Anna Blake's Blog, page 34

Photo & Poem: Spine

 

He repeats it all again, a little slower

and louder each time, enunciating

as if she cannot hear. Certain she

must be confused. If he explained

to her in simpler terms, she would

surely acquiesce, change her answer

to be compliant to his reason; her

lips would soften, docile with relief.

Instead, she presents a calm mask,

a deliberate spine. Minutes creep on

as she refuses to repeat herself. Let

him have the last word if he needs it.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Want more? Join us at The Barn, our online training group with video sharing, audio blogs, live chats with Anna, and so much more. Or go to annablake.com to subscribe for email delivery of this blog, see the Clinic Schedule, or ask a question.

Anna’s latest book, Going Steady: More Relationship Advice from Your Horse, is now available everywhere.

The post Photo & Poem: Spine appeared first on Anna Blake.

Calming Signals and the Myth of Desensitizing

 

This chestnut mare is all that. Alert. Intelligent. Willing. And in possession of the quickest response time of any domestic animal; seven times quicker than us. Each of her senses is better than ours by a good bit, but then we hardly use the senses we do have. We’re so unaware of our surroundings, we wouldn’t know a thing if horses didn’t warn us. Instead, we overthink training techniques. It’s always easier to have a conversation with ourselves about human logic than to try to understand the beautiful complexity and intuitive wisdom of a chestnut mare.

At a recent professional’s day on Calming Signals, a woman who I later found out was not a “horseperson”, used the word desensitize. I jumped all over it. Then I apologized. Turns out she was using the word in another context entirely. I’d still like it to be relentlessly flogged out of the horse training dictionary. And ripped brutally from our training toolboxes.

It isn’t that I haven’t heard the desensitizing sales pitch. Be clear that logic to humans doesn’t always hold for horses. Do we think horses can’t tell the difference between human behavior and horse behavior? If a training technique throws a horse into their sympathetic (flight, fight, or freeze) system, they can’t learn. We can dominate them into submission but is that the same thing as understanding? Eventually, they will return to their parasympathetic system, and horses are certainly capable of remembering who scared them in the first place.

I understand the theory that some training aids are an extension of the hand, an idea no horse would agree with. Watch their breathing go shallow, see their eyes go dark. The whole point is to threaten horses but they can understand us at a distance. We don’t need a longer arm with an extra digit like a plastic bag or a flag, but the goal is flooding. If you aren’t familiar, flooding is how you feel when you are grabbed from behind in a dark stairwell, and the perpetrator puts a hand over your mouth. It’s a panic response. Be most clear that the term desensitizing is a sales pitch for training that goes against building the trust most of us want with our horses.

It isn’t enough to know that horses are flight animals, we must understand what it means. Horses are fatalists. They think everything is life or death; that’s what it means to be a prey animal. When they are afraid, they must run. If they can’t get away, they fight, rearing or kicking or biting. And some horses freeze, almost like other species might play dead to evade predators. Too often we mistake a quiet horse for a shutdown horse. We cannot desensitize an animal that depends on its senses to survive.

It isn’t enough to know that horses are stoic, we must understand what it means. Horses hide their pain and anxiety. It is dangerous to show weakness to predators and to their own herd. I won’t say that horses lie but they are designed to act stronger than they are. Humans need to remember that and adjust accordingly. The tiniest calming signal has huge meaning from a stoic horse. It’s how they suffer the most at our hands; we miss their calming signals for pain and fear. Rather than seeing what makes us feel good, we need to listen with the mind of a prey animal. Instead of putting them in our shoes, we need to put ourselves on hooves. Maybe horses aren’t domesticated at all, but some have learned to hide their fear better than others.

Horses exist on a spectrum between flight and freeze and we judge them reactive or shutdown. Reactive or damaged horses can almost seem hardwired to spook, almost stuck in the sympathetic system, because of how they responded to our training. Shutdown horses are as dangerous, they will tolerate anxiety and fear until they can’t, again, in response to our training.

