Equine Psychology continue…
How not to act like a predator
Use reverse psychology. For example, in trying to catch a horse we tend to approach and approach and approach, and the horse just puts more effort into running away! Something as simple as turning your back or stopping and smiling every time the horse looks at you can make a big difference to the horse. He may even walk up to you in curiosity.
Use reverse psychology on horses. Convince the horse that you don’t want to catch him!
One time Pat was asked about a horse that was extremely hard to catch and the gentleman said he’d tried everything except lying down! And Pat answered that he should lie down, that probably would have worked! The reason it would work is because the man would stop acting like a predator, just set it up and wait.. and be friendly when he gets there.
Sitting down in a pasture can be more effective in attracting a horse to you than chasing him or trying to corner him!
If you think about it, horses are on guard against being caught or trapped. The best thing you could do is teach a horse to come to you instead of chase him down. Lesson 2 will have more information on approaching horses and in Level 2 you will learn the catching game.
Approach and Retreat.
As we’ve just mentioned, humans have a tendency to go directly for what they want. Horses need you to approach and retreat until they feel safe. For example, an ear shy horse:
This horse would not let a human touch his ear, even get near it, yet he will happily rub it on another horse or on a fence! The ear is not the problem, the predator is! The horse is particularly defensive of his most vulnerable areas, around the head, behind the ears, the flanks, under the belly, below the knees and hocks, the hamstring area and under the tail. He knows that one swipe of a powerful set of claws in any of these unprotected areas will make him lunch, or if it’s not a mortal wound, will cripple him and he’ll be lunch in a few days.
Be conscious of a horse’s vulnerable areas. he will be most protective of them: behind the ears, flanks, under the belly, below the knees and hocks, the hamstrings & under his tail.
Rather than doggedly trying to grab the ear, do the opposite. Pretend you aren’t interested in the ear, don’t even look at it. Work first on the 7 Games to gain the horse’s trust and respect. Then using approach and retreat, you can rub towards the horse’s ear but retreat before he gets bothered. Then you approach again all the while keeping a smile and rhythm and looking everywhere except at the ear! Pretty soon you can rub around the ear and the horse will be totally relaxed. You just can’t rush it. Approach and retreat are important keys but only once you’ve used the 7 Games to create a relationship with the horse.
To get permission to rub the ear of a ear-shy horse, act like you are not interested. Prepare the horse with the 7 Games and then use approach and retreat until he trusts you enough to allow you to touch it.
What’s important to people is not necessarily important to horses
People in general like clean, well-groomed horses that are stabled and blanketed. They keep them away from other horses in case they get bite marks or get kicked.
People like clean, well-groomed horses and they think horses like cozy stables.
Horses love dirt and avoid confinement. In the wild, they call 10,000 acres home.
Horses love dirt, hate stables. Being clean isn’t important, in fact they use dirt to keep the bugs off, but being safe, comfortable and having someone to play with are. Getting bitten and kicked is all part of herd life and socialisation. And for young horses its part of growing up.
Isolation contributes to “stable vices” such as cribbing, lip-popping, pawing, self mutilation, etc
Many horses kept in confinement and isolation develop mental and emotional problems. So called “vices” such as cribbing (wind sucking), weaving, self mutilation, aggressive behaviour, kicking at walls, popping lips and other repetitive motions like nodding the head or pawing. Any of these are indications of severe mental torment through deprivation of freedom and social interaction.
If the horse is deprived of social interaction he will look to you to provide it.
Horses kept in confinement are often full of energy and have a great need for leaping and playing to release their pent up energy. If he is not allowed to play with other horses, he’ll play with you! Striking, kicking, bumping, shouldering is not meant to hurt, that’s how horses play. Don’t be shocked if your horse wants to play rough, he doesn’t know how fragile humans are. And don’t make him wrong for it. Learn how to play with him through the 7 Games.
In looking after horses we need to look after their mental and emotional health as much as their physical.
