Anna Blake's Blog, page 19

A Legacy of Homegrown Ingenuity and Bull-Headed Confidence

I am the great-granddaughter of pioneers. They traveled far, mixed their blood with those not like them, and built lives out of thin air and hard work. My farm needed a storage shelter. Not big, and a tarp would do for a roof. I saw small Quonset huts online. They were reasonably priced and just about right, but they all had marginal reviews. As I pondered which might be the best not-near-five-star shelter, my eyes fell on some fence panels beside my barn. They were made with heavy stolid iron rods, not those new-fangled hollow pipe kind. A normal woman doesn’t build shelters, but I’m special. I have horses. 

I am the granddaughter of a man who built roads with a horse-drawn road grader with a home-bred six-up team, and a woman who bragged she’d delivered more calves and foals than any woman in North Dakota. She was whip-smart in her eighties. I dragged the fence panels to the desired spot with the ATV while making sure to not tear out any fence or let the horses out, but my real superpower is truly understanding that brains and the right tool will do the task better than brute strength. Besides, out-thinking a fence panel can’t be that hard. 

I’m a daughter of depression-era parents. Farmers invented recycling. We are stewards of our farms and the earth. We do what needs to be done, taking pride in wasting nothing. I tied two panels up with twine, perpendicular to a previously standing panel fence, set at an angle that won’t fight the prairie wind. Three walls; it might work, I thought, and drove some t-posts in to anchor the panels. Now to get the last panel on top for a roof. Did I mention the solid iron part? I’m no frail flower but it was all I could do to stand one up. There was no way could I lift one over my head. Here’s where being of the “weaker” sex starts to pay off.

It would be totally reasonable to ask for help, but so many times things go wrong. Sometimes the muscles come with egos. Or the project goes slow and helpers get impatient and “emotional.” Some part needs finesse, and instead of slowing down to consider options, the energy gradually gets aggressive, until suddenly it’s a life-and-death fight with gravity. Fingers or toes get smashed, profanities screamed to the heavens, and worse of all, the animals look at us squinty-eyed. One other thing: I’m told the first thing I ever said was, “I’ll do it myself.” That was right before I started pretending that gates were horses and riding them with saddles made from twine.   

I’m a woman with negotiation skills. My first idea was a pully but I couldn’t relieve enough weight to make it work. So, I wedged the panel up from an inverted bucket to a muck barrel, to an upside-down water trough, each time shortening the twine that was a safety catch against it falling on me. Slow and steady, a few inches at a time, using balance and leverage. Mostly, using my brain. I didn’t hurt my back and this new shelter is sturdy and perfect. Bring on the wind. 

This is the secret to building a recycled shed or working with horses: Change your energy in the moment of resistance. You can’t force a fence panel into submission, but you can dance it there. After all, that the fence panel isn’t your enemy, it’s doing you a favor. You can’t intimidate a horse into partnership by treating him like an enemy, but you can control your emotions and make a better choice. You can be calm and negotiate a safe place for the horse. Then watch the trust grow.

The moment you don’t know what to do next; when you are about to snap and resistance sits heavy on your chest, flattening your heart, is precisely the moment where fundamental change is possible. At another time we might have thrown a hammer or picked a fight with a horse, but now we slow down, breathe, and realize the strength in having nothing to prove. Just then a better idea pops up. The strength we are building has a softness because it begins with first making peace with our own imperfections and vulnerability. We look within and make the best of what we have. Miraculously, it is plenty.

Our ancestors were not perfect, but they got us this far with homegrown ingenuity and bull-headed confidence. We are their legacy and not to be underestimated. Remind yourself that you are on your side. You’re on your horse’s side. If you look at it right, there is only one side. 

Horses know humans are all born predators, but some of us are in recovery. When we know better, we do better and this is how it happens. Our motto has matured to “I do it my way, without apology.” We’ve learned that we have all we need right here. We are works of art in progress. 

Perhaps we each pioneer our own lives. In the beginning, we’re disoriented and without balance or rhythm, but we don’t back away from hard tasks. Some of us work in untraditional jobs or face resistance in relationships. We didn’t start out this tough but we’ve been work-hardened by life. Given the choice of becoming bitter or using our gifts, we found our true height. We replaced impatience with cool planning and the stubbornness of a longear. We don’t like being told what to do and that gives us a head start understanding horses. Realizing we have more in common with them than we thought, especially when the going is tough, we know we’ll be fine. Our vulnerability is strength; we may bend but we don’t break. We have our wits, rely on the Golden Rule, and trust horses to let us know where we need work.

Meanwhile, I have a new shelter and a little extra hay money going into winter. I could have bought an online Quonset hut and it might have been prettier. But I’d have to replace it every year after it shredded in the wind or flew off to Texas. I know this because of the number of buckets and lawn chairs that have already headed across the prairie in that direction and because I know what I know. I’m special. I have horses. And a donkey.

…

Anna Blake for Relaxed & Forward 

Want more? Join us in The Barn. Subscribe to our online training group with training videos, interactive sharing, audio blogs, live-chats with Anna, and the most supportive group of like-minded horsepeople anywhere.

Ongoing courses in Calming Signals, Affirmative Training, Fundamentals of Authentic Dressage, and Back in the Saddle: a Comeback Conversation, as well as virtual clinics, are taught at The Barn School, where I also host our infamous Happy Hour. Everyone’s welcome.

Visit annablake.com to find over a thousand archived blogs, purchase signed books, schedule a live consultation or lesson, subscribe for email delivery of this blog, or ask a question about the art and science of working with horses.

Affirmative training is the fine art of saying yes.

The post A Legacy of Homegrown Ingenuity and Bull-Headed Confidence appeared first on Anna Blake.

Calming Signals and Why the Second Time’s a Charm.

Want to know the smallest thing you could change in training for the biggest improvement? I usually say doing a logical, effective warm-up, but it’s more specific because that smallest thing happens before the warm-up, thru the warm-up, and until the halter comes off at the end.

Have you ever noticed that the first of anything you ask from your horse is never the best? The first steps of leading and the first bit of groundwork are usually a bit sticky. The first transitions are never the most fluid. We all know the first canter depart is the worst. And not just for your horse. Things are hardly ever perfect the first time for either of you. 

Let’s say you’re in a hurry, so you rush a halter on your horse and pull him in to tack up. Clean his hooves quickly, throw the saddle on, and drag him to the arena. You want as much time in the saddle as possible. You swing that rope to hurry him along the whole way and when you get to the mounting block, he stops one step too far. You pull the reins to back him up. It hurts his mouth, so he backs up three steps. You pull him forward, metal on bone, he hesitates, so you ask louder. He gets nervous and swings his butt wide. Now you’re frustrated, so you walk him in a circle of dread and he overshoots again, just too much anxiety to stand still now. But you need to end on a good note, so you repeat it a few more times, each with a circle of dread but none quite good enough. 

Stop. You’ve just corrected your horse a dozen times before even mounting. Not to mention, he has a good start on a fussy habit at the mounting block and he will never understand how you tell time.

But this is the real question: What is gained by both of you getting cranky? Are we dominating just to be right? Most of all, what kind of ride are the two of you set up for?

Here’s a radical idea: ignore the first tries. Just don’t care. See the thing you are asking for not as an action to be judged and corrected, but rather a throw-away question, just a conversation starter. Get past the first try because the good stuff happens after that. But if we start with a fight, we will never know that.