How can we change that repetitive habit in a reactive horse’s amygdala to leap to the flight response? How can we awaken a shutdown horse? Or if you are an equine brain geek, how can we form new neuropathways in the horse’s brain, causing new dendrites to grow, literally encouraging mental health?

We could train in a way that the scary thing becomes a curiosity. Then the world becomes a playground. Evoke a different brain response by training with light energy, lots of breathing, and then get creative. Ask questions and let your horse figure them out. When he does it by himself it builds confidence, curiosity turns into courage, and new neuropathways. Creating curiosity takes more energy from us, but that’s also how we prove ourselves worthy of a horse’s trust.

Be affirmative, say YES: The horse is trying. He’s getting closer. He could use some energy. He needs a boost to his confidence, a reminder of who he is. Say YES to hold energy high. YES as the reward for staying in the process, until successfully completing it. Most of all, say YES because it strikes down fear.

Start here:

Stop scaring them. A horse trained with fear will never be reliable. Be aware of the tone of your energy. You know they can read anger and fear. Let them read your soft eye as good intention instead.
Commit to listening to calming signals. Not interrupting them, but encouraging them by going slow and letting the air rest. When they give a calming signal, we acknowledge it.
Practice conscious haltering. It’s our greeting and their choice; if they walk away, consider that. If they look away, go slower. Breathe. Horses certainly understand please and thank you.
Lead from behind. Let your horse go first and investigate. If he grazes, recognize it as a calming signal and let it be okay. Cheer his curiosity and autonomy.
Under saddle, encourage relaxed and forward gaits. Let him carry his own head, let him stride out, let him breathe. A relaxed horse is a safer horse, and soon his confidence is contagious.

Mostly, I’m worried. What if we are the ones becoming desensitized? Can we intimidate horses and still maintain that childhood love that called us to them long ago? Will the dark energy of flooding and harsh discipline overtake us? Are we so intimidated by horses that we must make them slow and dull to match us?

We must never become immune to the beauty, spirit, and freedom of horses. Instead, let your horse sensitize you. Become aware of the small details of your environment; use your peripheral vision and see things more like your horse. Stand at his flank, be comforted by the warmth of the hair on his withers. Smell the air. Go silent and listen. Become alive fresh in the moment, let their language become yours.

When we stand in a horse’s light, let it be because we have been invited.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Want more? Join us at The Barn, our online training group with video sharing, audio blogs, live chats with Anna, and so much more. Or go to annablake.com to subscribe for email delivery of this blog, see the Clinic Schedule, or ask a question about the art and science of working with horses.

Working with riders of any discipline and horses of any breed, Anna believes affirmative dressage training principals build a relaxed & forward foundation that crosses over all riding disciplines in the same way that the understanding Calming Signals benefits all equine communication.

The post Calming Signals and the Myth of Desensitizing appeared first on Anna Blake.

Photo & Poem: Spotted Horse

 

Both horsewomen would remember

this moment. A blustering wind, not

cold, but bitter. Misty clouds settled

the dust. A gelding stood between

them, aged beyond the math of his

years. Not quite thin but not strong

either. Looming with stilted tension as

if uncomfortable in ill-fitting clothes.

Was it his arthritis? The chronic hoof

problem? Not that he would ever

complain. His sunken eyes watering;

thick eyelids, half-closed. Maybe he was

mentally retreating. Not that he would

ever say no. The gelding stood tall but

the horsewomen knew he wasn’t quite

right. Eyes watering, probably the wind.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Want more? Join us at The Barn, our online training group with video sharing, audio blogs, live chats with Anna, and so much more. Or go to annablake.com to subscribe for email delivery of this blog, see the Clinic Schedule, or ask a question.

Anna’s latest book, Going Steady: More Relationship Advice from Your Horse, is now available everywhere.

The post Photo & Poem: Spotted Horse appeared first on Anna Blake.

Calming Signals: What is a “Hard No?”

