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Question:
I was leading my horse and the horse was pushing into me. I tried
to correct it with my dressage stick and tried to get it to stop but
it kept coming and the only thing that I could do was move away. Is
there something that I should have done?
Answer:
This is a very good question and it happens a lot. There are a
number of components in this situation that need to be discussed. A
lot of people don’t like to talk about controlling an aggressive
horse. There are corrections that have to be made but there is a
difference between making a correction and a beating. In this
situation, the handler tried to correct the horse, put pressure on
it by blocking the horse from coming toward her but the horse kept
coming and she finally moved away. Now, in horse world, a horse
learns by pressure and release so the moment she moved out of the
way, she released the pressure and taught the horse to do it again.
I will guarantee that this will happen again if the horse is not
properly corrected.
Correction is
nothing more than follow through. Everyone understands the roll of
pressure and release in herd dynamics. Intellectually we understand
that it means the least amount of pressure but as much as needed.
If you look at any herd, pasture or big corral, when a new horse
joins that environment, you can see the dynamics at work. Sometimes
the lead horse will turn around and look at the new horse with snake
eyes and that is the least amount of pressure. If the new horse
does not respond to that or he challenges, the lead horse may swing
his hind quarters around toward the new horse adding pressure. If
that doesn’t work, it is amazing how fast a horse can back up and
kick at the same time. When a horse kicks, it does not care if it
is the rib cage, hind quarters or leg and this can cause severe
injury. That is why it is important to observe for a time when a
new horse is turned in with an established group. Some people pull
the shoes first to mitigate any injury. A lead horse might also
whirl around and lunge at a new horse with bared teeth, even making
contact. The point is, a lead horse will follow through until the
new horse moves off. This pattern may be repeated several times
before the new horse gets the message. When you are working with a
horse, and to have a great relationship with your horse, you have to
be the leader. Even a small horse can weigh 800 or 900 pounds and
it will hurt you if it bites, kicks or steps on you.
There is a
difference between a correction and beating. A correction is when
you take an action at the time of the event. You only have a couple
of seconds to make a correction. If you don’t have time to get it
done or put yourself in a position to make the correction, then
don’t do anything. If your horse steps on you, and you take the
time to go to the barn for a crop and start wailing on it, that is a
beating because the horse has already gone on to something else.
Horses learn at the time of the event so they can associate. If
you are in a position and make the correction but you do it out of
anger, you will likely take too strong an action and that is also a
beating. A handler may beat a horse out of frustration because he
or she doesn’t know what to do or doesn’t have the necessary skills
to get the horse to do what is being asked. We need to make sure
our emotions don’t come into play. Horses learn through correction
just like our kids. We set the standards, which is what we do with
our horse as well, and we follow through to make sure the standards
are met. We follow through by correcting the behavior. Some
parents correct their children by sending them to their rooms,
others may have a “time out” spot but that is the follow through,
the correction and is it essential.
Referring back
to the question, this handler did not follow through. What she did
was correct but she didn’t have enough knowledge on how to control
the horse to get the shoulder to move away or, she wasn’t able to
apply enough pressure to follow through and get the job done. Some
people don’t feel good about escalating the pressure. It may not be
in your make up to be comfortable increasing the pressure but if you
are going to be in the horse world, in other words use their
language, you need to be able to change enough to take control. If
you do that, you will have a great relationship with your horse and
the horse will respect you and look to you for guidance. See my
Ground Manners and Leading DVD for additional and more specific
information.
The other thing
we need to do is be consistent. Because we correct the behavior
once doesn’t mean the behavior will be changed forever. If the
horse is chronically pushing on you, it may take the horse a couple
of weeks or longer before the light bulb goes off and horse gets
it. Also, in a stressful situation the horse may revert.
If you can’t be
forceful enough to get the horses’s attention, you need to find
someone who will take the proper action and that means someone who
will correct the behavior with follow through and then leave the
horse alone. For example, I had a stallion come to the ranch and it
took me a half hour just to get into the stall to put a halter on it
so that I could load it. I had to teach the horse to back away from
the stall door, to turn and face me and stay there until I
approached it. It took a half hour before I felt it was safe enough
to go into the stall to put the halter on. When I got the horse
home to the ranch, it took me 45 days to the point I was comfortable
leading that horse around the ranch in a regular halter. This horse
had been out of control for a long time, since it was a baby. The
owners turned the stallion out by opening the stall door and running
it down the barn aisle to a corral. When it was time to come in,
they reversed the procedure because they could not handle the
horse. Once I showed them how to maintain the control they were
able to go to stallion showcases and stallion parades and show off
the horse.
Consistency and
follow through are very important. If you have a horse that has
been out of control for a long time, the behavior is not going to
change over night. Any type of training takes time, patience,
consistency and follow through. Every time we ride our horse it is
a training opportunity, we make a correction and then leave the
horse alone — pressure/release. Correction can be pressure with an
inside or outside leg and once we get the desired response, we leave
the horse alone, we don’t keep nagging. I get horses in for
training because the rider has been picking at them either with a
leg or a stick and the horse gets dull and no longer goes forward.
When you follow through and apply more pressure at the point you
don’t get the response you are asking for, and then you do get the
proper response, release the pressure, then you will have a nice
responsive horse. So keep this in mind when working with your
horse. It doesn’t matter what breed or what discipline, a horse is
a horse and there has to be leadership and follow through.
Charles Wilhelm
It’s Never Ever the Horse’s Fault
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