Think for a moment about how you converse with your horse. Haltering is the time that the conversation begins, when calming signals can inform us, and if we are too single-minded about clocks, we don’t listen well. 

Say you hold the halter under his muzzle and he looks away. It’s a calming signal, he needs a moment and in a few seconds, his head comes back and he drops his nose in. He gets a scratch and he is certainly smart enough to know you have come to get him. You inhale, maybe give a verbal cue or a cluck. He hesitates, maybe shifts a bit of weight, but doesn’t walk on. He might be braced wondering if he will get wacked by the lead rope, but instead you say good boy, just to remind him who he is, and as you take a step he comes with you, side by side. Horses respect us just about as much as we respect them.

Then you groom the way he likes; you’re careful with his hooves, use a curry but no brush, and leave his face alone. Slow with the girth and off to the arena, practicing walk/halt transitions on the way. The conversation is responsive now. At the mounting block, he halts and stops square, just about six inches from where you need him. Good boy, and you move the mounting block and get in the saddle without correction because it’s good enough. Over time, he’ll stop in the just-right spot by habit.

When you begin the warm-up, walk on a long rein. No corrections, just walk. That means you aren’t ruled by the rail, you just say yes, happy with his first few sticky strides. Give him time to adjust to your weight on his back. Distract yourself by noticing how your shirt wrinkles at your waist, if your sit bones are soft, your legs long, and can your ankles dangle a bit. Take a breath and realign your spine, feel your shoulders level and your ribs equally spaced. Give a big exhale and release your jaw. Did your horse lengthen his neck, are his strides longer, did he give a little blow? Let it feel good. What is it about a walk that always feels like being held and rocked?

Your horse is feeling safe, accepted, warming to the flow of his body with you on him. He’s finding balance and each stride gets more blurred as the line between horse and rider fades. At this point, training is as easy as an idea and a breath. Literally. Use successive approximation, reward behaviors that are close to what you asked for; he’s getting warmer. Take all the time because you’re right where you want to be.

This is what you miss if you nitpick every stray imperfection. But isn’t that what we were taught to do? Not just to demand perfection from our horses but also from ourselves. Taught to call out every shortcoming with a relentlessly critical eye and then hold a grudge toward the horse and ourselves. Snap out of it. Nothing good comes of all that name-calling.

Being with horses is about creating tendencies of behavior over time. Training should be a quiet and kind give-and-take conversation. Problems die when starved of attention. Ignore what you don’t want, ask a better question next time, be consistent and affirmative. The tendency grows into a reliable habit. Young horses become partners instead of prey and grow in confidence, offering more than asked. Old campaigners worm their way deep in our hearts because they carried us to a place of peace. It might have taken years, but we gave up fighting.

When we get our next horse, they’ll be confused and disoriented when they arrive. Things don’t start well because we forget how it was in the beginning with the last horse. Trust that time is on your side, trust that one moment prepares for the next. Then let the conversation begin. It will all work out, just not today.

The smallest change for the biggest result is to not be baited by that first answer. To not get so envious of perfection that we miss the quirkiness and individuality of our good horses. Training horses is about humans valuing communication and acknowledgment more than criticism. 

You are not looking for perfection. Horses don’t understand that concept. Horses live in an imperfect environment, always on guard for something dangerous. Disappoint them. Be their safe place.

…

Anna Blake for Relaxed & Forward 

Want more? Join us in The Barn. Subscribe to our online training group with training videos, interactive sharing, audio blogs, live-chats with Anna, and the most supportive group of like-minded horsepeople anywhere.

At The Barn School, ongoing courses in Calming Signals, Affirmative Training, Fundamentals of Authentic Dressage, and Back in the Saddle: a Comeback Conversation, as well as virtual clinics, are taught. I also host our infamous Happy Hour. Everyone’s welcome.

Visit annablake.com to find over a thousand archived blogs, purchase signed books, schedule a live consultation or lesson, subscribe for email delivery of this blog, or ask a question about the art and science of working with horses.

Affirmative training is the fine art of saying yes.

The post Calming Signals and Why the Second Time’s a Charm. appeared first on Anna Blake.

Your Horse’s Memory is Your Best Training Aid.

My friend, Bruce, died from colic one year ago today. You are remembered.

Our memories of horses haunt us in all the best and worst ways. We remember childhood horses and horses we met in books or at the movies.  We love our friend’s horses as we love our own, marking when they came and the day they died, so we can say their name to our friends on that sad anniversary. Most of us are lucky enough to know a fair number of horses in the course of our lives and we are better for the experience. 

But enough about us. We rant and get weepy about horses we know, but often minimize the importance of memory when working with horses in real-time. Our understanding of equine memory is the most important aspect of training, riding, or even caring for horses. 

Most of us have a working understanding of the equine brain. We know horses don’t have a frontal lobe that works like ours. They literally can’t ponder philosophical concepts like respect or revenge, testing or holding a grudge. Horses are incapable of deceit and that’s what we like about them.

Instead, horses have excellent long-term memory. We know horses recognize faces, and also emotions on faces. Memory informs that recognition. Feral horses grazing over large territories remember locations important to the herd, just as domesticated horses remember locations they frequent, even when trailered there. Horses become anxious in surroundings where they previously had a frightening experience; they remember the “scene of the crime.” Their memory is less romantic than ours and much more practical.

Foals begin learning from the herd on day one for their general safety. When they eventually begin training, those first experiences with humans set the tone for years to come. The method of training becomes practically tattooed on their nervous system. If a horse feels implied threat, dread, panic, or physical pain, he is not able to focus to learn. When a horse learns through intimidation, his foundation is riddled with fear-cracks. His memory of how he was trained will be impeccable. No matter how long ago, if the horse was ridden previously, he will know exactly what a saddle and bit are today.

How many times when you think your horse is ignoring you, is the horse reacting to the memory of a previous experience? Since memory and emotion are major factors in their mental process, can they tell the difference, for instance, between previous gastric pain and the anxiety felt about being in a similar situation in the present? Can you tell the difference? It might feel like you can’t trust a horse, but you can trust their behavior perfectly, whether you see a cause for it or not. They are incapable of making things up. Good training or bad, you can absolutely trust their memory. 

Some horses go to rescue or wind up in sale ads because things just went a little sideways from poor training or impatience. The idea of training a horse seems easy enough but knowing what to do when things start to slide is the hard part. That’s when we over-cue or drill them; when we stop praising them and get harsher than we intend. We punish them, something they never forget, damaging whatever trust we have built. 

We aren’t intentionally cruel; we work with outdated methods, we get confused, we try too hard. Once a horse sees us as erratic and undependable, they seem to mimic that behavior. They become unreliable. 

It takes more time to retrain a horse than to do it right the first time because of their indelible memory. And our memory of past incidents gets in our way at the same time. The biggest and most frequent error we make when training is that we ask for too much, too soon. We don’t let mistakes go or recognize when we’re greedy. Regardless of our method of training, we don’t stop when we should. And the sum total of that stress is what horses (and humans) remember.

By midlife, most horses have had too many emotional memories. Some get jaded and some shut down. We buy them from longtime owners or move them from their herd to a new planet (home), and in the process, don’t recognize the horse we bought. Change tends to stress a horse enough that old traumas resurface.

The challenge comes when we want to progress over stumbling blocks in the horse’s past. It doesn’t matter how they got there, it matters what happens now. Sometimes we think horses need us to heal, but it isn’t our job to fix their memory. Our goal should be not just building trust, but more importantly, respecting what that means in our own behavior.

