The untouchables

What do you do when you cannot even touch your horse? I've had quite a few of these horses in this year and have assessed a few more, so obviously this is not a rare problem confined to the odd horse-owner.

I recently received the following email from a friend:
I have a girlfriend who got this 4 yr old mare who had never been touched and now a year later (she doesn't have much time) the mare will follow her around and eat out of her hand but she can't pet her cause she either takes off or she begins to shake horribly... she has spent a little time with her everyday and no matter how much time she spends she can't get close enough to this mare to pet her never mind halter her (she has never been haltered)... I am not sure what to suggest other than lots of undemanding time and friendly game... but she says it still isn't helping... and she is getting frustrated cause this mare has never been dewormed or had her feet done and they need to get done!!! Any ideas or suggestions?

Here was my response:
Are you sure she was never touched before? I just say that because usually a horse who has not been touched before comes along pretty quickly (in fact, they're my favourite to work with - they're a clean slate). It's usually only the formerly abused horses who shake (I've met a whole number so far this year) and who take so long to trust. It's just a thought to consider.

With a mare like that, I would push her a bit now. Obviously, lots of undemanding time. Friendly game (touching her all over, etc) - use approach and retreat. But I would probably do some liberty work with her in a roundpen (heck, even in a small paddock, but a roundpen is much easier; though not just simply running her in a roundpen) - getting her to "catch me" (check out the Parelli Liberty - Beyond the roundpen DVD). Also, I would work with her over a session or two with approach and retreat, and liberty work, until I had a halter on her (even a rope at first - you can rope a horse or even corner a horse, to catch them, without sending their development backwards and losing their trust, if done correctly, with the appropriate body language). Then, it would be to teach her the 7 games and later the patterns. I find the 7 games do a lot in themselves; they teach a horse that you are predictable, they teach the horse its own language "in your words" and thus they can read you better and are not be afraid; they teach a horse to think, to be calmer, and to be braver, they teach the horse you can act like a prey animal - like a horse, rather than a predator, etc.

My last suggestion, which can have the biggest impact I find (especially in combination with the above), is to have her in a seperate pen if possible - completely away from other horses (not even within sight, if at all possible). Feed and water her daily (even if it means leading her to water when she finally gets a halter on) so she is completely dependant upon YOU for food, water, companionship, and security. It's a temporary measure - horses are herd animals and they should be kept in herds if possible, but if she can be in a situation where she is as dependant as possible on her owner as her "herd" (just as she is with her herdmates), she'll learn to trust her more and will progress further.

A lot of this though is really dependant upon how well your friend can read this mare; she needs to know when to approach, when to retreat, how to portray herself as another horse rather than a dangerous predator, etc. If she's having trouble reading her or still has trouble handling her, I would recommend a professional helping her out with the mare (lessons, training, etc) for greater success.


Each E-News letter the Parelli team sends out, they include a Q&A. The following is from a recent email:

Question:
I am currently studying Level 2 of your program, and I am having lots of success with both of my horses. I have had my mare since she was 4 years old, and she has never been any problem to halter out in a field until about a month ago. She started running away from me when I went out to the field to play with her and is basically playing the "you can't catch me game." At first, she would play this game for a few minutes and then "catch me" and put her head into the halter. However, the time period for playing the "you can't catch me game" has continually and dramatically increased. I feel that this is becoming a bad habit for her, so I decided that I needed to move her into a smaller space so I can be able to put continuous pressure on her until she yields her hindquarters and catches me (versus being out in the field where she can just run and I cannot put pressure on her to influence h er behavior). Is it fair to keep her in this area so I can have the opportunity to play the catching game lots, or am I just going to make the situation worse by keeping her somewhere where she is uncomfortable?

