Leadership is a Matter of Life and Death

Last Saturday, a group of students gathered to watch me play with horses at liberty. After a brief introduction to horse behavior and the ten special qualities of the horse's mind (from Robert Miller), I began a demonstration of the "Seven Waterhole Rituals", starting with sharing territory. In order to interest a horse in sharing space and time with you, it helps to use food or treats . Starting with Deb's mare EZ, I offered her a chance to eat out of containers with three very delicious looking snacks. The idea of connecting with your horse at liberty is that every step in the process involves giving the horse a choice of joining you or leaving you. When a horse consistently chooses to join you and allows you to shape their behavior, it develops a bond between the two of you. It is important to expect the horse to respect you right from the start and not allow a dominant horse to move your feet. 

Movement is done by a leader, who makes a request, with a realistic expectation of having that request fulfilled by the other. It helps to know your horse's personality in order to judge how well they are able to answer your request without bringing up fear or defensive behavior. Movement can also be initiated by a dominant horse whose only goal is to force movement and to intimidate others through fear or physical contact. A horse may do what the dominant one asks but will not trust or remain confident in them for very long, especially if they feel their safety is at stake. They will always trust a leader. A horse has four main priorities: safety, comfort, play (socializing) and food. If a horse feels unsafe in the presence of any creature, they will use their natural defenses, mainly flight. 

Once it was obvious that EZ did not feel safe approaching the "cookie bar", especially with 12 people on the other side of the rope, I made it less scary for her by delivering the treats to her. Once she took a bite and realized I was not trying to trap her and I walked away, she became curious. Who is this person with food who doesn't scare me or pressure me into doing what she wants? Little by little, she began to trust me enough to come forward to check out the goods I was offering. Her hesitancy was obvious and I knew I would need to go slow with her. She does not readily look to others to keep her safe and she wants to know that she can depend on you to be the leader she needs. As humans, we take for granted that horses accept us in their life because we have put them there, when in reality, they will accept only what they feel is in their best interest in terms of safety or comfort. It isn't until we push them beyond their limits of comfort (by asking them to do something that is emotional, mentally and/or physically demanding) and safety that we see them "misbehave" or resist, possibly endangering us or them in the process. With liberty training, the horse has a choice and tells you immediately just how much they can tolerate. It also offers the horse a chance to connect with you using their own language. The process goes much quicker and is long lasting for both horse and human. Most of all it is a window into their mind and teaches us so much about our own ability to look into the heart and soul of another creature. I learn something about myself every time I am with the horses. A sense of peace and calm enters my mind and I begin to focus on the here and now. If I can't, then the communication is scattered and muddled, the horse tells me I am on the wrong track. 

That day, EZ said to me, you can be my leader but not today. I have to process what you are offering and see evidence of what you are asking of me and soon I will be able to trust you . I think that's reasonable. 

After all, it's a matter of life and death...

Reciprocal Movement at Liberty

What fun it is to watch the changes in a horse's behavior as they react to me, reacting to them. It's this reciprocal movement that makes liberty so effective. You can take each moment of interaction with your horse, good and bad and learn from it. I'm now able to apply the seven rituals to my daily contact with horses and am able to find solutions to problems that in the past would have taken so much longer.

I was grooming Image in her stall the other day and wanted her to stand still while I brushed her back legs. Ever since I've had her, going on a year now, I have noticed her significant reaction to particular contact with her hindquarters. As long as she understands where I am going with the contact; i.e. picking her feet or putting the straps around her legs for her blanket, she is fine with it. But when I brush her and begin touching her back end and down her legs, she finds it irritating and somewhat "stimulating" to the point where she lifts her tail and winks then urinates. With no real experience with this behavior other than when my mare was in heat, I did a little research and discovered that mares will mimick this estrus type breeding behavior when they are being submissive. Instead of continuing to worry her by touching her in the back or punishing her with loud "no"s and making her more submissive, I needed to get her used to being handled around her hindlegs.

