Reverse Anthropormophism: Building A Better Relationship

Do you ever go to the barn and pretend to be a cowboy? You’d wear the shirt that matched your saddle pad and put on a Hell Hat. You’d take a deep seat and a faraway look, you’d make out over the land for the herd, whether you have one or not. Horses can like a stoic rider; not so much moony-eyed grooming and more ground-covering action.

Maybe you pretend or an Olympic rider? You’d wear britches, a stock tie if it’s a show day, and always a helmet. You’d sit tall, quelling the noise of the crowd, and move forward confidently to the task ahead, feeling lucky to ride. Horses read our intention, we know they sense fear, but also confidence. They appreciate our consistency and focus. If all it took was the right outfit and striking a pose, anyone could ride. 

But it isn’t that simple and it takes no skill to recognize a dominating rider on a stressed-out horse. It’s more difficult to see what the best riders do to create that sweet connection that makes it all seem like a dance of equals, whether moving cattle, clearing an oxer, or negotiating the horse trailer. 

Isn’t that the thing most visible in the ride, either painful domination or peaceful partnership? And so we think we listen but soon, the rider gives a cue but instead, the horse tells us something about himself, maybe his back is sore. It seems like disobedience, especially if the horse knows the task. Too often, there is only one answer acceptable to us.

When I ask riders what they want to work on, most often they say a better relationship with their horse. It sounds pleasant and positive, but in truth what we want is for the horse to take our cues quickly, do exactly what we want, and look calm in the process. It could be complicated movement under saddle or “simply” standing for the farrier, but we know it should look. Getting the horse on board is another thing. 

Do you ever pretend to be Jane Goodall? Do you remember how she started? In the beginning, she had no special training. She went into the African bush and followed a family group of chimpanzees at a time when scientists generally didn’t study in natural environments. She gave the chimps names instead of numbers, affirming their existence as individuals. Then for the next sixty years, she watched them without correction. She learned their language and came to understand their culture. And she was roundly dismissed by the scientific community early on, accused of anthropomorphizing. She was doing the exact opposite.

“Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.”  ~Wikipedia (an iffy source, but that second part!)

Jane Goodall didn’t see chimps as tiny humans. Instead shifted her perspective to see the chimp species as whole and perfect in their environment. She saw herself in their world rather than bringing them into hers. I’m calling it reverse anthropomorphism.

It sounds deceptively simple but as a human, we naturally hold the “Navel of the Universe” position. Some would say humans are arrogant but horses feel the same way about their perspective. Don’t all species have a survival instinct? We are all equals in this place until someone decides they are superior and all other species should bow down. That’s arrogance (unless it’s a cat and then it’s nothing out of the ordinary.)

It’s the second part of this definition that is important to understand. Putting horses into the human construct, seeing them as loving or lazy or belligerent or distracted is our natural instinct. From a young age, we do the same thing with inanimate objects like dolls and stuffed animals. Adults call dogs furkids and we refer to ourselves as our horse’s moms. Animals are at the center of our lives and it’s fine to make up stories, but for all the challenges that animals face living with us, aren’t we being a bit dismissive? Horses have a rich culture. We won’t understand them by seeing them as a combination of human traits. 

Even more challenging, we only have our language and experience to describe what we see in other species. It’s anthropomorphic by default, so we must stay doubly cognizant that behaviors that we recognize as similar to ours aren’t necessarily the same experience for another species.

In the important study of calming signals, there is a bittersweet initial disappointment in learning that what we saw as harmless play were messages of anxiety or pain. At the same time, we have to be careful to not take one instance out of context and then draw conclusions from that. Humans love to draw conclusions because it lets us feel superior to use human reason. And that’s the moment we lose connection with animals.

Now most researchers believe studies on horses must be done in the wild (thanks, Jane) to know what their genuine baseline normal behavior is. That a horse in captivity has had to acclimate to an unnatural life, and as such, will give unnatural results. 

Horse owners know that, and of course we all want five thousand acres. We do the best we can, feel guilty, and then do a little more. It’s an imperfect world but our passion drives us. We’re working to find balance. 

Here is an example of misunderstanding: We are aware of the danger around horses, and that we might be hurt in an accident. We expect horses to fear death as much as we do but they don’t think in the future. They don’t know the difference between spring shots and a syringe for euthanizing, other than our anxiety at the time. Horses have an overwhelming instinct to survive but that isn’t the same thing as fearing death. 

Conversely, horses believe they are prey and must remain constantly aware of the environment.  Everything they perceive is a question of life or death, their survival dependent on constantly scanning the environment for trouble. But we have the ability to focus on one small detail and block the rest out, so it seems horses are distracted when they’re literally hyper-focused.

I confess that I constantly pretend to be Jane Goodall, minimizing my human inclinations and trying to truly see the world through equine eyes. To love them enough to let it be less about me and more about their true nature. It’s brought their calming signals to the forefront of training. To see horses more from a standpoint of behavioral research, rather than labeling them by our worst, or best, human traits, helps me resolve training issues. It’s more than paying attention; it’s radical listening. I changed sides, I’m on their team now.

Try this: For the next hour, notice everything in your environment. Use each of your senses, take notes, “be horse” and feel honest prey anxiety. Can you hold that kind of focus? Are you exhausted from trying? Notice how many potential threats to survival you dismiss as mere background noise.

To improve a relationship with a horse, we must maturely and selflessly be on their side. We must be an oasis of yes. 

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Anna Blake, Relaxed & Forward, now scheduling 2022 clinics and barn visits. Information here.

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Affirmative training is the fine art of saying yes.

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