We must start by being trustworthy. In order to do that,  we have to develop advance-hindsight. Think of it as being unstuck in time, we want to anticipate what the horse will remember. Lucky for us, it’s easier than it sounds. All we have to do is let the horse process what is going on. As if patience is easy for us.

Horses are sequential thinkers. They aren’t saying no; they are thinking about it. Take a breath. Horses give calming signals when two thoughts collide. It could be as simple as a horse being curious about going with us, but not happy to leave the herd. What we do in that moment is crucial. We either halter them and drag them away, swinging the rope to threaten them into leaving, or give them a moment to process. Important: don’t let your own brain invent drama here. Instead, let your horse have time for this moment to become a good memory.

How to plan ahead for your horse’s good memory: 

Your horse’s relaxed mental state during training is the top priority.
Don’t interrupt your horse’s thought process by repeating cues or upping the ask. 
Invest in the time needed to let your horse process the past with the present.
Reward your horse for thinking; it’s more important to engage his mind than get the immediate result. 
You aren’t breathing enough. Let him hear you exhale, the cue to stay relaxed for both of you. 
Learn your horse’s individual calming signals and acknowledge his intelligence.
See things with horse logic; your human needs or schedule are not his problem.
Learn to say yes in his language, so his own confidence makes him kind and reliable.

Most importantly, remind yourself that no matter the past, the moment of possibility is right now. You can create a good memory. It was never about training technique, always about the change that comes with the acceptance of your horse in this moment. The only behaviors set in stone are fear-based and it’s your goal to open your horse to partnership and possibility. You want your horse to offer you something better than you know to ask for. You want to be unstuck in the past and surprised anew by your horse’s goodwill.  

…

Anna Blake for Relaxed & Forward 

Want more? Join us in The Barn. Subscribe to our online training group with training videos, interactive sharing, audio blogs, live-chats with Anna, and the most supportive group of like-minded horsepeople anywhere.

Ongoing courses in Calming Signals, Affirmative Training, Fundamentals of Authentic Dressage, and Back in the Saddle: a Comeback Conversation, as well as virtual clinics, are taught at The Barn School, where I also host our infamous Happy Hour. Everyone’s welcome.

Visit annablake.com to find over a thousand archived blogs, purchase signed books, schedule a live consultation or lesson, subscribe for email delivery of this blog, or ask a question about the art and science of working with horses.

Affirmative training is the fine art of saying yes.

The post Your Horse’s Memory is Your Best Training Aid. appeared first on Anna Blake.

Virtual Dressage and Girls in White Shirts

The FEI passed good rules this year, and the Olympic judging held to the high side. Dressage had things to celebrate but then the modern pentathlon debacle happened, not even an equestrian event, and we all saw the competitor crying and whipping her horse. The press failed to grasp what we all know: Horses take skill to ride. Riders feel frustration. When things go wrong, breathe and say, “Good boy” because we don’t ever blame our horses.

Meanwhile, I was asked to judge a dressage show in Canada, from my studio on the flat windy treeless prairie of Colorado. I immediately confessed that I wasn’t legal to judge. The organizer, Leigh-Ann, told me it was a schooling show and she was allowing bitless bridles and a full range of only lower-level tests, so with that, I agreed. I’ve spent decades riding, competing, teaching, scribing, and studying dressage, all of which involves some level of perception (judging). I was sure my understanding and respect for the dressage tradition would guide me well.

I soon received a list of YouTube video links and the software to score the rides digitally. Some of the arenas were in pastures with buckets for letters and others seemed to be on manicured lawns with white edging and large lettered cones. Some of the tests were in indoor arenas that doubled as winter hay storage in the far end, but in each location, the camera was placed at “C” and I could see everything I would if I was there.

There were adult riders competing in Western Dressage tests on lovely horses moving happily forward in ground covering gaits. Yay! One dressage entry came all the way from New Zealand; an Andalusian whose trot had lively cadence and balance; ridden with soft hands, he lifted his shoulders in an extended canter, his hooves thundering down the long side. Breathtaking. Most of the riders were 10 to14-year-old girls who took lessons from the organizer, some on lesson horses and some riding their own. Everyone wore helmets.

The introductory dressage test movements were nostalgic, like old friends. They are simple, but not easy. It’s a sequence of work, so they must continually prepare for the next movement, the best skill a rider can have. Transitions are scored so riders show upward transitions without causing the horse’s poll to tense. Downward transitions need enough forward to keep the horse balanced. 

Each test begins by entering on the centerline, walking a straight line to “X” in the center, then a halt (immobile) and salute. Even the youngest riders manage the entry, then a quick dip of their helmet and low salute with one hand. I solemnly nod back at my computer to girls in little white shirts with very serious faces, deep in concentration. Then their legs, flapping quietly as a baby bird, urge their horse forward to the main movements in the test. They ride the pattern letter by letter; there are walk transitions, trots on the diagonal, a free walk on a long rein. By the time the rider’s legs have grown longer, canter has been added to the tests. The riders each sit very tall. They post rhythmically with their shoulders back, mostly on the correct diagonal. Their hands are remarkably good.

Good hands? I later asked Leigh-Ann how she did it. My adult clients aren’t always that consistent. She said, “When I started my lesson program, I decided that beginners would start bitless. In the beginning, it was so I didn’t have to watch my horses’ mouths being pulled on, but I questioned myself a lot at first because these riders generally progressed more slowly than students I’d taught in the past. Then, I started to notice students learned how to ride with their body from the beginning, because if they didn’t, the horse wouldn’t turn, stop, etc.  A neat little side effect seems to be the hands.” It’s a fundamental principle in Dressage that good contact is a byproduct of a correct seat.

Not all the rides went perfectly. Some horses wandered off course and others politely declined to trot on the first ask. Not that anyone would have known if they didn’t have the test in front of them as I did. No horses got corrected, certainly, none punished. The riders didn’t look frustrated or cry. They just found the next letter ahead and negotiated their horse back on track. If the canter depart didn’t work, they trotted on and tried again when it came later in the test. 

Some riders finished their ride and jumped down to show the camera they could put two fingers under the noseband, though clearly, it was looser than that. Others took their bridle off to show me their snaffle, a legal bit, and their horses dropped his heads low to oblige them.

Some school horses came in more than once, with different riders. The horses were not young athletes but moving is good for arthritis. They showed no anxiety and were up for this job that requires more heart than muscle; this job takes both willingness and stoic sobriety. Lesson horses exist in an un-scorable realm, walking with a steady slow stride. They begin a circle inside each rider, paying it forward, training riders for future horses who will need help from their rider in turn. Lesson horses are the elite of all horses, forever above judging.

Everyone ended their test as they started, with a halt and salute. Polite, with shared respect, I nodded back, weeks after they’d ridden. Then the rider released their reins, patted their horse, and the onlookers cheered. I settled in to do my final notations. All of the riders demonstrated an understanding of the fundamentals of riding. Taking lessons, any horse will tell you, is one of the best investments a rider can make. 

As besotted as I was watching the girls ride their tests, I did not give them perfect scores. From the grooming, to cleaning their tack, to the last halt in their test, they take their riding very seriously, and I would not insult them by doing less. No points were given away. I scored in a conservative range but tried to give thoughtful comments at the level of the rider. I remarked about what was good, even if it was a recovery. I affirmed the best from the horse and the rider, and probably got wordy sometimes. You can trust the rider to know by the score where the sticky parts were, sometimes a comment was given about what to do for a higher score. I meant to encourage them, adults and kids alike.

