Horse mind / human mind

I recently had an experience which highlighted the difference between the way horse’s minds work and the way our minds work. I was doing a horsemanship demonstration at a clinic, working with a little mare that used to bite and kick anyone who came near her. I was in the lunging arena with the mare, while everyone who had come to watch was getting themselves seated and settled in. This took about 10 or 15 minutes. Once everybody was seated, one of the instructors said – “Look she’s already licking and chewing, and Shirley hasn’t done anything yet!”
I smiled, and said “Actually I have been working with her the whole time I have been in the arena.”
A simple little story, but it really brought to the fore some major differences, as well as reasons why we don’t always achieve the best from our relationship with horses.
The first difference is that horses live totally in the present, while humans tend to live in the future or the past most of the time. What we tend to do is say to ourselves – first I will just get this sorted out and then I will pay attention to what my horse is doing. Horses cannot comprehend that. That little mare didn’t know that the demonstration was only going to start once everybody had settled down. The moment I was in her space she started interacting with me and reading my body language, and if I wanted to achieve any degree of success with her I had to do the same.
The second thing is that as humans we tend to rely on verbal communication. We are not used to the idea that every movement of our bodies, no matter how slight or unintentional, is significant. Horses are constantly interpreting every movement we make in order to determine their relationship to us. They are extraordinarily sensitive and perceptive animals.
Horses are prey animals, and their most important survival skill is awareness. Speed is secondary. It doesn’t matter how fast you are if you haven’t noticed the predator. The role of the lead horse is to be the most aware of danger, and to push the herd away from danger. Horses evaluate their position in a herd by pushing into the space of another horse as a challenge. If that horse doesn’t respond, or backs away, then they see themselves as dominant.
Unfortunately for us, most of the time we don’t notice these challenges, and we don’t respond, until our horses become difficult and pushy, and then we punish them in an inappropriate way. Frequently, our body language is provoking the behaviour that we are subsequently punishing.
In my clinics I teach you to understand the body language of the horse as well as the best ways to deal with problem issues and how to change our body language to get the best results from our horses. It is a gentle non-aggressive approach to working with horses, but amazingly effective as well as horse friendly. The effect of handling horses in this way is absolutely amazing. You see the most pushy difficult horses settle into a soft calm happy way of going.
Anyone who is interested in finding out more can contact me on: Cel 084 761 1643 or email Shirley@finworks.co.za