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Control His Mind and the Rest Will Follow
There is an old saying that goes "good horses
are partners, not pets". What every rider wants from their horse is a
relationship based on trust, communication and respect. Oddly enough,
this may be exactly what our horses want from us as well. But how
horses and riders attempt to achieve this common end is usually
different, and in order to ensure that humans can bridge the gap
between themselves and their horses they need to have a foundation of
understanding and language.
Let's start first with understanding as we discuss the mind of the
horse. Humans often expect horses to think, act and react like humans.
But the truth is that how horses perceive and interpret the world is
vastly different than how humans do, and this difference can be the
source of some of the greatest misunderstandings between horse and
rider. In order to control the mind of the horse, which essentially
means to understand and communicate effectively with a horse’s mind, we
have to first learn about how horses think.
Like humans, horses have both left and right brain hemispheres. In horses, the left brain is the center from which they learn, or the more conscious decision making part of the brain. The right brain is driven by mother nature and instinct. The left half of the horses brain is what has enabled him to be domesticated, to be ridden and to live in a state that is truly unnatural to a herd animal. The right half of the brain has enabled horses to survive for thousands of years, by becoming finely attuned and exquisitely sensitive to people, places, danger and things. Within both the right and left sides of the brain, there is a negative and a positive reflex.
IN THE RIGHT BRAIN reflexes go from the feet
to the body to the mind, meaning that this hemisphere lives in
adrenaline and reacts from instinct instead of conscious thought.
RIGHT BRAIN NEGATIVE behaviors include biting, kicking, bucking, rearing, and spooking, all of which come from adrenaline, fear and survival behavior (the "fight or flight" response). If a horse can’t flee, he’ll fight. If you over control a horse, or put him into a situation where he can’t get away (such as tied to a pole or in a small stall) the horse will react with fear and/or aggression. Fear based behavior can come out on the trail if your horse can’t see who’s coming up behind him and he instinctively kicks out. This response can also been seen when horses go into competition when their adrenaline is high: show horses will rear and buck their riders off as a means of escape from what they perceive as a dangerous situation. When under the influence of uncontrolled adrenaline, horses don’t have any other outlet for their fear besides their instinctive response to flee.
RIGHT BRAIN POSITIVE is a horse that runs to the gate to see you in a habitual, conditioned response coupled with the horses innate sense of play drive. This response is what makes dressage horses so elegant and elevated yet firmly under the control of their rider. It is the race horse who doesn’t froth and sweat being led to the starting line, but who instead quietly goes into the gate and comes out fast and straight. Right brain positive is adrenaline channeled towards purpose and sport. Perhaps the greatest example of right brain positive is a cutting horse who must quietly go into the herd, slowly choose the cow and then cut the cow without its rider ever picking up the reins to direct or correct it.
LANGUAGE, LEARNING AND THE LEFT BRAIN
90% of communication is non-verbal. We "speak" with our bodies, our tone of voice, our eyes, and our gestures. Each of these give subtle cues that provide our horse with critical information about where we’re at and what we are asking of them. Most humans ride "scared feet", meaning humans are in essence riding adrenaline derived (and not thinking) behavior. This is what makes horses dangerous and its why humans use so many gimmicks to try to control their horses. From tie downs to Pelham bits, there is no end to the tools humans will use to try to make themselves feel safe on horses, when all it really takes is knowledge, persistence and "taking the time it takes" to effectively communicate with a horse.
IN THE LEFT BRAIN reflexes go from the mind to the body to the feet, meaning the horse is thinking before it acts (instead of reacts). We must keep a horse out of right brain adrenaline in order to access and harness the left brain so that they can learn. LEFT BRAIN NEGATIVE behaviors include biting, kicking, being pushy on the ground, and standing on your foot when you’re trying to clean their hooves. While some of these behaviors are also seen when your horse is in right brain negative, there is a critical difference: where right brain negative behaviors are generated from adrenaline and fear, left brain negative behaviors are calculated. When your horse engages in these behaviors, he is playing a dominance game with you. Since horses are herd animals, they learn early on how to determine who is dominant and exactly what position they occupy on the chain of command.
"Dominant behavior" for most humans means being mean or aggressive. When horses exhibit dominance behavior it scares humans, and this fear causes the human to yield to the horse’s aggression. Yielding effectively allows the horse to control the humans mind. A horse that steps on your feet when you are cleaning his hooves knows exactly where your feet are, and his stepping on you is evidence that he’s got your number. The more you punish a horse for left brain negative dominance games the more the horse engages to play them because he’s getting a response.