Answer:
By isolating her you will have less problems catching but this doesn't necessarily mean she'll maintain the behavior when back in the big pasture again. What you need to do is establish a spot in the relationship where she comes to you when you see her or call her. And it's actually quite easy. First of all consider her situation. She has her friends, can play all day if she wants, has plenty of food and water. Why does she need you? We always make sure our horses need us in some way and if ever we have a horse that is difficult to catch we set up a little pen around the water tank. We then open the pen for access to the water two times a day (or more if it's really hot). We also do all the feeding in that spot. Pretty soon you'll see your horses watching for you and then even waiting for you by the gate. Their first thought on seeing you is "Oh boy!" not "Oh no" and if you combine your approach with a special call or a whistle, it soon becomes a habit to come running when you call. Keep the fence around the water and you can eventually leave it open all the time, only closing it if the horses start not to need you anymore. Also, set your feed and water situation up so it's by the gate and this encourages horses to hang near it. A lot of people have feed and watering areas that are a long way from the gate and this teaches horses to stay away from it and even to run away when you turn them loose.


We recently acquired a Paint who was originally abused. I never isolated him, however I spent some undemanding time with him, about half my time playing games on the ground with him, and the other half taking him out on the trails for some "undemanding" quality riding. He was slowly coming around, but the most dramatic change in him occured during (and thereafter) a roundpen session. We essentially played, in the roundpen, all our 7 Games at liberty with lots of Friendly game (ie. rubbing) interspersed to create lots of draw. Playing with a scared horse at liberty, I find, can make a huge difference because they feel less trapped by a leadrope (with a predator on the other end, I might add). Should they feel the need to leave, they can, and they do. It allows you the opportunity to communicate to them in such a way that earns their trust and draw (draw meaning they are inclined to come in to you, they want to be around you - you want to develop a balance of about 51 percent draw, 49 percent drive - where your horse respects your space). Giving your horse the power to make the choice to be around you or leave, allowing your horse that power, can create in your horse more of a desire to be around you.

Another thing I did with Cody (the Paint) was to leave him with two of our other horses, who had a lot of draw. Anytime I came out they would be in my face, trying to nuzzle some attention out of me. Of course Cody would follow and observe. Studies have been done that indicate horses do learn from watching other horses; I have shown a horse what I want a number of times now, through demonstrating what I want with another horse, in front of them. The horse I was teaching definitely demonstrated obvious improvement after watching the "demo horse". Lastly, though the horses were on grass, I fed the horses at least once a day - morning feed (minerals in some grain) and sometimes a "night treat" (handful of sweetfeed each)...this created a sort of limited dependance on me. My rule with Cody though was that he was only allowed to eat his grain (which he really wanted to do) if he allowed me to rub him. At first he was pretty skittish, but by the end of our stay a the ranch, he was allowing me to walk up to him and rub him without any complaint.

Last year, I acquired a Warmblood mare for training - she had been abused by the last trainer and deemed "untrainable". She definitely was not entirely touchable. First thing I did was put her in a small paddock by herself. I fed her daily, I spent undemanding time with her, and I played the 7 games on the ground with her. Eventually she allowed me to catch her easily and as time wore on, she started to actually look for me and whinny when I appeared. Now (I am currently working with her again this year), catching her in a herd situation is not a problem.


So! Those are my tips on earning an "untouchable's" trust, particularly one who has been abused; they're all techniques I've used seperately or in combination with one another that I've found to really work well. Have any of your own? Don't forget to share! The next couple of blogs will be short ones on what to do if you have got a horse who is skittish or shy of being handled (or dangerous) and how to get their feet done in a desperate situation. Also, how to deworm a horse who doesn't care for that lovely and scrumptious paste ;)

Training phases

Btw the photo currently being used under the blog title is of the newest addition to our herd, Cody. He's a 6yo Paint gelding with QH influence (looks to be cutting horse) whom we acquired from a prospective client. I love the look in his eyes and wrinkles on his neck in this photo. You can follow the progress of this wonderful horse at Through the Eye of Equus.

I had just started into the Parelli method and was struggling with my Warmblood cross, Koolaid – a 3 year-old at the time. It seemed like every step we took in our training, we took ten steps back! I was at my wits end, I couldn’t understand what was going on.

“It’s alright,” the barn owner reassured me, “for every two steps you take, you will take one back as well.”

It did not make sense to me at the time, but I accepted it – it certainly was an answer to my frustrations! Since then, however, I have learned otherwise.