 

I worry that humans are losing the ability to carry on a polite conversation. I’m talking about civility of the sort we learned in sophomore French class. Sure, it’s a bit canned in the beginning but it had give and take. “How are you?” “I am fine.” Want to know the part of this we are missing with horses? The give and take.

Say you go to the pasture with a halter and walk straight up to a horse. Likely, the horse will walk away. If you breathe for a moment, he’ll probably walk a circle and come back. Did you wait? Most of us don’t have a suspension of disbelief. We think they are gone for good.

Circling or walking in an arc is a calming signal, the way the horse will tell us that they are no threat. We can be less aggressive, and a straight line is coming in a little hot. Would you have gotten a different response if you had walked an arc to greet the horse? Strike one.

Let’s say he comes back and stands with his side to you. Not a coincidence, he can see you now. Then he may have stretched his nose out in curiosity, your smell is your introduction. He isn’t asking you for anything. Did you immediately plant a hand on his face? Would you have done that to Fifi in French class? Strike two and I’m sorry.

Now you move to halter him and he looks away, one of the most common calming signals. Or maybe it didn’t even get this far; you just stood at the gate holding a halter and no one came? Maybe the horse trotted away or tried to hide behind another horse. Is it time to go to the house and knit?

Has the horse given you a hard no? As you ponder the question, take a moment to feel what your body is doing. Change nothing, just notice.

Did you get a no because your horse has a sense of entitlement? It’s a way that we spoil horses, not by over-discipline and constant dominant correction, but by being confusing and inconsistent. In an effort to not bully them, we have allowed them to bully us. Have you played the part of his personal slave without asking him to do his part? Have you allowed boundaries that are inconsistent? You want to hug him and he closes his eyes, a calming signal that you are too close. He’s shutting down, pulling inward but you wish it was him feeling a different human emotion. Soon, he has an anxious muzzle or begins to shove you with his face. You think it’s rude of him, while he’s about had it with you crowding his space. Consider your body again.

Affirmative training doesn’t mean your horse gets to behave like a cranky teenager. It doesn’t mean there are no rules and most of all, it doesn’t mean he lives a lazy, indolent life. Trying to not be dominating monsters, have we gone too far the other way? Have we become servants instead of good partners? Because my idea of partnership isn’t just cleaning up after horses. It’s having an evolved relationship with them, as I clean up after them.

Now is a good time to define what a hard no looks like. I’m at a loss; I’ve never gotten one. I’ve worked with some complicated, angry horses. Usually, that means they are in pain, but a few have been so mishandled that they fall into a behavior almost like learned helplessness. Horses who are so dull from the nagging and interrupting we do, that they give up. It makes us want a whip to get a response, thinking we need a larger cue. They feel they can’t get a word in edgewise, in a non-verbal equine way. Over-reacting or shutting down, those are extremes on the same continuum. We should be trying to find the middle path.

If the horse is in his sympathetic system, he can’t learn. Step one is to let him restore himself. Breathe and wait.

We are slow to learn that horses don’t interrupt. They wait for a lull in the conversation to answer. It’s why we must listen because they won’t speak over us until it’s too late. We can resolve things before they ever get to a hard no if we pay attention.

Get your pass-fail judgment and ego out of it. “Who cares” is your new mantra.  Stop accelerating cues and pushing too hard, your horse heard you the first time. When it all slows down, then there is never a hard no, just equine conversation. Re-adjust the question or cut it into smaller parts. Then, accept a facsimile. Say you ask for his eye, by breathing and looking softly at his eye. Can you tell he’s thinking about it? Good, release. Next try, did he blink or give an ear? Yay. Successive approximation is the right answer.

We need to focus on what we do see, not what we don’t. Focus on try and stop judging.

Horses give us calming signals but only when we build a bridge of silence, can they give their best answer. They don’t talk over us. They pause their answer when we interupt them by upping the cue, accelerating to ask-tell-make. In the silence of not escalating, there is choice.

