NOTES ON HORSE PSYCHOLOGY, AS IT RELATES TO TAMING AND TRAINING WILD HORSES: 
The Nature of Horses: Exploring Equine...
| "The good news is that horses have a relatively large brain for an animal their size. The bad news is that they use most of it just to keep their feet in the right place."
- The Nature of Horses, p.147, Stephen Budiansky (which, by the way, is an excellent book! You can buy it by clicking the picture at left)Knowing the extent to which a horse's brain is connected to its feet, we can use this in our training programs. |
#1: Horses are, first and foremost, creatures of MOVEMENT. - They live through movement
- In the wild, their very survival depends on movement
- They can also LEARN through movement
New adopters tend to be scared of the horse's movement. This is both a correct self-preserving response and a training problem. My hope is that, through learning to understand what is going on with the horse, the reader will develop a stronger internal framework from which to build a safer, less scary, and more successful experience with their adopted horses.  Training Example: When I was learning to work with Sparky, my first Mustang, in the round pen, I could not get him to perform the "inside" turn (where the horse turns to face you, then continues the turn in order to change direction). I asked my teacher, Jerry Tindell, what was wrong with my body language the reason Sparky did not "read" my direction. He watched me, and then replied that the problem was that I was not getting enough movement. Sparky could only learn to do this maneuver through movement. So I stepped up the pace, had him lope freely for about four laps, and then, voila! he did a perfect inside turn! | | Training Tip: Let the horse move! Many new adopters, accurately assessing that a frantically-moving horse is a danger both to itself and to the human, try to keep the horse from moving. The problem, however, is that (1) the horse can simply become bottled up and shut down, not truly gentle, and will explode when you least can afford it, and (b) the only way to keep the horse still is to keep its world very small, and the horse remains uncomfortable in its new domestic environment. It is better to put the horse in a safe training corral that is large enough to keep the horse a safe distance from you, and let the horse move (but not so large that you can't get the horse's attention. Most people find that a round corral of about 35 - 40 feet in diameter - or a square pen at least 24 feet on each side, works well. A square pen that is 20 ft. on each side meets BLM requirements, and is adequate for a smaller horse, or a person with some experience. |
#2: HORSES AND LEADERSHIP:Horses are herd animals. Herds have a leader, some say a "pecking order." Horses are hard-wired both to want a leader and to constantly test that leader. Horses feel safest and most secure when they have a good leader, and they demand that their leader be worthy. Periodically, they will test and re-test their leader, to make sure the leader is still worthy of entrusting with their lives and safety. If at any time the leader fails the test, the horse will take over. The horse does not necessarily WANT to be the leader, but it wants "the best one for the job" to be in charge. If YOU are not the best one for the job, the horse will decide to take on the job.
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These horses are just frolicking on a nice spring day, but even so, one can observe leadership and other behaviors. It is fascinating, as well as educational, to watch the interactions of a stable "band" - in this case, my family's mustangs (and mule). Someone recently asked me how I know that horses want a leader. Well, without being a horse, I can't truly know. So let's just say it's a functional working hypothesis. Leadership is an important concept, especially for those who are greatly concerned with being "humane" in their relationship with their horse. They often fear that to assert one's leadership involves being inhumane. To me, being humane means acting in accordance with the horse's natural self, his basic hard-wiring. Letting a horse step on you, push into you, evade you, pay no attention to you, kick or bite, or be hard to control under saddle, etc., is not going to end well for the horse. Which is more humane: a fair, firm, and consistent training/handling program, or coddling the horse, letting the horse call the shots, until one day it bucks you off, you get injured, and the horse is given away? Or simply never making any progress with the horse and finally just losing interest and giving him away? Horses, whether in nature or in your barn, set limits and are quick to discipline one another - and all is done without hard feelings. To learn more about a horse's natural self, it is helpful to watch a group of horses interact at various times of the day, and in various situations throughout the day. It may be of comfort to you to see that there is absolutely nothing, short of using a weapon, that you can do to your horse that will equal the strength, precision and ferocity of one horse chasing another away from his/her feed pile. And yet, in just a few minutes, they will again be best friends, lying in the sun together. Learning horsemanship, particularly the leadership part, can be a powerful and sometimes difficult inner journey for the human. This is especially true for many women, who have been socialized to be non-assertive "helpmates," for people who have been raised in dysfunctional or chaotic circumstances that lacked fairness or consistency, and for many people who are attracted to, but may misunderstand, "Natural" Horsemanship. Click here for a great 2 - Minute video about being a leader for your horse (from Bay Area Equestrian Network) #3: MOVEMENT & LEADERSHIP:
 How do horses attain leadership? Through movement! They "ask" another horse to move. The leader is the one who can move the others' feet.