If you are communicating effectively with a horse, there is no reason to actually take steps back! There are a few situations, however, where your horse might seem to digress in its training. Take note though that your horse is not actually digressing but that you might rather just be working out kinks – working out existing, underlying issues in the foundation. Once the foundation is solid, the training can continue in leaps and bounds again. You are temporarily going back and re-building the foundation, without actually "taking steps back", so that you can then pick up where you left off to continue progress. This is of course assuming that you are communicating with your horse efficiently and training in a successful fashion! So, assuming that the issue is not you, here are a couple of phases I have found some horses to go through:

The fearful
We just recently acquired a 6yo Paint gelding whom we call Cody, who was apparently abused by his original owner (we’re the third owners since the abuser). As a result, he is extremely suspicious of strangers and wary of peoples’ intentions – very fearful at times. Our first ride out, he did everything I threw at him, without question. By our third ride out on the trails now though, while he still does everything I ask, he is starting to question me a little. He might pause outside the gate, “are you sure we should go out on a trail ride?” Or before a creek “are you sure this is the way to go?” Once I assure him that yes, we indeed should be going out on a trail ride or yes, this is where I’d like you to go please, he plunges ahead willingly. But there’s that one moment of question, where he just makes sure.

Why would he do this when before he would just go where I asked without say? Why would he start questioning me now?

Answer: because he is now becoming comfortable enough in my presence to do so.

With the fearful horse who has been abused, they do what you ask without question, for fear of the repercussions that may occur if they don’t. They might not even be all that reactive about it, but they won’t question you – they dare not. However as you work with them and earn their trust, they become more comfortable with you, and so they also feel more comfortable with questioning your leadership because they fear repercussions that used to occur, no longer. As you further develop your partnership with your horse, however, you begin to work more in harmony, in true partnership, to the point where they do not question your leadership (they might pause or flick their ears, but they won't flat-out balk or such).

The disrespectful
The horse who pushed me into Natural Horsemanship is our Warmblood cross gelding, Koolaid. He was three at the time and none of our (light) under-saddle work was resembling…well…under-saddle work. I could count myself lucky if he so much as trotted a couple of steps. A canter? Hah! You could forget that! My 4H leaders at the time had no brilliant ideas and in the mean time, he was becoming worse. He was pushy, he kicked when he pleased, he was nippy, he struck, he reared, he bucked, he resisted – he could be downright dangerous when the mood hit him. When I attended the Parelli tour stop that year, I was awed, and determined to forge a partnership with Koolaid akin to the one I had seen Pat and his stallion Casper share. Someone forgot to tell Koolaid though. Throughout the first three years of his life, I had unwittingly created a monster. All my handling from day three of his life onward had made him comfortable around me, but I had failed to earn his respect (major mistake on my part). Now, all of a sudden, I was challenging his authority with the Parelli NH games. He’d been playing games with me all along, getting me to move my feet, making sure I was below him in this two-beast hierarchy, and when I started knowingly playing the games with him he’d been playing with me all along, he stepped it up a notch to make sure he stayed on top. Suddenly we seemed to digress even further. At least pre-Parelli, he would walk under-saddle, or follow me on the ground! He became even more dangerous* and I felt like all the work I had put into him thus far was falling apart. In reality, we were returning to the foundation, to the roots, and fixing things from the inside out. So, temporarily, it did seem like we were going backwards, when in fact we were simply building a stronger foundation - and addressing the underlying issues to do so - so as to later leap ahead. I have found the same will occur with any horse who has (usually inadvertently) never been taught to respect humans. At first they might rebel (even lightly) against someone asking them to step down from that little pedestal that has been created for them, but if you keep at it diligently, they come around and that foundation of respect that was previously missing is built so that you may continue in all areas of training, in harmony.

* I am not saying that PNH, specifically, might bring out dangerous behaviour in your horse, but that any work that challenges your horse’s authority might cause them to retaliate. The key (as I later learned) is to push your horse to grow but not to retaliate towards you – challenging a horse who thinks he’s top horse can be dangerous and is usually not necessary. However, some retaliation may occur when you start to play with your horse, particularly games that involve dominance (ie, where you ask your horse to move his feet, etc) – this is normal for some horses. Please seek professional help if you are having difficulties with your horse – safety first at all times!