Click to view slideshow.

The last class on my list was the Starter Drill Team with two entries. Think freestyle with friends. Quadrille. Horse Party! With special permission, here are the videos. Click to see The Queens here and The Trolls here. Stop reading right now and go treat yourself. 

A group ride isn’t scored individually but as a whole, lifting the work together, friends and horses.  Choreography: Interesting and quick, a well-deserved 9. Musicality and Presentation: For the helmet decorations alone, 9. Performance as a Group: They’re fabulous. I hope they’re riding drill team together in 60 years, score 9 again. I couldn’t help it. Straight 9s.

Judge’s Note: A 90% score is incredible but I didn’t give them 10s. They haven’t peaked yet.

Whether you hate the sport or love it, this is Dressage. One of these girls may win the Olympic gold with a bold freestyle one day. Or maybe they will ride with schooled balance and kind patience their whole lives, sharing a special bond with like-minded riders. Either way, their horses are winners.

With gratitude to all the competitors and a howling cheer for the drill teams… Ride on, ye Queens and Trolls! Forward!

…

Anna Blake for Relaxed & Forward 

Want more? Join us in The Barn. Subscribe to our online training group with training videos, interactive sharing, audio blogs, live-chats with Anna, and the most supportive group of like-minded horsepeople anywhere.

Ongoing courses in Calming Signals, Affirmative Training, Fundamentals of Authentic Dressage, and Back in the Saddle: a Comeback Conversation, as well as virtual clinics, are taught at The Barn School, where I also host our infamous Happy Hour. Everyone’s welcome.

Visit annablake.com to find over a thousand archived blogs, purchase signed books, schedule a live consultation or lesson, subscribe for email delivery of this blog, or ask a question about the art and science of working with horses.

Affirmative training is the fine art of saying yes.

The post Virtual Dressage and Girls in White Shirts appeared first on Anna Blake.

Does Leadership Mean Domination Now?

From a Reader: “Anna, you articulate the dance between horse and human so very succinctly. I wish it were easier to “just be” with horses, but it’s a constant struggle to eliminate formerly learned patterns of behavior. I started to learn about horses with a woman that spoke of partnership with horses and that has always been my focus, but some of the tools I learned over time were contradictory to partnership. Is it possible to lead in partnership? It is a fine line between leadership and domination.”

Great question. It can seem hard to find a workable balance, the middle path between extremes. It’s why I write more about ideas than hard-set techniques.

To begin, trainers all use pretty words, promising the perfect horse. No one brags about using brute force and intimidation and when you look at the frozen eyes of the horse, maybe it looks good compared to the challenges you have with your horse. If you are frustrated or embarrassed by your horse, or just stuck, the idea of showing them who’s boss is almost appealing. We are predators after all and we’ve been fighting training animals for so long it’s like muscle memory in our DNA. Horses do respond to fear-based training and if you don’t read body language (calming signals), it can almost pass for okay. Who hasn’t seen a high-spirited filly panicked on a lead rope or a puppy who has unpacked a sofa, and had a fleeting thought about military school? But scared straight is a tag line, a sales pitch. And when it comes to horses, we may have watched too many cop shows and westerns.

Most trainers avoid talking about the small print: working with horses takes time. It’s easier to sell a Get-Trained-Quick approach and riders want it to be true. It’s a fantasy. Even if you had all the money in the world, a good relationship with a horse won’t happen in a year. It will be an ongoing process for the life of a horse. We love the old campaigner and are frustrated with the youngster, but they are the same horse. We have to adjust to each year of change in that horse’s life, which is way more complicated than colt starting. Then add to that complicated equation, some horses, (like two of yours, dear reader) act as if it’s all abuse whether it is or not. It’s as if they are still living in the past, which once we understand some brain science about the power of memory and the lack of critical frontal-lobe thinking in horses, is truer than not. The memory of their start in training is always in play.

As for the horseperson who wants to do better but wrestles with old tools, most of us have learned techniques that are based on intimidation, most long-time horsepeople started that way. Evolving takes energy and commitment. And way longer than we want to acknowledge. Any rescue horse will tell you that it’s hard to relearn new things when you’ve been brought up differently.

I believe some part of this quandary is about language. Leadership was a word we liked at one point, but has it been hijacked? Is leadership a “dog whistle” word for fear-based training or showing a horse who’s boss, in the same way that the word partnership is a code word for non-violent training? If you believe in domination, then everything else looks like weakness. If you believe in giving the horse confidence and training affirmatively, old-school equine pros look like bullying predators. Humans are the most divisive herd animals ever. No wonder we confuse horses.

Can I take a moment here for a personal rant? I’ll try to use my indoor voice. The most common thing people tell me is that as they are trying out a more affirmative approach, railbirds are giving advice to get louder, larger, and more aggressive. And yes, some of the railbirds critical of your horsemanship are roosting in your own head, but just as loud. Like Romans at the Colosseum, cheering for more violence, they want you to make that horse respect you. We’ve all seen it; we’ve all lived it. I want to let loose an unladylike yell shrill enough to scare humans, “HOW DO YOU THINK THE HORSE GOT THIS WAY IN THE FIRST PLACE??!!” But I don’t. Picking fights doesn’t work when trying to win the hearts and minds of humans any more than it does horses. 

Has anyone even checked with the horses? We plan their lives as if they had all the intelligence and awareness of a dirt bike. They’ve been trying to tell us that fear-based training doesn’t work for a flight animal. It seems like simple logic to them, but they would also try to show us that herd dynamics aren’t about domination but rather cooperation. Herd animals don’t generally seek conflict and that’s a cue we should respect. This is where partnership rules; it takes two voices to partner and also to lead, so first, we let go of our plans and listen to horses. We stop talking about them and start talking to them.

Instead, I suggest we all mount up and ride into their camp at night and rustle back the word leadership. Then, let’s brand it ours again. 

Horse aggression or resistance is frequently pain. Leadership is listening beyond behavior.
Anxiety is expressed in calming signals. Leadership is understanding that frightened horses can’t learn calmness.
We don’t always get our way. Leadership means negotiation.
Asking a question, followed by correction is contradictory. Leadership is shown in consistent kindness. 
Humans are as flawed as horses. Leadership is forgiving yourself and trying again.
Fear and domination go hand in hand. Leadership is mentoring safety for all.
Never punishing because violence betrays trust. Leadership means getting along.
You are the animal with choice. It can be a dance or a street fight. Leadership chooses the high ground: Peace.
Horses mimic behavior. Leadership is being the change we want to see.
It takes the time it takes. Leadership is patient.
Constant correction is uninspiring and soul-killing. Leadership is saying yes. Simply, yes.
Trust your skills and intuition and worth. Leadership is carried with confidence.
The ideal expression of the art of partnering with a horse should always be lightness and beauty. Leadership means you go first. You lead the dance.
Finally, trust the horse to understand the caring advice of someone who only wants the best. Leadership is love for our horses.

Now patiently watch the world change, one horse at a time, as other human animals grow to envy your leadership. Actions will always speak louder than words.

…

Anna Blake for Relaxed & Forward 

Want more? Join us in The Barn. Subscribe to our online training group with training videos, interactive sharing, audio blogs, live-chats with Anna, and the most supportive group of like-minded horsepeople anywhere.