In affirmative training, we want to evolve the non-verbal conversation, we start slowly to give the horse clarity. But no need to stop there. Horses are smart and what is good training but positive anticipation? When they have clarity, cues get smaller and the response gets quicker. Now riding is like jazz, we improvise. Horses fill in the space, and we give each other solos. We keep the creativity going. Rhythmic and energetic. Now you’re riding a performance horse who loves his job. He has the confidence to reach. Because affirmative training is the way to win competitions, not just a hobby in the pasture. It is equine/human enlightened conversation. Notice your body now?

I keep mentioning your body because I notice we are still scrutinizing the horse and not holding up our end of the conversation.

Are you standing there like a catatonic lump of human meat with squinty eyes thinking about it? Bless your heart, but that weird lurking seems coyote-like to a horse. You make me a little nervous, too.

Consider your body before your horse’s. Take an introspective, somewhat unflattering look at who your horse sees. Are you any fun to be with or are you predictably sullen and moody? Are you the one acting like a cranky teenager? It might be you that needs to work on their calming signals.

Do horses really want to be left alone or do we need to pick up our energy? Do you cue dullness when you mean calm? And what fun is it to be calm all the time anyway?

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Want more? Join us at The Barn, our online training group with video sharing, audio blogs, live chats with Anna, and so much more. Or go to annablake.com to subscribe for email delivery of this blog, see the Clinic Schedule, or ask a question.

Anna’s latest book, Going Steady: More Relationship Advice from Your Horse, is now available everywhere.

Working with riders of any discipline and horses of any breed, Anna believes dressage training principals build a relaxed & forward foundation that crosses over all riding disciplines in the same way that the understanding Calming Signals benefits all equine communication.

The post Calming Signals: What is a “Hard No?” appeared first on Anna Blake.

Photo & Poem: The Call

 

To feel the red soil, fine dust to pea gravel, with

each toe through the sole of my shoe. To feel held

by the earth, rooted and dear. Soften one knee

with deliberate balance, shift weight gradually to

the other foot and then sway back, to feel the hip

roll follow the first to a figure of eight, as subtle

and sweet as the crisp breeze that seeps past my

lips, cools the throat and settles belly deep, asking

my ribs to make room. When the air gains body

temperature it rises back up, melting shoulder blades

down, releasing my neck tall before passing my

tongue, a sauntering gush of heat. A circle complete,

like the ocean’s tide under the moon, breath rises

and crashes again, spent to the air. He wills it, one

fetlock softens to weight the other, and a hoof lifts,

red dust hangs timeless, as he’s drawn to the warmth.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Want more? Join us at The Barn, our online training group with video sharing, audio blogs, live chats with Anna, and so much more. Or go to annablake.com to subscribe for email delivery of this blog, see the Clinic Schedule, or ask a question.

Anna’s latest book, Going Steady: More Relationship Advice from Your Horse, is now available everywhere.

The post Photo & Poem: The Call appeared first on Anna Blake.

Calming Signals: A Vow of Silence

By now you should snort out loud when someone says their horse is ignoring them. Really, is there a more ridiculous thing to imagine? How could it be possible for a prey animal to ignore anything? Their survival depends on being situationally aware in every moment. You can make fun of a horse for staring at a plastic bag he’s seen before, but it’s life and death for him. Nothing less.

If a plastic bag or a reflective mudpuddle can undo him, anything thing a human does, that predator who demands the horse accept everything about them, must be watched. Humans are famous for being complacent and unaware of their surroundings. That’s a luxury a horse may never claim.

So we think horses are flighty or spooky. We see it as a shortcoming for its inconvenience. And horses who are busy being nervous make us nervous. It can turn into a vicious cycle. Pretty soon it doesn’t matter who started the jitters. They are contagious.

