Now That They Know You're a Good Leader

Followup to Horses Were Babies Once Too

I've really been enjoying the time spent with the arab mare. I don't really connect with her name, so I just call her "Baby". When we had just one dog years ago, I called her "Puppy" instead of her given name Belle and she always answered to it. Horses are very receptive and responsive to the tone in your voice and of course, your body language and so I know the mare will be able to understand when I am talking to her. Our relationship has grown in just 3 short weeks and when I work with her loose or retrieve her from the pasture, she comes right up to me. She has allowed me to trim her front feet without being tied and she has tolerated the saddle on her with lungeing. She does have an issue with backing up and tends to freeze, but we are working on that.

Yesterday, I spent time in the arena with both Chanty and the arab mare with a new friend of mine who wants nothing more than to understand these magnificent creatures and spend time with them as equals. He is learning first hand about the unique relationship that can develop when a human becomes a good leader to a horse.

When I ride or work with Chanty on the ground now, she is quiet and calm and has responded so well to all of our interactions that I jokingly refer to her as my "new quarter horse". She has truly gone to the other side of the charts when it comes to personality traits. Less reactive, calm, confident, even dull to respond at times, I have to convince people that this really is an extroverted horse who used to fly off in all directions with the slightest movement of my hand or squeeze of my leg. But, the beauty of working with horses, is that they are very adaptable, and while they remember the good and the bad, they can learn to accept the direction of a good leader even when asked to do something that in the past caused stress and anxiety. It's all about trust and confidence in your leader.

I know that Chanty finds me trustworthy and by association allows other humans to handle her without any concern. But, when she was at liberty yesterday and my friend worked with her, she saw something different in his body language that made her "radar" go up. Horses are very perceptive to even slight changes in body language and as he walked slowly towards her with the orange stick behind his back, you could see the tension in her body as her eyes got bigger. As soon as he reached to touch her with his hand, she walked off quickly, head swinging defensively, tail waving in the air. Her personality traits have not been extinguished altogether and her reactive, safety conscious nature was on full alert in that moment when she needed it. But that's not what my friend would have predicted she'd do based on her calm demeanor just moments earlier.

It is this so called "unpredictable" nature of horses that inexperienced horse owners will point to when their so called trained horse does something "out of the blue" and they are either injured or simply frustrated and ready to lash out at their animal. The horse is simply reacting to the inconsistent treatment they are receiving from their owner. A good leader is consistent and expects the horse to behave in response to requests of the leader. The requests, though, cannot be outside the horse's emotional, mental or physical ability to respond, and as a good leader you must learn to make reasonable requests of your horse based on their personalities and this ability to respond.

Let's say you were working at a new job that started you off simply putting together 2 parts of a 300 part item. You were shown what was expected in order to complete your task and your aptitude or mental ability to accomplish the task was evaluated, as well as your ability to physically complete the job. After working your way up to 5 parts, you begin to feel confident in your ability to respond to requests from your supervisor. You are rewarded with encouraging words, a reasonable pay and breaks during the day. Then, one day, your supervisor asks you to put together 100 parts of the 300 total parts, explaining the process quickly to you. You are asked to do it in a very short time or you will be docked a half day's pay. If it is done incorrectly, you will be watched over by your supervisor until it is done right and you will still lose a half day's pay.

Your heart is racing, your palms are sweating, your mind is losing focus and you can't think of what was just asked of you moments ago. The directions were given quickly and you can't process what was said. With the pressure of having your boss watching over you and the threat of losing wages, you begin to make mistakes. You feel that the request made of you is unreasonable and you react in your own way based on your personality. The next time you interact with your boss, you are immediately leery and on the defensive, unable to trust his leadership. You may even become defiant or beligerent, disrespectful or simply dismiss his requests.

Now obviously, there is a significant difference in how humans deal with stress and how horses deal with stress, but the fact is, we assume that horses can process our requests and physically perform every exercise we throw at them without fail and their reluctance to do so is a sign of resistance based on disrespect and bad attitude. A good leader knows differently...

Instead of asking you to suddenly put together 100 parts with very little preparation or direction, your supervisor takes you through the next step in the process of say 20 or 30 pieces and allows you to give feedback as to how well you are absorbing the information and how easily you are able to physically perform the task. If you are having difficulties, the supervisor backs up a step and allows you to work on something that you are accomplished at, building your confidence. Your trust in your supervisor grows because you know he won't ask something of you that you are not able to do, but will prepare you when there is to be an advancement in the demands of your job, mental or physical.

A good leader to a horse or human makes requests, with the reasonable expectation that the request will be fullfilled and that the follower will respond without emotional distress. The follower will then respond calmly, confidently and consistently to each new step. Learning will progress quickly and new skills will be retained in the horse's mind (and human's). Trust and confidence in the leader will grow.

Horses can accept leadership from multiple sources-two and four legged creatures as long as the leader knows the language of the horse and will make requests of the horse that are understood clearly, based on that language. I really enjoy Carolyn Resnick's videos Panadero's Journey Part 1 and 2, as they explain how horses interact in the herd and how you as a human can duplicate that behavior. Also, I recommend that you watch Understanding Horses by Robert Miller, DVM.

I tell my students that all of the information they've gained has made their requests clearer to the horse and as such the horses now know you are a good leader. And now that they know you're a good leader, the possibilities for interacting with your horse are endless! And FUN!!!!