Cleaning Out the Toolbox
If it weren’t for manure frozen into the ice, we’d have no traction at all and it’s only the eleventh week of January. It’s been dark with below-freezing temperatures outside for so long that I can’t remember. I’m standing in front of the fridge, seriously considering cleaning it out. I can see a jar of pickles that are a pale watery gray color. Do they qualify as toxic condiment waste? It’s a testament to my extreme aversion to kitchen activities that rather than getting a chisel and paint stripper, the required tools, an idea for this week’s blog appeared. It was on the bottom shelf behind the peppers and beer.
When I started with horses, we used to talk about having a toolbox. It was where we kept training ideas that we picked up along the road. Things that made sense or were said by someone we respected. We would hi-grade ideas we heard or read about and keep the good ones. Later, out of context, some worked but mainly we collected and still more got piled on top. Each time we added potential training ideas we felt better educated. A toolbox was a veritable dictionary of advice that might be helpful as we worked with horses. Or at least we could debate on either side of the argument because we’d collected all the contradictions, too. We wanted to be well prepared and probably bought the tack to go along.
By this time, our toolbox is bigger than the barn and we couldn’t find what we were looking for if there was a Percheron tied to it. By this time, we’ve learned that a dozen methods only make it hard to pick one, and jumping back and forth between approaches seems to confuse our horses even more than it does us. It might be time to check some expiration dates, get rid of the things that might be poisonous, and make it easier to see what does work.
Where to begin? Some horse owners value time-honored tradition but we know so much more than we did a century ago.
Consider technology. We can text a photo of an injury to a vet and consult. We can see a digital x-ray on our vet’s computer a moment after it was taken. We each have a vast library resource on all equine topics on our computers. We have better testing and diagnosing skills. For all the horses struggling with pain who were sent to trainers to “straighten out” and if that didn’t cure the problem, were disposed of, we can do better now. We need fewer training tools because we have the technology for better health care.
We do a better job with nutrition through research. We know more about EGUS and have found a more natural feeding regime than the “two flakes, twice-a-day” tradition. We can test hay and get better answers for metabolic horses. We can feed in a more natural way, keeping their digestive system working in a way closer to how it was designed. Not only can we diagnose issues sooner, be we have better treatments available. When I was first treating horses for ulcers, we bought ranitidine over the counter at drugstores. We have know-more-do-better opportunities. Horses who are fed properly are more likely to be good riding partners, we can toss a few more training aids away if we let our horses eat when we tack up.
We have some great joint supplements and better pain medications, (not counting the illegal drugs used on competition horses and track horses,) that keep horses more comfortable. Saddles have better designs and are lighter with better fits. Improved hoof care includes better trims and fewer shoes, and if needed, boots support sore hooves. Girths and bridles are padded and ergonomic, all supporting freedom from simple pain and restrictions from poor-fitting tack. Horses are more willing to move forward and more comfortable under saddle, so a few more gadgets can be eliminated from the toolbox along with some training methods for “lazy” horses.
Some of the biggest changes have come in the area of brain research. We know more about how horses perceive their environment and respond. Horses are literally hardwired to respond to fear; it’s a survival instinct. Understanding how different horses are from us means we can relate better to them. The short version: Horses can’t disrespect us because that’s an executive function taking place in the frontal lobe and horses don’t have one (comparable to ours.) If we aren’t listening to old voices about making horses respect us, that toolbox gets a bunch lighter.
Animal behavior studies have proven that horses live cooperatively in herds and that long-held story about herd hierarchy just isn’t true. The myth of horses needing a strong leader is debunked repeatedly in several large studies. Foundations shift, and we get a bit defensive.
More research into the horse’s autonomic nervous system lets us better understand their sympathetic nervous system responses. Simplified, when a horse is afraid, he can’t learn but if the horse is in their parasympathetic system and we give them time to think, good things happen. In other words, fear-based training has been proven ineffective. This one is more personal, most of us were brought up training with ideas of domination, so this means changing old habits. It’s another know-more-do-better chance and more tools are excused from the box.
Personally, the awareness of Calming Signals, not just listening but understanding what horses are saying with their body language has been the biggest change. Once we learn to recognize pain, both physical and emotional, and we are able to work with work the horse affirmatively rather than merely trying to control their behavior, the elusive idea of true partnership truly begins. We do less and get so much more in return. The toolbox seems almost empty now, but for a breath of fresh air.
The question is do we want to memorize techniques or better understand horses? How can we translate the words from a research paper into a training activity that supports the horse? We have to evolve methods of training to incorporate this new knowledge.
It is our job to listen better as too many “training issues” are actually not about training at all. We must evolve training methods to meet our new knowledge to do better for horses. Human logic is not the same as horse logic, we have to see it from their side without anthropomorphizing or falling for a sales pitch for a training method we wish was true. Calming signals have provided that link; it’s the horse’s literal voice, not the voice we make up. It isn’t about English or Western riding, it’s about us wading through cultural romanticism and evolving to help the horse, regardless of tack.
Some riders (me) value tradition. That could be a trainer born a hundred years ago (Oliviera, Dorrance) or a trainer born almost 2500 years ago (Xenophon). If they were still here, what would they say? Would their training methods be the same or would their learning have continued and their methods evolved to improve the lives of horses?
We don’t like change any more than horses do, and it’s work to change habits. Should we push ourselves to continue to learn? Or is tradition sacred?
With true respect for those who have pushed the line of understanding forward, both horses and humans, and lived by the know-more-do-better rule, is it time to consider what traditions we have outgrown and which should stay?
…
Anna Blake, Relaxed & Forward
Want more? Become a “Barnie.” Subscribe to our online training group with affirmative demonstration videos, audio blogs, daily quotes, free participation in “group lessons”, and live chats with Anna. Become part of the most supportive group of like-minded horsepeople anywhere.
Anna teaches ongoing courses like Calming Signals, Affirmative Training, and more at The Barn School, as well as virtual clinics and our infamous Happy Hour. Everyone’s welcome.
Visit annablake.com to find archived blogs, purchase signed books, schedule a live consultation, 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 Cleaning Out the Toolbox appeared first on Anna Blake.