Maybe we start to punish the jitters. Drill the horse to stand still. Plant his feet, the only method of survival a horse has. It can look like good training to shut a horse down. It might even work, at least for a while. Now he has natural situational awareness, with fear of his human strapped on top. He might look like a push-button horse and you might think being a bully makes you look cool in front of your timid friends.

Lucky you. You’re the leader now, and your horse has ulcers. Of course, he has ulcers but he will know better than to let you know. Along with a few other ailments that will be his secret because you are a predator who has taken his flight response. Yay. You’ve over-cued your horse into learned helplessness.

Oh, those nasty bullies. Let’s all blame the bullies for any ailment the horse has. Don’t you hate those bullies that shut their horses down?

Warning: Loudmouth Party Pooper ahead.

But we are the good guys. We don’t bully, we just nag. Above all we are kind and compassionate. (And just like everyone who cares about horses, we are on a learning curve.)

Here is what we know for sure. Any cue given repeatedly dulls down the horse. If we kick every stride, the horse gets dull to the aid. Isn’t that a cool phrase, “dull to the aid.” It means that we have blathered on and on, kicking the horse every stride until he has practically lost the will to live. We don’t want to be cruel, so we nag them into a near-paralyzed state. Or maybe the horse just ignores it because it’s become meaningless. There is never a release.

A release tells the horse he’s done the right thing. A release is stopping the aid. Praise is good, breathing is wonderful, but release matters.  And release involves stepping back and being quiet.

Maybe the rider has busy hands. It’s the most natural thing, we are primates after all. We’ve evolved past swinging from trees but we “talk” with our hands, usually without noticing. All that micromanaging, fussing, fearing that a horse can’t take a step without a hand cue, is a bit of an insult, isn’t it? Not to mention, if the cue is in front of the girth, it’s using the brakes.

So now, this proud flight animal has hands in his mouth and human feet on his flank so active they might as well be walking themselves. And a kind, good-intentioned rider chattering away, talking non-stop or singing. Most of us are introverts. We spend time with horses because we don’t lie the rattle and stress of being around humans. I notice.

Despite how much we love our horse, he’s showing signs of stress. He is giving calming signals to let us know he is no threat to us. We keep blathering on, missing the small messages in the general noise of our own making. Soon there is more spooking as his messages go unheeded, or maybe he just spooked once a few weeks ago but it scared us and now we’re hyper-vigilant. We scrutinize the horse for any sign of anxiety, but we have so much anxiety in our scrutiny, that the horse feels we are afraid of something and he should be hyper-vigilant about whatever it is we are afraid of. In other words, now you about both spooky about each other. Like a ball rolling down a hill, humans will escalate. Our nervous system does it without our consent. And the horse is still a flight animal.

The kind rider might have a frustrated bully fantasy. They would never do anything harsh but perhaps look for a new method of training. Or a new training aid that will mean something to a horse. Maybe the girth gets tighter, not that you notice. Your hands get defensive because we’re still primates. Now you are singing non-stop in the saddle, to calm yourself. As if a high-pitched sqeak of a child’s song would calm anyone. You’ll try anything but breathing.

When the stress gets too much for a good horse, or a rider who really is trying her very best, it can feel hopeless. You do not want to pick a fight, but you might not notice how much your behaviors have been a fight with your horse already.

You make an executive decision: this must mean that the horse doesn’t want to be ridden. You think you’re claiming the high moral ground. That you are saving your horse. In truth, you want the stress to stop as much as he does.

What if it’s time to evolve to a different kind of rider, one that doesn’t love horses so much that she can’t see their side. A rider who uses calming signals to respond to her horse instead of more training techniques.

Want to take a challenge? Warning, it sounds easy.

Take a vow of silence. For the same reason others do. Silence gives us the freedom to hear more. Go to your horse and hold your own tongue. No words. Let your breath be eloquent. In the silence, feel your own body. Notice what you are doing by rote. Choose silence again.

Do you feel strangely alone with your horse? Good. Breath and talk about it later. Let nothing distract you from your horse. What do you hear, see, notice? Walk on and feel your horse breathe between your soft, bird-wing calves. Let him move your legs.

