It's not personal

I have said this to many students over and over again. I have seen people take their horses behavior, mistakes and communication personally if not very personally. Why do we do that?

Well, in my experience, there are several scenarios people feel like their horses' behavior or actions are personal. When a horse does not do what you ask, you assume he did it because he doesn't like you. He would do it for you if he liked/loved you. Another one I see is similar, He wouldn't do this behavior if he liked/loved me. You think your horse gets what you are asking and is purposely not doing it. You think your horse injured you on purpose. Then there's the idea that my horse should always want to be with me and should always want to do whatever I decide we should do.

Let's put this in another context. You probably have a friend, family member or partner that you are fond of. Have you asked them to do some task and they didn't do it or even said they didn't want to? Did you assume they don't like you? Did you think they were doing it on purpose? When someone does or doesn't do something it shouldn't injure the relationship. It is a difference of opinion or agenda. In healthy relationships, we talk about it and come to an agreement that is good for both of us. We also don't always want to be together and don't always want to do the same things as each other. Even if we care very much. I feel this way about my relationship with horses.
 
I never take it personally when a horse has a different agenda or idea then me. I am so grateful they allow me to ask for the things I do, It doesn't enter my mind. Look at it from their point of view. When a horse wants to eat grass when I am walking him, I don't think why does he want that grass when he is not supposed to eat it. I think of course he wants that grass he's a horse and I would love to give him some. Then we can have a conversation about how he could get some grass and when might be a good time to get some grass.

When it comes to being injured by a horse, whether it is being thrown off, kicked or bitten. As frightening and traumatic as that can be, I always know the horse had a reason for the behavior and that they are generally communicating something strongly to us when they do this. Just like they would to another horse. Sometimes, we don't see their small communications until they feel like they need to shout at us. Sometimes when I get a horse in for training that is supposedly behaving badly, I spend the first 30 days trying to see what that horse is saying and why he is saying it. I often find that the horse had a very good reason for saying what they said as unpleasant as it may be for us.

So if you find yourself taking your horses behavior personally, remember it's not. Just as I say to my horses when I may set a strong boundary, It's not personal I just need you to understand that this is not ok with me. And you know what? They don't take it personally. Oats for thought.

http://www.fdhorsemanship.com/ Sign up for http://fdhvirtualclinic.vidmeup.com/
Upcoming events
9/31-10/2 FDH Horsemanship Clinic: Plainfield, MA
11/30-12/2 FDH clinic in New Zealand: at Taralee stables, Carterton, NZ
11/22-11/24- FDH Clinic in Australia Strath Creek, Victoria, Australia
for more info and registration
Calendar:http://www.fdhorsemanship.com/#!calendar

Ear Pinning

I encourage expressiveness in my horses

Ear pinning is another debated topic amongst many horse people. I wrote a short time ago about tail swishing and some reasons horses do it. I feel that Ear Pinning warrants exploring as well.

First of all, I value both of these behaviors because they are ways horses communicate with each other and us. I have learned to pay very close attention to the timing and placement of these communications in all the horses I come in contact with.It gives me insight into many things the horse is trying to "say" whether it is to me or another horse or animal.

Here are several reasons I have seen ear pinning displayed:

1. Horse wanting other horse( or human) to move (off food, territory or another horse)
2. Horse does not agree with other horse or humans actions. (*Note I said "agree" does not make said actions right or wrong)
3. Horse does not like the feeling of something (maybe it is ticklish or annoying in some way)
4. Horse is in genuine discomfort or illness
5. Horse is this type of horsenality (opinionated) (some horses are more likely to pin and communicate this way because they are dominant, big horsenalities and quick to assert themselves)
6. In a so called "aggressive" horse (in my experience usually an abused horse that has become defensive but can just be a bully) it can be a warning of aggressive behavior ie. biting and kicking

In my Training work, I have to put the Communication in context to know how it fits in and how to proceed. I think it is wrong to assume when a horse pins there ears you are doing something "wrong" It could be as simple as what I call "a difference of opinion" between horse and person or horse and other horse. When people have differences of opinion, we will let the person know. Sometimes we can agree to disagree and sometimes we can get the horse to agree if we acknowledge this disagreement and "talk" it over together. Often when I see this communication, I will say out loud to the horse "I am listening and I see your point" "I definitely see how you could see it that way" Then I think of how I could communicate to them so we can have a meeting of the minds. This acknowledgement of their opinions and feelings allows me to shape the work around the horse.