Ongoing courses in Calming Signals, Affirmative Training, Fundamentals of Authentic Dressage, and Back in the Saddle: a Comeback Conversation, as well as virtual clinics, are taught at The Barn School, where I also host our infamous Happy Hour. Everyone’s welcome.

Visit annablake.com to find over a thousand archived blogs, purchase signed books, schedule a live consultation or lesson, subscribe for email delivery of this blog, or ask a question about the art and science of working with horses.

Affirmative training is the fine art of saying yes.

The post Does Leadership Mean Domination Now? appeared first on Anna Blake.

A Book Report and What We Know Now.

A bit of explanation: I grew up on a farm without a bookshelf. We were not readers. Once we finally got a television, there was only one channel but it had Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, disappointingly black and white in our house. I mention this because Walt’s photo is in the dictionary next to the definition of the word anthropomorphism, the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object. It wasn’t just Mickey and Donald and Goofy. It was Fairy Godmothers and Princes and various rodents who were helpful with chores. How many of us lost touch with reality about then?

I graduated from cartoons to Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom when my father would permit, but it bored him as much as it fascinated me. I was a poor reader until I left home but I nurtured a budding love and the next few decades were spent homeschooling myself by reading books from classical literature to current Natural Book Award winners. Good years, but once I moved to the farm, my reading time evaporated. I’d crack a book in bed and read the first paragraph each night before drooling off to sleep, often reading as much as an entire page in a month. Even worse these last years, my reading time has been spent writing, and blaming myself for not reading. And we all know how time-consuming self-criticism is. 

Then in January, I gave in to a long-time fantasy. I signed up for Audible, so people could read to me. Such decadence, sometimes it’s people with an accent, but they patiently read to me at my leisure (mucking.) It isn’t revolutionary, but I’m frugal. I exchanged money for bliss. Oh my heart, forty-seven books in a half-year. Now I squander hours a day “reading.” Tossing a reckless dart at the globe and jumping centuries like a sidewalk crack, I “read” new books, non-fiction books, fat books, old-friend books that I’ve missed and want to revisit. I struggle with literary gluttony but am not guilty enough to do much but brag. I’m worse than a sullen teenager with earbuds on public transportation. I have my filling-hay-bags earbuds and my louder-than-an-ATV earbuds. I “read” voraciously now, hands-free and mind engaged.

During a recent writing workshop, I asked for book titles that had been read more than once. White Fang by Jack London was mentioned and I scribbled it down. No, I didn’t read it as a kid. For crying out loud, I didn’t see The Wizard of Oz until I was thirty. In all my catching-up, this small volume had never caught my eye but it was a freebie on Audible, so off I went to Alaska.

The first chapter of White Fang is a powerful narrative of a wolf pack that follows two hunters and their sled dog teams during a time of famine. The wolves lured the dogs away from the hunter’s camp one by one, to kill and eat them. It would be sad, but it is a dog-eat-dog world and the she-wolf is so intelligent that it’s hard to not cheer her on as she toys with the hunters, eventually managing to kill one. Scenes like this cheer a certain sort of person who has worked in rescue and feels frustration with the cruelty of her own species. 

White Fang was the only surviving pup of the she-wolf’s litter, but he grows in the wild, hunting and learning from his mother, the she-wolf-who-must-be-obeyed. But the she-wolf is half dog and when they come to an “Indian” [sic] village where her previous master is, she is silly enough to allow herself to be captured. He trades her away and White Fang is enslaved, then passed from one despicable human to another, being submissive to harsh corrections, and eventually turning angry and aggressive enough to fight dogs for human entertainment. Nearly dead from a fight, he’s rescued and rehabbed, finally to live in California where he convinces the humans he’s marginally domesticated, saves a life, and wins the name “Blessed Wolf.” Okay, the end is a bit soft but White Fang was made old by many previous injuries by then. 

Forgive my poor synopsis; I do it by design. The story isn’t as important as how it’s told. The book is brilliantly written from the point of view of the wolf-dogs, in a narrative that almost borders on being a documentary; a life as seen with the eyes and mind of White Fang. I do not say this lightly. It’s my biggest goal as an author who writes about animals to capture their language and their world. I hate anthropomorphizing any creature and salute you, Mr. London.

Disney taught us to see animals as stuffed toys. Horses and dogs especially suffer from our romantic notions and misunderstandings. We could serve them better with a truer translation, hearing less human opinions and more of theirs. We need to rest our intellectual perceptions and drop into the realm of instinct. By trying to understand the instinct of other animals, unvarnished and without apology, we might come to grips with our own predatory nature more honestly.

London tells no fairy tale. White Fang is about the collision of humans and wolves, not sweetened by saccharine Disney pastels. No spaghetti noodles are shared with a Dalmation. There are no golden retriever embraces or corgi sploots. Nothing is cute.

Jack London, 1876-1916, was known as an extremist, radical and searcher. He managed to cleanly explain the method an animal, without a frontal lobe like ours, might extrapolate from memory and make choices. Horses do that, too. As you read, you’ll also find such current hot topics as how fear-based training works, the experience of learned helplessness, affirmative training, brain science, how animals connect with humans, the power of instinct, rehabbing abused animals, and of course, calming signals. It’s a book for this era perhaps more than when it was written and is made stronger by not choosing to humanize or trivialize animals into some cheap version meant to be sweet or funny, but to respect their intelligence and instinct. London celebrates what it means to not anthropomorphize but love the wolf for his true nature. 

The experience of changing our point of view is the first step toward the goal of understanding and true empathy toward one who is other than us. Perhaps you read this book when you were younger, but with a nod of apology to the horses and dogs we have bred into compliance or altered over generations to be a caricature of what they were meant to be, read the book again with new eyes. Knowing what we know now, do your horse the favor, even if his story is the prey-opposite. But especially for the dog sleeping next to you, use the book to remind yourself part of him is still wild, Hear his calming signals and accept him for who he is.

…

Anna Blake for Relaxed & Forward 

Want more? Join us in The Barn. Subscribe to our online training group with training videos, interactive sharing, audio blogs, live-chats with Anna, and the most supportive group of like-minded horsepeople anywhere.

Ongoing courses in Calming Signals, Affirmative Training, Fundamentals of Authentic Dressage, and Back in the Saddle: a Comeback Conversation, as well as virtual clinics, are taught at The Barn School, where I also host our infamous Happy Hour. Everyone’s welcome.

Visit annablake.com to find over a thousand archived blogs, purchase signed books, schedule a live consultation or lesson, subscribe for email delivery of this blog, or ask a question about the art and science of working with horses.

Affirmative training is the fine art of saying yes.

The post A Book Report and What We Know Now. appeared first on Anna Blake.

Boundaries: Whose Space Is It?

Horses gallop on pounding hooves that cut the ground and then melt to a stop, whiskers floating in the light. A masterpiece of contradictions, horses frighten easily but are forever curious. Wilder than a dog, much bigger than a cat, with a certain animal magnetism that drew you beyond childish reason. Can you remember your earliest thoughts about horses? It was like a fairy tale.

It isn’t until we meet a horse in real life that the gray areas in the fantasy appear. One of my first memories was sneaking into the pasture to scratch “my” horse, Snickers. I usually had some sugar with me, so I thought he loved me. That day I had no sugar, but he rushed up, planting one hoof on my little tennis shoe, pinning me while he did a body search. It hurt so much, I couldn’t scream and no matter how I pushed on his shoulder, he didn’t move. I did have time to think my first tearful complicated thoughts about horses. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

Soon after, I got the lecture about respect. My father taught me all the myriad of crimes I should punish horses for, so they would respect me. There was nothing I wanted to hear less. Besides, I worried that my toes might turn black and fall off. My youthful working definition of respect was fear. I was afraid of the adults I was supposed to respect, so respect must equal fear.