Your horse may not believe you at first. That’s fine, you have time to prove to him you are capable of listening. Let the silence rise up and lift both of you to a different footing. Since horses don’t speak as we do, it puts us on level ground with them. Where we can aspire to be his equal.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Want more? Join us at The Barn, our online training group with video sharing, audio blogs, live chats with Anna, and so much more. Or go to annablake.com to subscribe for email delivery of this blog, see the Clinic Schedule, or ask a question.

Anna’s latest book, Going Steady: More Relationship Advice from Your Horse, is now available everywhere.

Working with riders of any discipline and horses of any breed, Anna believes dressage training principals build a relaxed & forward foundation that crosses over all riding disciplines in the same way that the understanding Calming Signals benefits all equine communication.

The post Calming Signals: A Vow of Silence appeared first on Anna Blake.

Photo & Poem: Owning Herself

 

Save your pity. It means nothing. She’s

a big mare, broad chest and straight legs,

her coat the color of soil that could grow

rose gold, imperial topaz, and chocolate.

She talks in all directions at once, not that

she cares, with her ears shouting orders and

her body dwarfed by her ageless spirit that

has not found its own limit. If she needed

you, she wouldn’t say. Get your lead-footed

humanity out of the way, she tosses out a bold

challenge with the flash of her tail. Discover

a new world with me. If you can keep up.

 

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Want more? Join us at The Barn, our online training group with video sharing, audio blogs, live chats with Anna, and so much more. Or go to annablake.com to subscribe for email delivery of this blog, see the Clinic Schedule, or ask a question.

Anna’s latest book, Going Steady: More Relationship Advice from Your Horse, is now available everywhere.

The post Photo & Poem: Owning Herself appeared first on Anna Blake.

Calming Signals and Implicit Bias.

The Barnies are really hitting their stride.

I started an online subscription group earlier this year called The Barn. Soon after someone referred to the members as Barnies and it stuck. The name makes me smile, and in the beginning, there was a free-for-all of good intention. My training approach is very different, the focus on calming signals means there may be unflattering misunderstandings, and I made a bunch of demo videos, most of them with Preacher Man signing back up, where I try to describe things from the horse’s point of view. Because they see things differently.

There were days that Barnies weren’t sure how to stand next to a horse. Most of us are not brand new to horses and this is a fundamental change from how most of us were taught. I said the opposite of things we have always believed to be true. Do humans have an implicit bias about horses?

*”Implicit bias is any unconsciously held set of associations about a social group. Implicit biases can result in the attribution of particular qualities to all individuals from that group, also known as stereotyping. Implicit biases are the product of learned associations and social conditioning.”

So… “Arabians are hot,” “ponies are stubborn,” and “chestnut mare are nuts.” Or “You have to show horses who’s boss,” “It’ll ruin him if you let him graze,” and my personal favorite: “Horses release to pressure.” We’ve heard it for so long that it must be right.

Perhaps the craziest thing about implicit bias is that these stereotypical attitudes are frequently not the result of direct personal experience. Much of it is hearsay, passed on by rote, with no foundation of proof. The information should be ranked equally with gossip passed a junior high school girl’s bathroom, but somehow, if an old-timer says it, or a cowboy, gossip becomes law. For many of us, it doesn’t feel right but we try to go along.

Do horses have a version of implicit bias about humans? Maybe. I’ve known rescue horses afraid of certain kind of hats, horses that pull inside so deep to protect themselves from us that they virtually play dead, and a certain gray mare who drew blood when men came near but carried children as if they were golden. They had a bias about humans that they are convinced is true.

Where does all this talk leave the Barnies? Or anyone else who is willing to have an open mind about age-old habits? On a flight of steps without a handrail. On the cutting edge, sometimes reluctantly, of a different approach where nuance might obscure right and wrong. It involves rethinking old habits, listening with new ears, and taking a leap of faith. It means giving horses, who have lost trust in humans, a chance to reconsider us. It is a mutual rehab.