I tend to attract and work with many very Dominant horses who have learned to be pushy and even dangerous to handle. When they come to me. They have usually developed these patterns for two reasons. They were handled by people who may not have had the tools to communicate with this type of horse, or the horse has been abused and instead of shutting down has learned to protect himself.
Both these horses can be communicated to in different ways but they may exhibit pinned ears for different reasons. The Dominant horses may not like having to reason with me at first and my requests for more space around food or to move off or away. They will often give me huffy expressions and swishes and ears back in a "who do you think you are to move me away from my food!" "I do the moving around here" Once they understand my requests and that I will quickly praise the right choices. Ears are forward and expression becomes "hmm you are asking interesting questions...I am interested in what you have to say!"  They know that I will always listen to them and they will be heard.

Mercury is Dominant and food territorial and will pin his ears if asked to stand back from his food at times. It is easy for me to see why he would do that around that request.

So when you see this communication pay close attention. If you don't know the horse well, be cautious until you know the context of the Ear pinning and what they are trying to say. See if you can learn to read this communication by watching how horses use it amongst themselves. More oats for thought.
http://fdhvirtualclinic.com/
http://www.fdhorsemanship.com/

Positive Reinforcement

As I have come to work with some challenging horses and with the wisdom of time and experience, I have come shape my training around Positive Reinforcement.

What is Positive Reinforcement? It can be Verbal, Physical, Food, or allowing the horse to do something he wants to do. If I have a horse that may have some undersireable behavior I basically ignore it and focus on the rewarding the behavior I do like and build up from there. We tend to fixate on the "Bad" behavior and correcting it instead of teaching the horse a new pattern.

For example, if a horse is rude around food I would not correct him or yell at him for being pushy and aggressive. I would think of what I might like the horse to do instead and set about showing him how to do that and then rewarding the positive change. So I might say to the horse with my body language or even a stick, "could you move back over there about 5-6 steps and "whoa"? The horse may need to be requested several times to stay back and wait, but I will just keep asking politely until he says "ok" by standing and giving me eye contact. At that point I will give him the precious food he so much wanted and we will have had a conversation about how I'd like him to conduct himself around me and food. Ultimately respect my leadership and safety and I will be more then happy to give him what he wants. Leadership is  balance thing.

If we are Ogres and control freaks all the time, the horse will run the other way when we come to the pasture. On the other hand if we are push overs, we can get hurt and frustrated because our horse out ranks us.
We need to focus on consistent positive, behavior patterns and keep working with them daily.

When I have worked with difficult horses, I find as long as I can get them to honor my personal space, we can start to have a conversation about what might be a better way to work together. I don't really care if a horse is a bucker, rearer,striker or kicker. None of these things can hurt me if the horse is not in my personal space. So if I have this horse and he is upset or even aggressive, we have to learn how to be in a space and respect each other. If I feel safe I can let the horse express his opinions freely until he feels heard and then he will probably listen to me. A lot of times a horse wants us to just listen. Like a person who's upset.This horse often stops protesting when he sees I am not going to make a request until he shows me his softer side. Also, by not trying to control the "bad" behavior it often diffuses itself and fizzles out. If you don't feed that energy, it goes hungry.  Same with fear and spookiness.

Some horses seek negative reinforcement just as much as positive because they are smart and it has gotten a rise out of the human. It can become a game that you don't even know you are playing. If I ignore this game and then see some behavior I like, I will go and Positively Reinforce it. The horse learns the "negative" behavior goes un-noticed and loses interest in doing it anymore. I have found this way of training has garnered me much more success then chasing horses around pens and "Dominating" them. This is not to say a horse doesn't need leadership and to respect you. It is to say that we can do it in a Positive way and keep a nice relaxed, harmonious connection even when there is a lot of energy to deal with.
FDT