Interpretation Exercise

I went to a really interesting and powerful workshop last weekend based on EAL/EAP (Equine assisted Learning and Psychotherapy) work and Linda Kohanov's book The Power of the Herd (http://www.poweroftheherd.com/) teachings. It was geared toward Personal development and Leadership training skill building.

I wanted to share some of the brilliant exercises that brought into sharp focus how our thinking and being can be shaped in so many ways by old patterns and our brain's Interpretation of things can be skewed greatly by that.

We did several exercises that involved just Observing your surroundings and your own feelings about them. We did boundary sensing exercises on each other and with the herd of horses provided. We did an Observation exercise which was fascinating and telling. And we did a final group exercises that really showed how when you want to work with many different people with different ideas and personalities how wrong and then right it can go once you come together. This particular exercise was a very clear example of why people have trouble working together in businesses, relationships and life in general. But when given the tools and skills needed, we were able to get 9 people and 6 horses at Liberty on the same page and the result was a harmonious, joyful experience! It wasn't easy but we did get there all together as a unit. It was abundantly clear to me why businesses fail, Politics often don't resolve anything and personal relationships struggle between friends and family. The Horses as usual were fantastic guides.

There were several terms and ideas that really resonated with me and I could relate to. One term that was used was Vilifying. Vilifying (Judging negatively) is what we do when someone does something we don't like or a even a school of thought we don't like and we decide that they are inherently bad by association. Basically writing someone off because of their beliefs, ideas etc. Or even attacking them personally. I think the world is full of this type of behavior and in fact wars are started because of this. I feel the horse world is fraught with this as well unfortunately. Another term used a lot was Predatory behavior. Other related terms would be Dominant, Intimidators, and Bullies. Of course we have all seen this behavior in the horse world as well.

My favorite exercise was the Observation/Interpretation Exercise. It involved all the participants standing with the horses and observing something about them that we ALL had to agree on what we saw. This exercise challenged us to see what is really in front of us and not "project" our interpretation of any emotions or ideas we thought we saw. The result was a very neutral non-judgemental environment between us and the horses. So for example, one person would say what they observed. They might say "that horse is happy" but that is an interpretation that not everyone might agree with. Remember, we ALL have to agree on what we see to be able to work as a team. Get it? Another person might look at that same horse and say "That horse is sad" because that is their Interpretation. To make it neutral and easy for us to agree on what we observed, we had to stick to statements like "that horse is a bay" and of course, we could all agree with that! Or "That horse is eating hay" Yes we can ALL agree that we Observed that. The agreement in what we ALL observed, unified and neutralized our connections with each other. When someone would say something they "Interpreted" it split us as group because inevitably, we would not all agree on that Interpretation.

Another example of this was with my Mother who participated as well. She was standing with a group of horses around her and then we had to share what we observed. One person said my mom looked scared. My mom then relayed that she was in a state of complete joy at that moment. So the other person's Interpretation was coming from their own experience and they projected it on to my mom. How often  do we do that to our horses? I know I see it all the time.

Try this Interpretation exercise and let me know what you find out about yourself and others. I often tell my students to ask themselves "What is the horse really doing right now? Not what you think he's doing, but what is he really doing? It can greatly improve your experience with your horse. Especially the fearful people. I find fear can make us spend a lot of time Interpreting everything around us in an effort to stay safe. It can quickly become a cycle of projections from brain and not what's actually happening.

In the company of horses (http://www.inthecompanyofhorses.com/index.html) is in New Jersey and it is well worth it if you can participate in a workshop on every level. Non horse and horse people alike. I met many like minded awesome people too! I look forward to doing another workshop and implementing these powerful techniques in all areas of life.
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The Grazing Game

Here is a video Inspired by Carolyn Resnick's Grass exercises. This is an immensely helpful and important exercise. It takes very little time to get the horse to understand and is quite a nice way to play with grass areas. See more like this at 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

Focus

I am frequently asked to address Focus issues in horses my own included. The funny part is often the people state they too have trouble focusing...Interesting. I often am asked to deal with Fear issues in horses and surprise! The owners are fearful too!. So what's the point here? Well if our goal is to be a good leader to our horse and garner our horses respect and bond to us, The work starts with us. The reason the horses improve when I work with them is because I give them 100% focus and I am generally not afraid because I don't put myself in positions which scare me. People say to me "Farah you never seem afraid even working with so called "dangerous" horses" And that's because I know what steps or exercises I need to do for myself to feel safe, Then as a natural result I am not afraid. You notice how I said I do things with the horse to help me feel not afraid not the horse feel not afraid because as a result the horse gets more focused and less afraid.
Your horse requires 100% of your attention if you expect his. Some methods rely on the horse having to pay attention, regardless of if we are or not. This doesn't seem fair to me. If a student is in a class room and the teacher is off in La La land. That class is going to find other ways to entertain themselves good or bad. They are also going to resent and not respect that teacher too much.
If you and your horse are completely focused on each other as much of the time as possible, the communication should be more effortless and as a result you should pick up on subtle cues that your horse may be getting nervous about something. Then you can take measures to prevent a spook or redirect your horses energy somewhere else.
I feel that a lot of accidents are a result of lack of focus and awareness in the horse and rider.
So try this exercise if you feel you have an unfocused or spooky horse. Take measure to make yourself feel safe, and spend a whole session completely focused on what your are doing and who you are doing it with. Let me know how it goes in the comments section!

Being a good leader

What does it mean to be a good Leader to your horse? In a lot of training the focus is on "being the boss" being the dominant one or the alpha. I have heard this uttered by many trainers at many competitions and even Natural Horsemanship clinicians.
First, lets talk about Lead versus Dominant energy. In a herd there are Lead, Dominant, and submissive horses. In people there are the same. Lead horses can be in charge of the herd but so can dominant horses. A herd lead by a Lead horse tends to be more balanced and peaceful then a herd lead by a Dominant horse.
So what's the difference? Lead horses are looking out for the highest good of the herd and individual. Lead horses don't make demands they make reasonable requests which seem inviting to horses. They tend to not use aggressive body language in general because they don't have to. Dominant horses can be aggressive if not out right mean at times to take rank and ownership of territory. They are much more likely to use big gestures and body language and engage in "Dominance games" with other dominant horses. These are the horses you often see playing roughly and wrestling when paired up.They are also likely to get this way with a person that approaches them with this type of energy.
To me being a good Leader to my horses means behaving as much like a lead horse as possible. It means that if I want to be followed I should behave like someone who would be good to follow. Think about that. Are you someone you'd like to follow? Ask yourself this question. Would you happily follow your lead if you were a horse? It means thinking about what you are requesting of your horse and how they might feel about it. It means acknowledging their fears and helping them overcome them in a supportive way not a forceful one. It means thinking about the overall balance of the herd and all involved including yourself. Balance is so important. Yes we the people are included in that. Some people put so much focus on the horses well being that they fore go their own and that is not balanced Leadership either. A Leader is only as good as they are feeling in their core being. That means a happy balanced healthy Leader mirrors the same to their horses. Always think about that when you are getting ready to "Lead". We all have bad days and we are allowed to have them. In fact saying out loud "I'm having a bad day and it's ok" is a very freeing experience. Horses like emotional congruency much more then when we try to be perfect for them or cover our hidden fears, depression, anger or anxiety. We are only kidding ourselves if we think they can't read that in us. So next time you see your horse, think about preparing to be a good Leader and remember this is an ever changing role for us. Each day brings us different opportunities to Lead and Learn how to be better Leaders.

FDT