We want dominance to mean that the horse knows that you’re the leader, and that the leader always controls the horses feet and position and therefore his body and mind. The way to change a left brain negative behavior is to outsmart your horse. If your horse rubs his head on you because he’s sweaty after a long ride, "take your claws out" and rub him with your fingernails until he backs up 1 step. This is a yield to you and it means your horse is no longer dominant or controlling your position. It may take some time and persistence on your part, but every time your horse goes to rub his head on you use your fingernails and keep clawing him until he stops and backs up. By doing this you cease to reward the horse for his bad behavior and the incentive to continue the behavior is taken out of it for him. By yielding the horse to you, you are reminding him that you are the leader, which will cause your horse to have more respect for you as a member of his herd.
LEFT BRAIN POSITIVE: this is the part of the horses brain that is engaged when we teach a horse, and it is developed through language. Horses learn through 3 different stimulus:
RHYTHMIC MOTION: This is taught by desensitizing a horse with a stimulus they are afraid of until they are no longer react to it. This is also known as putting in a relaxation cue. For example, if a horse is scared by the sound of branches hitting your helmet on the trail, you can hold the horses reins so that one rein is shorter than the other, which will cause a horse to go into a circle instead of going forward. Continually brush your helmet against the branches until the horse stops reacting to it, and then stop the stimulus immediately. This teaches the horse that what they were afraid of really isn’t scary and that its more work for them to be afraid than it is to accept the offending noise.
STEADY PRESSURE: This is taught to our horses by leg and rein aids. We want to set up a cue and release system to teach a horse to respond to our smallest suggestion. Cuing a horse from steady pressure causes them to move out and away from that pressure. When using your leg, start lightly and apply ever greater pressure until the horse responds. Steady pressure is why spurs are effective. A spur pressing into a ribcage is a pointed object that will cause a greater response than your boot, which is round and dull.
RHYTHMIC PRESSURE: this will lighten your leg and rein aids. By using a crop, a string or a rommel you can literally quicken a horses response to your steady pressure. After putting your neck rein or leg on, use the crop to spank your horse just behind your leg or rein. This will lighten and quicken his response time and teach a horse not to lean on your leg and rein aids. Be careful using this tool: rhythmic pressure can also accelerate bad behavior.
You can use each of these stimulus to teach your horse, applying each of them in "phases of firmness". Start out slow and light and move to ever greater pressure and quickness when your horse fails to respond. Be sure that as soon as your horse has done what you want him to you stop stimulating him, which teaches a horse release. By training your horse in phases of firmness you will learn just how sensitive your particular horse is and be better able to teach him in a style which best suits his personality. Some horses respond to the sight of the stimulus, some respond to the sound of the stimulus, some respond to the touch of the stimulus, and some respond to the constant presence of the stimulus.
GETTING YOUR HORSE TO RIGHT AND/OR LEFT BRAIN POSITIVE BEHAVIOR: one of the most effective ways to get to positive reflex in your horse is by patterning. Some examples of effective positive patterning to extinguish negative behaviors are:
Circles for horses who are forward: if your horse is scaring you by going too fast, a more effective way to teach him than pulling on the reins is to circle him until he slows down. When he slows down, the release will be allowing him to go off in a straight line.
Short straight lines for horses who are balky: ride from "point to point". For example, ride from a gate to the next tree, and from the tree to a nearby rock, each time asking your horse to go the next stopping point before continuing on. You can even reward them by putting grain in various locations. Instead of expecting a balky horse to go 10 miles, traveling short distances will give him the incentive (and curiosity) to keep going forward.
Clover leaf patterns for horses who won’t whoa: straight lines will speed up a horse, so set up a pattern where there are circles to slow them down and a definitive whoa in the center of the arena.
Disengagement of the hindquarters for horses who are jiggy or won’t maintain gait: before going out on the trail, go into the arena and allow a horse to go into the gait that is comfortable for you, even if it’s a walk. Allow the horse to change gait. When he does, disengage by running your hand down the rein and bending his nose around, lifting your fingernails towards your belt buckle. What this does is take the power away from the horse’s hindquarter and puts the rider back into the original gait.
Make your language with your horse simple, consistent and quiet. Be particular about his behavior instead of critical of it and it will lead to confidence in your horse. A confident horse will pair bond with its rider and have less negative behaviors associated with dominance and fear. A rider who understands the mind of the horse, who communicates effectively and who knows which strategy to use for a horse’s particular behavioral problem will always end up controlling the horses mind (and his feet will follow).