THE HORSE IS NEVER WRONG!!!
(Irrefutable Truth #1)
“People have to learn that whatever the horse does is right…You’re the one who got into his life. He didn’t get into yours. It’s amazing what a horse will go through to satisfy a human being.”
Ray Hunt
“I’m Here For The Horse”
article and photos by A.J. Mangum
Western Horseman Magazine Nov. ‘98
One of the biggest debates (okay, actually it is a full blown argument) running on message boards deals with the issue of whether or not people think horses are ever wrong. I have to admit, I love this topic and love to debate it….but that’s just my nature. More than loving to debate the issue, I love proving to others that the horse is NEVER wrong.
As I continue to learn, understand, grow and evolve in my horsemanship, I find that this statement holds more truth than can be told. I have heard Ray Hunt say it over and over again…..I have read it in books…..heard it on videos and on horse talk radio programs….had clinicians preach it during seminars….but never had it had an impact on me until I was ready in my heart for a change and I was ready to move forward in my horsemanship.
When I came to a serious heart to heart over this issue, and began to truly believe it with all conviction, doors began to open to me. Horses seemed to be responding faster, better and more importantly, they responded more willingly. I was becoming less irritable around horses and less mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted after working a horse. Why? Well, it had absolutely nothing to do with the methods I was using…it had to do with my mindset and how I perceived the things that were happening “in the moment”.
Let me give you an example….when I teach a horse to laterally flex from the ground, there are four things that the horse will do to try to relieve the pressure. He will push against my hand, dive-bomb his nose to the ground to go under my hand, disengage his hindquarters to realign his nose with his body, or back up. I have proved it over and over again that a horse will do one of or a combination of those four things.
I used to call these four things, “avoidances”….by golly, that horse is trying everything to avoid what I want him to do…..and ignorantly I taught it that way as well.
When I began to really learn about the horse’s “TRY” and how we should preserve that “TRY”, things really started to change for me. I consider Mark Rashid a mentor and teacher concerning a horse’s try. What an epiphany this horseman’s teachings gave me!!! I really have an enormous amount of respect for Mark Rashid I truly believe he has THE softest hands in natural horsemanship today. He has a quiet personal philosophy that makes him quite different than most. What I found was that when working with horses, my mindset was more open…more willing to look for the slightest try and the smallest change and to reward those tries…I no longer called them ‘avoidances’ but rather “tries”.
And the question came to be….
If the horse is trying….really trying….to find out what I want and trying to do that very thing for me, how can he be wrong?!
“It’s difficult for some people to overcome their inherent need to blame the horse for not doing something correctly”
Mark Rashid
‘The Problem With Problem Solving"
online article
What I find quite amusing is how when these debates begin, there are always several who post messages who begin their rants with ….”I have been in horses for 30+ years….” You know the type, the ones who were ‘breaking horses at age 4’…..yadda, yadda, yadda…..sometimes its 40+ years or 50+ years….etc.,etc.. You get the point.
They are quick to point out that there are no absolutes with horses and that horses are indeed wrong. Then they always add how they had to re-start a horse that had been brought up with that “natural crap” and that this horses was disrespectful and needed manners, etc., etc….
I don’t personally care if you are a fourth generation horse trainer…I don’t care if you have been in horses for 50+ years….I don’t care if you had 4 futurity champions under your belt…..that means nothing to me. After all those 50+ years you still operate with the mindset that horses are wrong then those years have been wasted in my opinion. Yes folks, that is my opinion and opinions are like armpits, everyone has them and they all stink, but that’s what I believe. I am black and white when it comes to this issue and if I have a chance to share my philosophy in person with those who blame the horse for every little missed cue, then I share my philosophy like a Pentecostal fire and brimstone preacher. Black and white. That’s the way it is.
“The horse may not be doing the “right” thing for what the rider is asking of him: but as far as the horse is concerned, in his mind, the horse is doing the right thing from where he is”
Tom Dorrance
“True Unity”
page 14
“Horses are never wrong. We help owners in figuring out why their horses do the things they do. There is always a reason. Sometimes the answer is so simple, it just takes another head to see the solution.”
Nina Arbella
www.equine-rescue.com
So here we are working with a horse and this horse asking it to go out onto a circle and do some lateral lunging online for us….but instead the horse raises its head and begins to back up quickly or begins to go diagonally away from the pressure and does not step out onto the circle. Is this horse wrong? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!Is the response what we are looking for? No, but that doesn’t make the horse wrong. He is giving me EXACTLY what he believes he should be giving me OR it is his Self Preservation which is causing him to react in this manner. Either way, it is my fault that I am not getting the response I am looking for. Either I haven’t broken it down into small enough pieces so that he understands, or his need for Self Preservation is still so high that he cannot understand what I am asking of him.