Does that mean we should scare the horse? By then I was falling off my terrified pony and told to not be a sissy about it. Show that pony who’s boss. My pony and I were both extremely clear about who the boss was, and it wasn’t either of us.

When did the reality of horses get more complicated for you? Sometimes we sneak them treats and hug his muzzle, sometimes we make ourselves big and chase him out of our space. Sometimes we scare him and sometimes we stalk him like a coyote and sometimes we bury our faces in his mane and cry. As our emotions run the gamut, the horse gets confused and may start developing bad habits. All along, he had emotions of his own. He seemed to greet us with pert ears and a slight twitchiness to his muzzle, which we still want to think is love, but is it the look he gives dogs as he tries to suss out if they are friendly? One day we might coo and the next day, feeling a bit threatened and bowing to the rule, we’d make ourselves big, waving arms overhead, insisting the horse get out of our space. We were told to set our feet and demand that the horse moves his hooves, this horse who we’d been noodling with hours before.

Show the horse who’s boss, they say. But all we wanted was to get along. We didn’t know then what we know now. We’re right in front of a horse but his vision is so much different than ours, he might not see us. We were all taught fear-based domination training, but that approach has been debunked for years. Do we think that making ourselves the scariest thing in the environment will engender trust simultaneously? Horses want safety and we give them erratic emotional outbursts.

Now that we know more now about how horses think and learn, we can be more effective in training. We may not want to think about the question of boundaries, but we know they are needed for our safety and our horse’s sanity. And there is a much easier method to train horses about boundaries. And by that I mean, ways to train humans since we’re the ones who create the issue with horses.

Try to see the horse’s side. Maybe that look on his face when you arrive is truly apprehension. “Who is she today?” Some mares will mutter under their breath, “What fresh hell is this?” because Dorothy Parker and mares have a lot in common.

Begin here: We’re standing in the horse’s pasture or in the barn. Where do we get off thinking that is our space? If the horse was standing in your living room, he’d think it was your space, but it’s us visiting his home, and although horses can be territorial in some cases, humans are the ones who love to fight wars about borders and boundaries. We are predators. I don’t think horses are even on the same topic as we are when we “make ourselves big.”

And yes, I know I’m talking environment but that is where our personal space exists. The horse has his personal space and we have ours, but both are located in the environment we share with all other animals, machines, and weird light patterns. We think it’s us and him in isolation and he should pay strict attention when his life depends on situational awareness.

But isn’t this whole conversation a bit arrogant? Who made us gods? Humans think we are the obvious superior animal through evolution, but we can’t see or smell or hear as the horse does. We might seem smart in front of a computer, but that all falls apart lost in the woods, or working with horses. Most of us would have no idea what’s happening without our horses telling us.

Let me pose this boundary question again. Is it my space to defend with dominance because of our privileged status as humans? More importantly, is my horse responsible for my safety?

Horses learn by example, expressing their feelings through calming signals and watching what other horses do. We have a choice to communicate as a predator or in the language of horses. As an affirmative trainer, I’ll teach respect by demonstrating it. I will step out of my horse’s space. He feels that as a release, they are always more anxious when we are closer, no matter how much we wish it wasn’t true. Listening to his calming signals, I’ll provide safety.

When we step away, out of their space, we become clearer in his vision, give him room to breathe and assess the moment. Then the horse also recognizes he feels better, relaxes, and feels safer. He is certainly intelligent enough to return our calming signal. Soon the two of you are closer than ever because the space between you is consistent. You’ve taught him to release anxiety by standing in autonomy and that boils down to a more confident horse, and a safer horse.

When you respect your horse, you acknowledge that he is a hardwired flight animal, and it is your responsibility to keep yourself safe by teaching yourself situational awareness. It is your responsibility to respect his space and discipline yourself to be consistent and trustworthy about your own boundaries, so he can do the same.

Partnership will never be about staked out space; it will always be about existing together. No one feels safer when dominated. The animals of the earth live together in a multi-species herd. Horses want peace and that’s the behavior we should mimic.

…

Anna Blake for Relaxed & Forward 

Want more? Join us in The Barn. Subscribe to our online training group with training videos, interactive sharing, audio blogs, live-chats with Anna, and the most supportive group of like-minded horsepeople anywhere.

Ongoing courses in Calming Signals, Affirmative Training, Fundamentals of Authentic Dressage, and Back in the Saddle: a Comeback Conversation, as well as virtual clinics, are taught at The Barn School, where I also host our infamous Happy Hour. Everyone’s welcome.

Visit annablake.com to find over a thousand archived blogs, purchase signed books, schedule a live consultation or lesson, subscribe for email delivery of this blog, or ask a question about the art and science of working with horses.

Affirmative training is the fine art of saying yes.

The post Boundaries: Whose Space Is It? appeared first on Anna Blake.

The Problem with Pre-Corrections on Horses.

She enters the barn, looking left to right. What does she think her horse might be afraid of? First, let’s adjust everything that is out of place, just tidy the barn aisle up. No pesky plastic is visible. Start with his saddle pad. She’d better let him smell it. Sure, she’d been riding him in it for years, but still. It doesn’t matter if she’s a trail rider or working in the arena, she’s scanning for things bound to scare her horse. Is she looking for trouble?

She walks him up to a horse trailer. Knowing horse trailers are about the scariest thing ever, she creeps her hand slowly up the lead rope toward the clip. As she walks, she pushes her arm forward, pulling his face just in case he begins to resist, without noticing that her breathing has changed. So, the horse begins to resist. He’d like to look back at the herd or grab a mouthful of grass as a calming signal, but now the lead rope is tight, and his poll is tense. See? She was right that he’d be nervous about horse trailers.

Maybe she’s riding and doesn’t want her horse to counter bend so she has her inside hand just lightly holding one side of his head, but he starts to pull away from the tension of a dead pull on the inside rein, like every horse ever born. She worries that he might take off because he’s resisting her, and now he pricked up his ears. Her thighs tighten, and she tucks her reins in her crotch. Maybe not her crotch exactly, but it doesn’t matter because it feels that bad to her horse, and now her body is curling toward a riding-fetal position. Frozen in the saddle, trying to hold him still, but her horse gets frantic, his bit tight in his mouth, metal on bone, and he can’t breathe. 

The good horse takes stock of the situation. He can’t see a problem, but she acts like there is one. If the herd was there, he’d check with them, but he’s only got her, and she seems afraid. Some horses feel a certain particular weight of dread and shut down for their troubled rider. Some flip into survival mode because it feels like there might be a mountain lion on their back.

At the exact same time, the woman loves her horse. So, it can’t be a  lack of trust. There is profound trust… that things won’t go well. She has mentally filed every horror story she’s heard to prepare herself.  She thinks if she can see it before the horse does, despite his acute senses and her limited ones, she could control the horse into avoiding all the deadly traps. It’s all about manipulation. She just won’t let him see or do or feel. She wants to be the answer to all her horse’s questions. She wants her horse to trust her blindly.

Are you reading this remembering doing something similar and feeling a bit embarrassed about it? Welcome! This awkward fantasy of control is a prerequisite to learning to help your horse. You have arrived. Well done.