 When the other horse complies, it has accepted the leadership (a less romantic way of seeing it is "dominance") of the other horse. Natural horsemanship training makes use of this natural equine hard-wiring. Through asking for movement, then directing that movement through different turns, speeds, and gaits, the horse accepts your leadership. Horses in the wild have been observed "hazing the newcomer" by chasing a horse who is trying to gain entrance into the band. Through this chasing (one horse moving another's feet), the pecking order is figured out, and once it has been set, the newcomer becomes an accepted part of the herd and peace returns to the band. When a new horse is introduced into my own horse pasture, the lowest ranking horse will try out the newcomer first. If the newcomer can chase off the lowest-ranking horse, the second-lowest then takes him on - and so on, until the horse's correct spot in the pecking order is determined, and then things are peaceful again. #4: HORSES ARE SOCIAL ANIMALS
   Everything about the Horse Mind is designed to live in a society with others. Just as Solitary Confinement is one of the worst punishments for humans, a horse forced to live alone is a sad creature indeed. When separated from other horses, a horse will look to any sentient being for comfort and companionship. We can use this to our advantage when gentling a wild horse - if we are more available than any other animal, the horse will be more willing to turn to us for friendship than if there are other horses available. "Solitary confinement" should never last long, however. If gentling takes more than a few days, or if you must "quarantine" your new horse for two weeks after getting it (a good idea!), allow it to at least have visual contact with other horses (as in - horses in a field down the lane, within easy view). #5: Horses communicate through Body Language. Mustangs are Masters of Body Language  As social animals, horses have a clear, effective, and complex system of communication with one another. Our job, as would-be leaders of our horses, is to learn to communicate effectively in that language: Body Language. Wild horses can read us clearly. But can we do the same? Do we know what we are telling the horse? Can we read the horse's responses? It takes time and attention but we can learn, and we must learn if we are to be truly successful with our mustangs. A lot can be learned by watching horses interact with each other. Horses are, simply, EFFECTIVE with one another! They also don't waste calories, so they always work with the least energy expenditure necessary to get the desired result. If gentle works, they'll be gentle. But when gentle doesn't work, they turn up the heat. As soon as the desired response has been obtained, they immediately stop the pressure. NO HARD FEELINGS! Within two minutes of an altercation, horses are back to being best friends. Our job as horse handlers and wild horse adopters is to learn to become as effective in our communications with our horses as they are with each other. 6. The Horse learns the last thing that happens in a sequence: Always quit on something Positive!While our goal is always the very softest of handling, the gentlest of cues, it is important in the early stages to always "give the horse the right answer." (a quote from my wonderful teacher, Jerry Tindell) The horse remembers mainly the last thing that happens in an encounter or exercise or training sequence, so if you allow it to do something that you have not asked for, or if you allow it to avoid doing something you have asked, you have taught it to do just that. Stick with a request until both you and your horse get "the right answer." If you find you have asked for something the horse is simply not ready to give, then at least hold out until you get something positive. If you are asking, for instance, to load into a trailer, and you discover that you are "in over your head" and the horse is not ready to learn this - keep in mind that the horse will remember the last thing that happens. So always quit on a positive. Maybe the horse won't load all the way, but maybe you can get it to just sustain a look into the trailer. Praise and quit right there! That may be enough. Or if you can get the horse to place one foot into the trailer, or take a step toward the trailer, maybe that's a good place to quit for the day. But always quit on something positive - never on a failure or a refusal. I have learned the hard way never to start something with a horse unless I have time to follow through in case things don't go exactly as planned. Never quit on a failure, a refusal, or a negative behavior! 7. No Hard FeelingsAgain, I have borrowed this phrase from my teacher, Jerry Tindell, who uses it often. The message is a profound one, if we can fully understand it. Horses are Here and Now - In the Present. What has happened in the past is far less important to a horse than what is happening RIGHT NOW. Horses do not hold grudges. Their relationships are not damaged when they are corrected or told to do something by another horse, even if they only obey after putting up a fight. They'll be buddies again in two minutes. Likewise, when they test you to see if you're still in charge, it's not PERSONAL. It's just part of being a horse. As soon as you let them know that, yes, you are still in charge, they will accept it willingly - it's just part of their job to check to make sure. After all, a worthy leader in the wild can make the difference between survival and death - they MUST be sure their leader is worthy! No hard feelings on the horse's part - don't get into hard feelings yourself, either! After something has happened, just let it go - don't brood that "the horse doesn't love me any more." The horse has let it go - you must learn to do the same. Spend some time watching a group of horses - at feeding time is an excellent opportunity. You will likely see a few skirmishes over who gets what place on the feed line. The skirmishes may impress you as angry or mean or violent. The horses may kick, bite, and rush each other. It may appear that they really don't like one another. But come back a few minutes later, and the same horses will be sweetly grooming one another or lying together in the sun. No Hard Feelings! Horses are simply EFFECTIVE with one another. They do what needs to be done, and move on. If we can fully absorb that, we will be much more effective with our horses. No need for anger or temper tantrums (on our part), no fears that our horse won't love us any more if we make him do what we ask, no grudges. No hard feelings.
PAGES IN GENTLING AND TRAINING SECTION:
Horse Psychology 101
Pressure and Release
Connecting
Just Spend Time
Bamboo Pole Method of Gentling
Desensitizing, Rope and Flag Work
Clicker Training & Related Operant Conditioning
and Positive Reinforcement Training
Get Professional Help
Case Sudies
Video Examples
Adventures of a Volunteer Halter Trainer
Raising Orphan Foals
Basic Ground Work:
Catching
Leading and Standing Still
Respecting Your Space
Backing up
Forward Movement
Shoulder & Hindquarter Control
Trailer Loading
Working With Feet
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