Let me put it this way…..if you were helping your child with long division and he was giving it his all…I mean he was really trying to understand to get it right but kept coming up with the wrong answer…..would you yell louder, smack him in the back of the head and tell him he is wrong? CERTAINLY NOT!! At least, I would think that as parents we would not do that to them. They speak our language and are our children and we wont do that to them, but yet, here is an animal who does not speak our language, gives his heart with every try and yet if he doesn’t get it right the first time we add more pressure, smack them, call them names and say they are wrong!!!
It’s amazing what a horse will go through just to get along with the human (thank you Mr. Hunt for banging that into my head all these years)
“I’ve always said the horse is perfect for what he is and that’s a horse”
Craig Cameron with Kathy Swan
“Ride Smart”
page 17
“If the horse is not right, it is because we’re not right”
Ray Hunt
"Think Harmony With Horses"
Page 69
“A horse trainer must keep in mind the idea that the horse can do no wrong; that any action taken by the horse, especially the young assertive horse, was most likely influenced by him”
Monty Roberts
“Horse Sense For People”
On another board, I was chastised by one of the “40+ years training horses” type of personalities who explained to me that my thinking that horses are never wrong is just more of this new ‘politically correct feel good win/win stuff’ and that if people would just use common sense and stop trying to be ‘natural’ they would get more done with horses. They then went on to explain in great detail how everything that we do is not natural. He was also quick to add that natural training only teaches horses that they can do what they want and so this type of training breeds disrespect….and he has horses coming to him from all over the country to be fixed from the ‘natural training’.
Now this person truly does not understand the true philosophy behind what ‘natural’ horsemanship is all about. ..and to be truthful, I don’t care to waste my breath and time trying to convert this individual. My time would be better spent helping others who are willing to share and learn with me. This person may never see the light and dealing with horses will always be a drudgery instead of the pure joy that the rest of us have come to know and love. I say that if being around horses makes one bitter, resentful and hardened, then its time to get out….quit. Plain and simple.
Now, I will agree that dealing with horses does require some authority. Someone HAS to be in charge. If it isn’t going to be you, then the horse will take over for your lack of competency. How much of a leadership role or partnership depends on you. I am not saying that my horse and I should be sitting around the campfire holding hands and singing “Kumbaya” but I do believe that the partnership should be as equal as possible….a 51% / 49% ratio…in other words, I hold the controlling 51% and my horse partner holds the 49%.
There have been times where I have been working a horse and the horse fights back pulling on the lead or rears….is this horse wrong? Well, while it is an undesirable behavior, it is not wrong. This horse is communicating to me that he is having a hard time dealing with this particular task emotionally and mentally. Truthfully, he probably began communicating that to me in more subtle ways earlier in the training session, but for whatever reason, I did not see it or pay attention to it….so in final desperation his Self-Preservation tells him to get out now and/or fight back.
It is the horse’s way of yelling to me, “Hey Knucklehead!!! I am having problems understanding and dealing with this!!! Don’t you hear me?!!!”
On three different internet message boards, I performed a little experiment. Although it was not the most scientific of experiments it did provide very interesting results…. I ASKED THREE SIMPLE QUESTIONS….
1) Is a glass half empty or half full?
2) Do you have “issues and problems” with horses?
3) Do you believe that the horse is never wrong?
Overwhelmingly, those people who stated that the glass is half empty also thought that the horse can be wrong and also held the highest percentage of “trouble and issues” with horses.The vast majority of horse owners who had positive outlooks (glass half full) also stated that they thought the horse is never wrong and they seemed to half to deal with less issues with horses. It isn’t so much that their horses were better or highly trained, or by just thinking positively the horses somehow transformed into super partners under saddle….no….when issues came up, these positive people just shrugged it off and didn’t get rattled mentally and just continued to help and work their horse through it. In the long run, they didn’t see “issues and problems” they truly saw only learning opportunities.
“There is a good reason why a horse does everything. We may not understand that reason but he does.”
Ross Jacobs
www.goodhorsemanship.com
“Although a horse may have some problems, they are typically a result of the horse’s owner. There are rarely horse problems – it’s more likely there are problem riders”
Andy Curry
“The Top 7 Mistakes Horses Owners Make”
online article
www.horsetipsandsecrets.com
Let me challenge you a bit……First….you must raise your own level of horsemanship. It doesn’t matter that you have had 20+ years of competing at shows, raising and breaking horses, yadda yadda yadda….it is time to go back to school and open your heart and mind to something different. I am not asking you to make drastic changes in your equipment….in fact, I do not have videos to sell…nor do I have books or tack to sell you. What I do have is a philosophy of change. Changing the way that you have always been told how things were regardless of whether it was traditional training or natural training. Let’s change our mental and emotional approach to working with horses.