Your horse’s mental and emotional needs are more important then his external apperance.
- Give your horse as much space as you can.
- Allow him to socialise or at least be in contact with other horses.
- Give him mental, emotional and physical stimulation. The 7 Games is the best way, they are the same games that horses play with each other in the heard environment. Play them every day if your horse is isolated.
- Put more emphases on his internal well being than his external appearance. This doesn’t mean you neglect the external, it means you don’t put the external horse in front of the internal horse.
You can give a horse his “10,000 acres” and fulfilment of the herd by playing the 7 Games with him.
We have bought or inherited horses that have behavioural problems (sometimes servere), socialisation problems and are even aggressive toward people. By turning them out with a herd, on an acreage, this behaviour has reduced dramatically or disappeared altogether in just a few weeks. It was just a matter of allowing the horse to fulfil his basic needs.
Many behavioural problems are improved by fulfilling a horse’s need for space and social interaction.
So called “vices” are how horses stimulate the release of endorphins that are like drugs to relieve the stress of isolation.
“Stable vices” are often treated like behavioural problems and horses are punished for them or made to wear elaborate contraptions to prevent it, some of them quite cruel, with spikes in them for instance. The reason horses in confinement develop repetitive behaviours like cribbing, weaving, lip-popping etc. is to cause the brain to release endorphins. The endorphins produce a natural high or numbness which help relieve the horses misery.
Recent studies have shown that its not so much the confinement as the isolation that produces these behaviours. Horses that live in tie-stalls where they are beside other horses don’t develop these behaviours.
We have a responsibility to look after our horse’s needs and ensure his total well being.
Horses are wild prey animals. They have been domesticated by man and they adapt very well to this. But whenever his basic needs are not catered for it can affect him mentally, emotionally and physically. it is our responsibility to learn how to look after these needs in the horse to ensure his total well being in our care.
THINK LIKE A HORSE.
Left brain, right brain.
When horses are “left brain”, they are using the thinking side of their brain. They are calm, thinking down to their feet, capable of following your directions.
Right brain is where the instincts live. Left brain is the thinking side of the brain.
When they are “right brain” they are not thinking, they are reacting from instinct. They are usually in a flight or fight survival mode where nature tells them they don’t have time to think.
The 7 Games teach a horse to use the left side of his brain when he is with you.
The objective of playing the 7 Games is to teach horses to use their left brain when ever they are with you. The more they think of you as their leader, the more confidence they will have, the less right brained they will be.
Lunging a horse in circles when he is excited reinforces right brain behaviour.
Causing the horse to go sideways and backwards help him to start thinking again.
When a horse goes right brained, there are things you can do at this level of savvy to help him get left brained. Sideways and backwards are two very effective ways. A horse can run forwards and stay right brained. This is why lunging is not very effective in calming horses down. But to go sideways or backwards, a horse has to think about it. Sometimes its just a matter of persisting until the horse makes the shift from right to left brain. When he does this, he will often lick his lips or “chew” his jaw.
Horses will lick their lips when they move from right brain to left brain. This is a sign that tells you your horse has understood you.
The herd instinct
Horses gravitate to other horses for safety.
Don’t ever be shocked by a horse’s need to stick with the herd, or his want to gravitate towards other horses. The herd represents safety and if a horse feels at all insecure he will always be keeping track of where the herd is or trying to get back to it, often to the chagrin of the rider! Another representation of the herd is the place where your horse lives, the barn or the pasture. he has learned to feel safe there and will want to return whenever he feels unsafe, uncomfortable or stressed.
If you can become a trusted and respected leader for your horse he will not seek the herd or the barn for respite.
The more respect a horse gets for you and your leadership the less herd bound or barn “sweet” (he’s really not sour on the barn!) he will be. If you represent safety, the horse will stay with you and not seek the herd. Sometimes this will not be solved in Level 1, especially if it is an extreme case. But by Level 2 and 3 it will.
Become a trusted leader for your horse.
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