I had to start with getting her to allow me to "lead from behind" the 4th waterhole ritual from Carolyn Resnick. Ironically, I had recently been working on getting Image to focus more on me at the front end by asking her for more "eye contact", the 5th waterhole ritual. I have found that she is much more calm now that she understands that my presence along side of her is a good thing and that if she follows my lead and checks in with me constantly, she will have a calm, confident and consistent leader with her at all times. After trying repeatedly to brush her hind end and down her hind legs while in the stall, I decided to take her out in the arena. She was swishing her tail, followed by lifting it and winking with urination at first, even on the line out in the arena, so I decided to take the halter/lead rope off to see what would happen. I've found that the more I force the issue while keeping her attached to me, the more she worries and feels trapped-and isn't that what we do sometimes-keep our horses in our immediate control thinking that will make the situation better? Once she was loose and I walked away from her to the other end of the arena, she did what she normally does-she walked towards the gate and looked out to her stall and the other horses. She was saying to me, how do I get away from you? In order to break her habit of going to the exit for help, I moved her off of the area with my stick to show her I was "taking territory". Moving a horse's feet is the first step in getting control of their mind. When she moved away, I offered my hand to greet her and because she is so curious and desires interaction with others, she came right to me. I think it is her insecurity that currently draws her to humans , but eventually, I'm hoping that her confidence in me as a leader will do the same.

This was my chance to reconnect without using force. While moving slowly, touching her calmly , I let her take in every aspect of the interaction, without bringing up fear or resistance. She allowed me to touch her all over her neck and shoulders and back, but when I reached for her hind end or began running my hand or stick down her back legs she backed up and positioned herself so that her head and neck were facing forward. Finally, I decided to send her off and try to lead from behind. As I expected she would not let me stay behind her and continued to turn and face me or angle her head and neck in a circle with hindquarters facing out. I recalled working with Chanty on this very same problem. I had put her on a lunge line and walked behind her along a wall. Initially she would try to turn and face me, but with gentle prompting with the end of the rope towards her head and neck, I was able to keep her walking while facing forward. When Image discovered I was behind her she swished her tail and winked, constantly trying to reposition her head and neck to face me. I persisted quietly and softly, asking for just a few steps before stopping and rewarding her by allowing her to turn and face me, stroking her softly on her head and neck. After a few tries she was able to walk for several feet around the arena with me positioned safely behind her on the lunge line.

I will try the next time to lead from behind at liberty and see how she handles it. In addition, while at liberty or online  I need to approach and retreat slower and reward quicker using my hand or my stick to touch her hindquarters, so she gains confidence in me and doesn't feel the need to show extreme submissiveness while attached or to escape by running, while at liberty. But, I felt this was a good place to stop.

When we quit for the day, she walked back so much more calmly and I noticed when I went in her stall later to pick up some manure, she didn't reposition herself to face me as she normally would if I found myself at her back end. She even stood calmly and unloaded a pile of manure right into my rake as I raised it up to catch it in the stall. I rewarded her with food and stroked her several times. How exciting for me! And what a breakthrough for both of us.

I had done leading from behind on a lunge line with Chanty but it was done as a part of an "advanced" set of exercises that was outlined in a horsemanship video series. It was suggested that you not proceed to that level until you completed and were successful with the preceding exercises. What I've discovered is that horses will tell you when they are ready to be approached at a certain level of personal contact and it is our job to be aware of their response and know how to deal with it. I happen to have a horse who has both left brain and right brain extroverted traits and it can be very challenging to work with her using any kind of standardized or rigid step by step program. She can be a total contradiction of behaviors. I am trying to get her to focus on me without pushing on me with her front end while at the same time allowing me to control the hind end without bringing up a fear response of running away. As long as I allow her to choose to interact with me and react to her with understanding and compassion, not force and dominance, the relationship will grow and her confidence in me as a leader will make our future interactions so much more rewarding.