Catching
Another phase that I find some horses go through is a hard-to-catch phase…most often with left-brained horses. Right-brained horses are typically naturally very willing and want to be part of a herd, want the security of a herd – which they soon learn you can offer. Left-brained horses, however, I find are more comfortable being by themselves and are ok with not being caught. Left-brained Introverts especially, I find, don’t really care to work. The first week, everyone is happy to be caught – working with you is new and intriguing. By the second week, however, they’ve got it figured out and don’t really care to be caught. Week three, same deal. In the mean time, you’re working hard on creating a partnership where your horse enjoys being around you. By about week four, however, they’re figuring out that being caught isn’t so bad after all. They enjoy being with you and even playing with you in the arena, and even become keen on being caught.

So while it might seem at first that your work with a horse is moving backwards, in reality your horse’s newfound pleasure in avoiding being caught is simply a reflection of everything else that is going on. Sometimes the timeline is shorter, sometimes it is longer, but it is the timeline I find most typical with some of the horses I work with.

These “backwards” phases (when we are doing things correctly) are simply the result of having to build (or re-build) something that is lacking in the foundation – respect or trust, etc. It’s like a house with a crumbling foundation. You pick up the house, re-build the foundation, then set the house back down on its new, solid foundation and all comes together! If you were actually going backward, you’d have to work your way all the way back up to the top – knock down the house and re-build the house and foundation from scratch, but since it’s simply an issue with the foundation, you can cement the foundation and still have everything at the “top”. Keep in mind that these are just phases – if you keep on working on the path to success, everything will eventually come together. How do you know if you’re on the right path? You don’t always, which is why it can be important to seek help from a professional who can teach you to communicate efficiently and who can tell you what is and what is not normal or to be expected when you’re on the correct path. Keep in mind though that phases such as the above can occur, be normal, and that you just have to have the tenacity to work through them!

He walks so nice too

This is sort of an extension of the blog Horses as our Reflections, my apologies if it seems I am repeating myself.

"He walks so nice too!"

The above words were ones I overheard as I walked down the street with our dog, Aly. Never mind that Aly is a girl and so it should be “she walks so nice too”…but that’s besides the point. The individuals passing us in the street were obviously commenting on our pup to one another and thought she was well-trained as well. This is the same dog that, whenever I drop her off at a kennel or return for her after a weekend away, is dragging her handlers about. She’s over 50lbs of wagging tail that has the strength to tow your average human wherever she so pleases. Yet despite her renegade leash-walking with any stranger bold enough to take hold of her leash, that pup always walks obediently next to myself or the SO, without so much as threatening to pull. In all likelihood though, the individuals passing us on the sidewalk probably would have been added to Aly’s pile of leash-pulling victims. So what does this have to do with horses?

So many times I am given horses to train or I hear of horses in training, where the owner seemingly expects their horse to be a robot. Their “he walks so nice too” is a “oh, he walks/trots/canters/spins/jumps so nice”. What people fail to understand, however, is that what we make in the trainer’s pen is not always what goes home to the owner. At times the owner can get more out of the horse than we did and at other times the horse goes home and the owner gets less out of the horse than we did (more common). So far I have been graced with wonderful, understanding owners, however as a trainer you will one day stumble upon the owner who becomes disappointed upon bringing their horse home and finding out their horse does less than they expected. As an owner, you might one day bring a horse home to find it performs at a lower level than you had expected, than you were told. Keep in mind it might not be the trainer’s fault, but rather yours.

It always bugs me when people comment on a horse “he’s so relaxed!” or, conversely, “he’s a nutcase!”, as if every horse is a tense wreck waiting to happen and this ONE horse stands above the others because he is SO calm, or as if most horses are calm, yet this one stands out because he’s “crazy”. Every horse is perfect and has the potential to be the perfect partner. Yes, horses have a base personality. We’ve got two horses, a Thoroughbred and a Quarab, at the moment who are extremely high energy – it’s a challenge to keep them relaxed and their minds busy. We’ve also got two other horses, a QH-bred Paint and a Warmblood cross, who are naturally very relaxed and laid-back. However, as a horseperson, you have the capabilities of “balancing out” a horse. The high energy horse can learn to think through situations and remain calm, while the low energy horse can learn to have impulsion and to answer with “yes sir, yes ma’am, how far how fast?”. When every horse is “balanced”, every horse really is equal. Herd situations can help “balance” a horse, and correct horsemanship can do the rest. So, with that said, it’s more about the rider/person than the horse.

