the middle of the ring.
She was watching the horse. And she noticed how the horse was feeling … because she noticed his body language. The six-year-old noticed the horse’s body language while the adults were distracted by the words.
There are many ways to train a horse.
Some trainers like to get the job done fast. Some prefer to take more time.
At expos, the sessions are often about keeping the audience entertained.
There are times in any training session when a horse might express fear or anger. But, it’s my belief that those should be ‘moments’. And there should be very few of them – especially if I want to earn the horse’s trust and respect and build his confidence.
A sort of respect can be gained through fear. But, that comes from ‘learned helplessness’ and it’s not the type of ‘respect’ I want. Trust is never gained through fear.
As the horse sees that the trainer is not a threat to his safety, then he’ll give more expressions of calmness and relaxation. Â The horse will feel good about what is happening.
He will feel safe.
He will give his trust and respect to the trainer.
He will even enjoy the work he is asked to do.
Next time you’re watching a popular clinician or a local horse trainer, try observing like a 6-year-old child.
If you’re watching their videos on YouTube, turn off the sound. Pay less attention to what the trainer is saying and put your attention on what the horse is saying. Do you like what you see?
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