Start by high grading the knowledge you have. Keep the information that is positive and supportive to the horse and throw out the bits that are based in fear and defensive aggression. It’s important to have a strong foundation of knowledge to help your horse, but then put it in your pocket where it’s handy but doesn’t block your view. Take a breath, put on a smile, and look at the horse in front of you. Be brand new, without expectation. Ask a question but then, let the conversation unfold without cajoling or manipulating his response. Let him find the confidence to figure it out on his own, while you stand around and breathe.

If we want a reliable partnership with a horse, he cannot be trained with fear. We must give the horse autonomy, the confidence to choose while we stay light, actively in the conversation even if we don’t get the answer we want. We refuse to bully or bribe or tease him into compliance. We believe horses will find confidence from autonomy. We find our balance by breathing and we stand in possibility. It starts with an act of faith. We claim independence from our own implicit bias.

Learn to hope you don’t have all the answers. Hope that the horse surprises you. Rather than thinking you can control him, give him the opportunity to exceed your expectations.

It’s like a weird game of chicken. The horse expects you’ll be true to his bias and take the bait (pull reins, correct him, punish him), so he gives you calming signals again, to confirm he is no threat, by looking away or shutting down out of habit. He doesn’t trust you mean it.

We have to resist old habits and out-wait his anxiety; we trust the horse’s intelligence and give him time to sort his mind. It isn’t enough to not take the horse’s bait, confirming his worst opinion of us. We have to prove we are a different kind of human. Even then it isn’t enough to do it once, we have to prove our consistency, sometimes without visual proof it’s working, until that individual-and-unique horse believes we will not betray him and behave like a predator. It takes focus and a suspension of disbelief on both sides. Each side has to stop thinking the worst and each is better for the experience.

Back to the Barnies. It didn’t happen all at once. Some of us got frustrated, some of us tried too hard. Some thought it would never happen for them. We learned to give horses space, physically and especially, mentally. We reframed how we communicated, and we stilled our busy minds. We had to understand pressure means anxiety, even if we think we’re helping. Then change started to take hold and the stories started coming.

That sweet gelding, who had instances of bolting away, had leaned on his Barnie, who thought she was comforting him, but discovered the more she got back from his head, the more confidence he found. Giving him distance improved his balance and each of them felt safer. Leading from behind gave him the confidence to stand on his own.

Another Barnie asked for the rope of a young filly when the seller said the horse wasn’t afraid, just stubborn, and then under the gaze of a doubtful seller, she proceeded to “breathe” her new filly into a trailer, by having faith in thin air.

And then Banjo, a young mule being body clipped at liberty by his Barnie, walked off. Clippers running, his Barnie responding by breathing and giving him a chance. The mule walked a circle, one of the most common calming signals, and returned to finish the clip, improbable to imagine.

We all say horses can tell when we’re sad, that they read our minds. And yet, when it comes to training, we sell their intelligence short and try to dumb them down. Being an affirmative trainer is trusting the horse’s intelligence and given a choice, his desire to volunteer.

…

Anna Blake at Infinity Farm

Want more? Join us at The Barn, our online training group with video sharing, audio blogs, live chats with Anna, and so much more. Or go to annablake.com to subscribe for email delivery of this blog, see the Clinic Schedule, or ask a question.

Anna’s latest book, Going Steady: More Relationship Advice from Your Horse, is now available everywhere.

Working with riders of any discipline and horses of any breed, Anna believes dressage training principals build a relaxed & forward foundation that crosses over all riding disciplines in the same way that the understanding Calming Signals benefits all equine communication.

*Jun 21, 2019, ThoughtCo https://www.thoughtco.com › understanding-implicit-bias-4165634.

The post Calming Signals and Implicit Bias. appeared first on Anna Blake.

49. Autumn And Indoor Sports

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48. A Recipe, The Dressage – Massage Warm – Up

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