We cause our horses so much more anxiety trying to avoid something that might cause anxiety, than the real-life anxiety they would have felt in the first place. Instead of confidence, we sow doubt and distrust. In the name of love, we belittle our horse’s intelligence and coping skills until the horses doubt themselves. Somehow in the process, we start introducing our horses by a list of his problems. Seeing our horses struggle, we belittle ourselves as well. Take a breath. This is not who either of you was meant to be.

The bad news is that your brain is taking some unsupervised travel. On the high side, most of us are only conflict-avoidant, which means we’ve escaped the seriously dangerous and violent mental disorders. Our crime is we are addicted to horses and like to pretend we’re in control when it’s impossible. It’s exhausting trying to outguess the universe and then change course before a horse has time to react, this flight animal who has a reaction time 7x quicker than us. But this is a good day because your leadership skills are down around your ankles, the only idea that comes to you is including your horse in the ride. Partnership dawns. Since your expectations are humble, the possibility of improvement is inevitable.

But if corrections didn’t work, what will? She pauses to settle. Let the silence soothe them both. Soon the horse shakes his neck out and blows, and somehow that releases her jaw. Had she noticed her teeth clenched? Did her horse just give her a cue? Good boy. It’s strange how horses get smarter when we are quiet. Her sit bones soften, her legs grow longer, and the horse walks on, rocking her spine and massaging her lungs into breathing.

Don’t stop him, don’t try to hold him to the right answer. Let him give you his answer. The negotiation with a horse begins within his movement. Why wasn’t that obvious before?

Rhythm is solace for you both. Breaking his rhythm with the reins or lead rope made things worse, but surely this is only a coincidence. It couldn’t be a message but as she’s pondering the possibility of listening -no really listening- to her horse, his ears prick up and he stretches his neck with curiosity. She’d like to try to see what he’s looking at, but she felt something change in his back. Did it lift a bit? The horse’s stride gets longer, more balanced. She wonders if she should steer him but before she can, he seems to read her mind and begins to arc in the right direction. 

Her hips rolling along with his stride, and she notices a crumpled tarp, partly filled with water making a slight glinting rustle in the breeze. Shouldn’t the horse have spooked at that? But the rhythm pulls her back as if to be reminded to keep her mind in the game. It’s just the two of them in the big world. He knows what he’s doing. It might even be his world more than hers.

Working with horses on the ground, she learned to leave an escape route. A horse will panic if he feels trapped. Letting her horse have an opinion looks like a different kind of escape route; a way for the horse to work out an answer and resolve his own anxiety. Let him carry you someplace beyond a flimsy need to control. Let the conversation have give and take; sometimes he leads and sometimes she does. Learn to negotiate because domination, even done with love, is crippling. 

Then she notices that her horse seems steadier. It’s the confidence that comes from not being corrected for things he hasn’t done. She will learn to trust that as surely as he listened to her anxiety, he’ll listen to her rhythm, moving forward with their eyes to the horizon, and sharing the Earth’s breath.

…

Anna Blake for Relaxed & Forward 

Want more? Join us in The Barn. Subscribe to our online training group with training videos, interactive sharing, audio blogs, live-chats with Anna, and the most supportive group of like-minded horsepeople anywhere.

Ongoing courses in Calming Signals, Affirmative Training, Fundamentals of Authentic Dressage, and Back in the Saddle: a Comeback Conversation, as well as virtual clinics, are taught at The Barn School, where I also host our infamous Happy Hour. Everyone’s welcome.

Visit annablake.com to find over a thousand archived blogs, purchase signed books, schedule a live consultation or lesson, subscribe for email delivery of this blog, or ask a question about the art and science of working with horses.

Affirmative training is the fine art of saying yes.

The post The Problem with Pre-Corrections on Horses. appeared first on Anna Blake.

Is She Still Going On About Helmets?

Riding Habit 1801

Yes. I’ve been writing in support of helmet use since the start. I expect I’ll go on haranguing about helmets as long as I continue to see photos of tiny kids standing on the backs of horses with no adults in the frame. And toddlers perched on fenceposts surrounded by horses who are a bit close. The one that stays with me the most was the mom who put a very small child on a horse while holding the phone, videoing. The horse immediately spooked and bounced, sending the child straight up, turning end over end in the air, until the mom caught the child upside down in the last second before crashing, while managing to stay on screen. I file these images alongside the heartfelt pleas for prayers for kids plugged into hospital machines with bandaged heads. The photos of little girls on a horse next to a list of her injuries and a link to the GoFundMe page. When did we start using fragile little lives as crash test dummies?

I’m embarrassed to say trainers are no better. I was with a client looking at a rehabbed off-the-track thoroughbred, and the trainer’s toddler waddled between the horse’s legs with her spitty fingers in her mouth, cooing.  As her trainer-mom pointed out how calm the horse was, I was horrified. The child was in the horse’s blind spot, and he looked uncomfortable. If the mom was that unconcerned with her own child, what care would she put into training a horse?

I’m not a mom, I’m told I should have no opinion. Growing up on a farm in the 50s, families had lots of kids knowing that they’d lose one or two. It was a strange way to admit that kids were expendable, there were always accidents and death in farming. Still, I was popped on a very tall horse when they needed me out of the way. I was lucky but I knew kids who weren’t. We absolutely know the long-term damage done by concussion. I would hope we value children more now, but I don’t see much proof.

I guess I’ll keep going on about helmets as long as my feelings get hurt, like when I see clients not using a helmet on their Facebook page when they did at a clinic. Yes, their choice, but still my disappointment. How did common sense become taken as a sign of weakness instead of strength? Like so many things, we shame those who care.

It’s not just clients, but also friends who are trainers, equine pros, and longtime horse people who I respect, and who absolutely know better. Should I bite my tongue as a professional courtesy, knowing that their leadership would save lives? Some wear helmets with an English saddle but a hat if the saddle has a horn, so I guess they think the danger is tack related. Have they not considered their power to be a positive role model? I know, I’m a dinosaur to hope for it.

Every year there is more research on concussions, the science is undeniable. And if you know horses at all, you know there is no such thing as bombproof. It’s common sense that we’d… Well, there I go, thinking it’s possible to reason with people, even the intelligent ones. We’re stubborn creatures who do what we like with horses and don’t think an injury will happen to us. Maybe so. In some ways, it doesn’t happen to us; it happens to our loved ones, and a circle of lives is changed. But still, each side holds its ground, stubborn as a post. Horses will be the first to say that humans are not the most advanced species when it comes to survival.

Most long-timers shake their heads and make an excuse. They say they’re too old and change is hard. They manage to upgrade to a cell phone but there is no arguing. I miss the time when doing the right thing was its own reward. When we looked out for ourselves and those coming up after us. Dinosaur again.

Cowboy hats are a tradition, they say. Finally, something I understand. Top hats are a tradition in dressage. Before cowboys existed, top hats were an essential part of the costume of a classical rider. Our dress code is worn with respect for our history and to honor our horses. Sound familiar? Top hats may have a stuffy elite look, but we believe they highlight the nobility of the horse. One can’t just go to the local discount store and buy one. In the last decades, top hats were accorded to a dressage rider of a certain level of skill; you must earn the right to wear one.

Just when I was getting depressed on the whole helmet conversation, the FEI did a crazy thing.