Horses are our reflections – what we do directly affects their behaviour as well as their general attitude. Sometimes all the credit really should go to the horse – our horses put up with so much! Other times though, the credit should go to the person involved, for keeping the horse the way they naturally are and for further developing from there, or for developing a damaged horse into an appropriate partner. Or, for creating a complete wreck out of the horse! If you want a calm and relaxed horse who “walks nice” – create one. If you’ve got a “nutcase”, it might have more to do with you (either originally or through lack of horsemanship throughout your partnership with said horse) than you’d like to admit.

Case in point: I have been asked to do an assessment on a horse who has “catching issues”, likely, from the sounds of it, thanks to handling by his previous owner. Teaching a horse to be caught could be done in a way akin to teaching a dog to come, or to sit and stay…but it likely won’t hold long. The horse who’s been conditioned to come will only come when the appropriate conditions are met (treats, threat of a beating, etc etc) – if those conditions disappear, so will the willingness to be caught. However, the horse who doesn’t mind being caught, or who even goes so far as to “catch his owner” is the horse who enjoys being with his rider, who enjoys the work they do. Hard-to-catch is not about not wanting to be caught for the sake of being caught, it’s about not wanting to be caught for a specific reason: a pinching saddle, hard hands, fear of the rider, dislike of the work the horse is being asked to do, preference for grass, etc.

From the owner’s seat, it’s important to understand how much of a role you play in your horse’s behaviour, attitude, and performance. You might send your horse to a trainer, but your horse is not a robot! Which is why it is vital to understand your horse – why he does what he does, how to get what you want (including using the same cues your trainer used), how to further develop him, and that he won’t be the same in your hands as he was/is in your trainer’s hands. It is important to understand what your trainer is doing, why they are doing it, and how you can continue it once the trainer is gone. Horses are individuals and respond according to what we, as individuals, ask of them, either indirectly or directly. Lastly, every minute you spend with your horse you are training him - keep it in mind!

Horses as our reflections

An important part of working with horses - whether training or simply riding, is keeping in mind that our horses are a reflection of us - both in an emotional sense as well as physically and in general.

We have the power to create either a calm, thinking partner, or an emotional wreck of a horse. To create a calm and thinking horse, you teach the horse to think through situations, to solve puzzles and think for themselves (to be responsible for themselves), and to therefore remain calm. You develop what is already there in the horse to mold a rounded, balanced horse. It requires a lot of forethought on your part as well as self-awareness - your body language, how you hold yourself and how you interact with your horse. Creating an emotional wreck is easy in a lot of cases. It involves acting unfairly and unpredictably - acting like a predator around a prey animal, which comes easy to us. It involves lacking self-awareness and consideration.

Our horses' mental and emotional states also reflects physically. We've already discussed this topic in a previous blog (muscling), but suffice it to say that a horse who is very developed as a prey animal is going to have the associated muscling: strong underline from a tensed, raised neck, a "banana" shaped back, etc. A horse who is more developed as a partner will have a stronger topline. The horse who is not fully developed emotionally but has been taught to carry himself correctly may exhibit physical traits in both aforementioned areas.

In general, our horses will reflect us as well. An independent seat is vital to encouraging our horses to carry themselves the way we desire; if our horses reflect us and we wish them to carry themselves in a particular fashion, then we must also do so ourselves. Some examples:

- Maintain a straight seat on corners, without leaning into the corner. When you want to go, say, right, you put weight on your left foot to push off to the right, correct? So if we want our horses to balance themselves efficiently as they corner on the right rein, we need to balance ourselves even slightly to the left so that they may do the same. Leaning into the corner going right will cause your horse to also lean to the right, which creates an unbalanced corner.

- If you want your horse to bend his ribs on a circle bend your own on the circle.