You know, this is one of those things that I carried with me from the old days of studying Parelli Natural Horsemanship. Pat tries so hard to convince people that he wants them to “PLAY” with horses instead of “WORKING” with horses. Why? It is a mental mindset. A different way of looking at the same old thing. Giving it a fresh makeover and seeing it in a completely different light. …and it DOES make a difference.
So here is the challenge…..begin to read other training books and websites….if you go to my “links” page on my site you will find dozens of links connecting you to other trainers’ sites. I also have a Recommended Reading List of great books to read. Go to your nearest Barnes and Noble or Borders bookstore….or go to your local library and if they don’t have it, ask them to do an Inter-Library Loan for you. They will borrow the book from another library in the state or country for you. Borrow some videos….perhaps something that is outside your normal realm of riding and training. Go watch a centered riding video or a dressage video. Perhaps there is a trainer whom you don’t care for. Go borrow a video or two and sit through them. Sometimes you can learn as much about what NOT to do then what you should do. Either way, you will have learned something.
Begin to learn and understand the basic principles and concepts of horsemanship. I also have these listed on my site as well for your quick reference. Very soon I will have an article online detailing each principle.
Go attend a seminar, clinic, demo, etc.. Perhaps there is a local trainer holding a colt starting demo in your area…..go a an auditor….for a small fee (usually less than $20) you get a full day of instruction. Take plenty of paper and pens with you.
Whatever it takes….spend the next couple of winter months left raising your level of horsemanship.
The next part of the challenge is this……
The next time you go out to spend some time with your horse, I would like for you to begin to look at your horse in a different manner…..let’s say that you are trail riding and you come across a puddle and the horse balks and refuses to cross…..instead of calling him a knucklehead and kicking him harder with your heels, ask yourself, “If the horse is never wrong, what am I not doing right that is causing my horse not to trust me and cross the puddle? How can I make my idea become his idea?” Begin to be a problem solver and a partner…..instead of cussing at your horse because he rears or wants to buck when you saddle him, ask yourself, “WHY is my horse rearing and bucking?”
“Working with horses in a kind way helps me keep calm and maintain an open mind. You cant place blame. You have to back up and think, “ Is there a problem with the horse, or with me?” You cant punish a horse out of a behavior you don’t like. There’s nothing wrong with your horse; you’re teaching him something. Most people never learn that”
Terri Anderson
(former Iran hostage)
“Walking Free”
article and photos by Heidi Nyland
Western Horseman Magazine April 2004
If the horse is never wrong…and he is most certainly not……then you must have missed something earlier in your conversation with your horse. Mark Rashid teaches that there is a constant conversation….constant communication….going on between horse and rider all of the time. Sometimes we are too busy doing all the communicating and rarely do we listen for the answer.
When you see your horse doing an undesirable behavior, shrug it off. Don’t get upset, don’t fret over it….problem solve it……replace that unwanted behavior with one that you do want and do it in a positive rewarding manner.
I guarantee that if you truly try to change your mindset and believe in your heart that the horse is never wrong, your time spent with horses is going to be much more enjoyable AND fruitful. And when you do come across situations you will find that your new mindset will create learning and training opportunities that will achieve win/win situations for you and your horse.
Time to start looking at the glass as half full!!!
By being more understanding your horse will trust you more, be more respectful and will give more of his heart trying to accomplish what you ask of him. In a very short time your horse will begin to act more like a partner…not because he is becoming better trained, but rather that you have become a better understanding partner.
Ray Hunt once said, “Believe in your horse and your horse will make a believer out of you.”
Yes sir, Mr. Hunt….I finally understand and believe.
“Instead of analyzing what they themselves might be doing wrong, however, most riders immediately start looking for the reason and the solution outside themselves, i.e. they lay blame. “
unknown at this time
“Once you understand how horses perceive things you’ll be less inclined to blame them for their reactions and behavior. You’ll also be able to anticipate what might happen because you’re walking in your horse’s shoes and there’ll be very little that takes you by surprise. Once you truly understand the horse’s nature you’ll actually find them quite predictable.”
Pat Parelli
“The Eight Responsibilities”
Level 2 Harmony pack
I wish you good luck and good fortune…..and I truly and sincerely hope that you when you change your heart towards your horse, that you find a willing partner and your relationship with that partner grows deeper and better with each minute together.Yours In Horsemanship…..
Michael