FEI stands for Fédération Equestre Internationale, the international governing body for equestrian sports, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, and founded in 1921. One hundred years old and they don’t have a reputation for being on the cutting edge. Sure, there were years when the most brutalized horses won, and it seemed that complaining about the FEI became an Olympic sport as well. Some of us stood up and made our voices heard beyond social media. Women own the vast majority of horses and we support the industry; we may not be the richest, but we are definitely the loudest. Some of us think the FEI moves like an old campaigner, but this has been a great year.

For 2021, the FEI ruled unanimously to ban the shaving or clipping of sensory hairs. It was a habit done by rote, but no more. Whiskers on muzzles win! Horses win!

FEI judges set the tone for judging worldwide and at the recent Olympics, they rewarded Dressage horses and riders who danced with lightness and harmony in balanced gaits.  Moving away from some of the past tension and force has taken time, but I believe the corner is firmly turned. Is it perfect? No, but just like training horses, we should cheer the FEI’s effort in hopes of setting a lasting affirmative trend. May we keep the good traditions and continue to do better.

Best of all, the FEI adopted a Protective Headgear Requirement for All Riders as of 2021 unanimously. Top hats, our unique expression, are no longer allowed. None were seen in Tokyo. For some, it’s a bitter pill, but the message is that we care more for the living. We care about our future and I’m proud of this momentous decision. Does it ruin the shadbelly and tall boot fashion? Who cares about fashion? We are better than our costumes. I see more change on the horizon, but today is a day to take stock and celebrate this step.

It took us a hundred years, but proud as can be, we’re right there with all well-loved children, doing our best for the horses by taking care of ourselves. Hooray for the future!

 

Riding Habit 2021

…

Anna Blake for Relaxed & Forward 

Want more? Join us in The Barn. Subscribe to our online training group with training videos, interactive sharing, audio blogs, live-chats with Anna, and the most supportive group of like-minded horsepeople anywhere.

Ongoing courses in Calming Signals, Affirmative Training, Fundamentals of Authentic Dressage, and Back in the Saddle: a Comeback Conversation, as well as virtual clinics, are taught at The Barn School, where I also host our infamous Happy Hour. Everyone’s welcome.

Visit annablake.com to find over a thousand archived blogs, purchase signed books, schedule a live consultation or lesson, subscribe for email delivery of this blog, or ask a question about the art and science of working with horses.

Affirmative training is the fine art of saying yes.

The post Is She Still Going On About Helmets? appeared first on Anna Blake.

The Dynamic Power of Consistency

We would like consistent behavior from our horses. It would be good if they took each cue with light and immediate response. But some days we climb on and don’t feel like doing much. We don’t really have a plan, not that we care. We lollygag around slouching in the saddle and banging our legs on their flanks. No place to go and no hurry to get there.

Naturally, we want the horse to focus on us with respect. To pay attention to us and nothing else. Except we stop and talk to someone for 20 minutes and then snap that rope to correct him for being bored, or we bang the bit in their mouth because we turned in the saddle for some lame reason, or we quietly recite the grocery list and all the other errands that need doing as we mount up.

We really don’t want our horses to spook. We say we don’t bounce like we used to. (As if that isn’t obvious.) But then we string together five expletives when we drop a bucket on our foot, we slam doors and we spook, reeling the reins in tight to our gut and our thighs snapped shut like a bear trap because the horse pricked up his ears.

Come to think of it, it would be good if horses were emotionally stable every day, especially the mares. We just want our horses to always be calm and sweet. But somedays we’re late and in a hurry or frustrated from work or traffic or the danged bridle being twisted again. There are days we’re flat out angry at something someone said or didn’t say or we’re just having one of those I-hate-everybody days. Other times we show up happy, just so happy, we bubble and giggle and tweak his nose. Somedays we are just so sad about the state of the world or being an age that is much older than we’ve ever been before, that we clutch them to our bosoms and declare that they are healing us, not seeing their eyes close to escape us. Most days, we push and pull and manhandle without being aware. Then we apologize, assuring them that we love them. Then in a while, we do it again, vowing to do a better job next time.

Do we recognize their calming signals as anxiety? How much have we gotten used to dogs air-licking or pacing or rolling belly-up, as if it were cute? Anxiety is easier to see in dogs but we’ve normalized it so much that their calls for help go unheard. With horses, the history of “showing them who’s boss” still binds us.

About now, some smarty-pants railbird says you get the ride you deserve, with a derogatory sneer, but that isn’t true. You’re getting a better ride than you deserve. Most of us get a decent try from confused horses and dogs every day and barely notice.

Can you tell it’s been a rough week? I’m teetering on a rant. Not because of overt cruelty, although there is no shortage of that. Blatant meanness has a blunt truth about it; it’s not a dressed-up special event. Just ugly and embarrassingly obvious and easy to be outraged by.

Probably the worst thing you can say about us is that we don’t recognize anxiety when we should. We minimize the importance of an animal’s stress in favor of us running the show. Some days we take our time and do it right, but we don’t trust that approach in other situations. It isn’t wicked or evil, just passively selfish. Some days we believe in choice and other days it’s inconvenient. We are never cruel, but we are consistently inconsistent.

Our love for horses never varies but our behavior does. Even that wouldn’t matter if we didn’t tell ourselves stories and have expectations. If we didn’t take our horse’s behavior more personally than we take our own. Best of all, if we didn’t want to do better for horses, hoping to repay the tolerance they’ve shown us on our worst days.

Your horse is not a therapist, his life isn’t a hobby. Your horse isn’t even yours, but you might be fortunate enough to share a parallel path for a while. You might be blessed with a few years of providing for this creature and having an amazing opportunity to see the world through the eyes of another species. Truthfully, horses have enough on their minds just existing in their environment, without the useless baggage of our emotions and disappointments. They have hardwired survival traits that might seem silly to us as we watch them standing in a paddock but being a flight animal is a life or death proposition, regardless of fences or our best intentions.

Who horses are is not open to debate. Their emotions are similar to ours, but rather than being flattered, shouldn’t we be more careful? We stumble along with unconscious habits and passive rudeness, all in the name of love, but some of us want to do better. Hooray for gratitude!

Your horse doesn’t care how you feel. He remembers how you act.

Do you create anxiety, or relieve it? Can you be trusted? The one goal of every horse is to feel safe, and consistency is fundamental to their daily wellbeing. Are you trying to create a response or support your horse’s confidence? Seen from the horse’s standpoint, is anything more valuable for a flight animal than confidence, that easing of fear? What would it mean for a horse (or dog) to be able to trust that we would be the same person every day? In a chaotic world, we would be the dependable thing, the place of understanding once we put their emotions above our own. Horses would be drawn to us but first, we must show some self-discipline. They don’t care about new saddle pads, but they do care about patience, personal space, and how we breathe. All the things that are free but require our focus.

Yes, we must change if we want a change in our horse. Our confidence in ourselves becomes more useful than a halter. Our affirmative responses are more valuable than any training technique. We can teach ourselves to laugh when we stub our toes, to say good boy when our horse’s anxiety makes us think he’s behaving badly. We value our horse’s curiosity more than his obedience because we know a horse with an engaged mind is biddable. A confident horse is a willing horse. From this standpoint, there are no training issues, no bad horses, no mistakes. Just a conversation about safety, which should be our mutual goal, regardless of bounce-ability.

Humans have the respect thing backward. We’re the ones who should stand out of their personal space. We’re the ones who should respect horses. True love puts the other’s welfare first.

…

Anna Blake for Relaxed & Forward 

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