- Turning say, for example, off the wall, lift the weight ever so slightly off your inside thigh so that your horse can push off his outside. If I fail to do so when riding one of my more advanced horses at liberty, they likely will not turn, even, because I am blocking them. Open that door. Still applying weight to your inside thigh while asking your horse to turn to the inside is contradictory and can be confusing to the developed horse. I find a lot of times I catch myself (usually on green horses) actually stiffening up my inside leg when applying leg pressure with my outside leg for a turn. Once I consciously catch and correct myself, the horse relaxes with my leg and bends as well, rather than keeping their barrel as stiff as my leg. The weight shift is infinitesimal, imperceptible - it should not be anything major or noticeable - but it still has to exist.

- Many might disagree with me on this one, but if you want your horse to round his back, do so yourself! For both back-up and collection, I ask my horses to round their backs by rounding my own and tipping my pelvis - just very imperceptibly (else it becomes a bad habit). As I further develop a horse and we work our way up through refinement, the physical changes I make become less and less observable to the spectator's eye - they become minute, refined, quieter, as the communication becomes more intimate with the horse. It only makes sense to me, just as a reiner rounds their back to ask for a sliding stop, because they are asking their horse to round their back and slide!

- Keep your hands, elbows, and shoulders soft for a soft mouth. A horse's mouth can become calloused and physically hard, but not as often as people seem to think, and those callouses can wear off! In my opinion, there is no such thing as a horse doomed to a wrecked mouth forever. That damage can be undone. Hard mouths develop into soft ones with soft work. It's just that easy. Horses doesn't respond lightly to soft work? Keep going further back into the basics until they do respond and you have something to build off of (one of the most important things I ever learned from John Lyons). I start all my horses from the ground up, so we establish a strong foundation where they are taught to be light and responsive to begin with. With that strong foundation, any horse with a previously hard mouth can be ridden in a gentle snaffle, in a rope hackamore, at liberty - whatever you so please. Some horses have the tendency to lean on your hands (get back to the basics and take away contact - no contact and they have nothing to lean on, then work them back up), or to just be heavy and grow increasingly dull. We own one Warmblood who is such and I am currently working with another who is the same way. A couple weeks ago I was working with her and was becoming increasingly frustrated because she was so heavy! She stopped backing up softly and even just stopped backing for me period and was the furthest thing from soft I could imagine - very tense and brace-y. Finally, I relaxed my hands. BOOM, she relaxed her jaw. Our back-ups returned to being soft, her collection was soft - everything became soft. With some horses I find you can have the tendency to play off each other - the horse is a little hard, so your hands become hard, so they become harder, and your hands become harder. The vicious cycle continues until you are both frustrated and the horse (as in my case) maybe even stops working. I find the horse being hard to begin with depends largely on respect - build that back up (even within that session) and the horse becomes softer and more responsive. Then keep your hands soft, and the horse stays soft!


Another "reflection" of you you will often encounter in a horse, is in your (in)ability to catch them. "You find out what your horse thought of your last session the next day when you go to catch him" - Jonathan Field. You also find out what your horse thinks of you or people in general! A partnership can take awhile to build up - from days to years, so sometimes it is a work-in-progress. In the mean time, the horse might be difficult to catch but steadily improves as your relationship with him improves. However if you've been working with a particular horse for a number of years and he is still hard to catch, you might want to re-evaluate what you are doing with him or how you are working with him that causes him to re-think being with you. I was riding with a pair of individuals the other day who were lamenting on how hard their one horse had been to catch, how this particular mare was just being a b****. She was also a b**** when it came to bridling (long-shanked curb), which resulted in a fight between horse and human, with said horse being injured somehow in the process. It's not the horse! Things such as the aforementioned events have more to do with us than we realise. In this case, the mare was sending out clear signals she didn't like being ridden by refusing to be caught and by being difficult to bridle. If your horse is hard to catch (regardless of its past), ask yourself why. Oftentimes it has to do with us.

Keeping in mind that our horses are our mirrors is vital to our work with them - it can mean the difference between a successful partnership and a great one, or an unsuccessful one and a successful one.