"All That Can go Wrong with the Best of Intentions"
Published by Cari Zancanelli under Clinton Anderson, elephant training, empowered horses, horse training, One Lucky Elephant on 9:30 PM
Last night I watched a movie on OWN, a documentary called "One Lucky Elephant". It's about a circus owner's search to find a place for his performing elephant to retire. He bought the elephant as a baby and had someone else "break" her, and then built a circus around her. It was even named after her. You get the sense that he really loves this elephant and she loves him back. There is another handler named Raul, who feeds and trains Flora also. They show him working with her and it was appallingly obvious to me that he talked down to her. His commands were harsh and demanding. The tricks he asked her to do looked painful to watch.
As I watched the movie, many things became painfully obvious. How they interacted with the elephant is very similar to things we do to horses. Horse training (and elephant training as well) are about putting out the fire, not encouraging it. It's about dominance and making the horse submissive. Yes, the techniques for that have gotten much gentler over the years, which is generally good, but they are still about dominating the animal, not allowing the animal to be itself. They have to be what you want them to be. I will try not to give everything away, but there is a part at the end that describes how baby elephants are trained. The techniques are all old cowboy training methods (tying up a leg, making them lie down, etc.) and it was hard to watch! It upset me. Then the elephant's owner admitted that he didn't like the way the trainer was breaking his "baby", but "that's how it's done, and they have to learn to behave a certain way if they are going to be around people".
I can't fault this man for thinking that way because I have said the same thing! The problem is, if you aren't told that there's another way, then you can only do what you are told is "the" way. Some will argue that you shouldn't accept these things, that you should stand up, etc. etc. It's not so cut and dried, however. The horse industry is INUNDATED with horse training videos, each one saying that their "method" is better, more gentle, different than the last. In truth, 98% of them use traditional training theories as their "method". Some clinicians give credit to the old-timers that taught them, others pretend like they came up with it all on their own. None of it is really new, and none of it is based on positive reward except clicker training, and only empowering the horse gives the them a voice and a choice.
If anyone spends the time to really study each "method" (I don't think most people do, they find a training "guru" and only pay homage to that person) it can take years to sort out what's really going on. Once I learned about positive vs negative reinforcement it was easy to see that all traditional training methods use negative reinforcement. That is, "if you don't do this I am going to increase the pressure on you somehow until you do it". When the horse acts correctly, the punishment stops. The Punishment can be poking them with a finger, using your stick to tap-tap-tap harder and harder, anything irritating or annoying, etc. They use reward sparingly (the "reward", we are told, is that we stop annoying the horse or whacking it). Sounds like the way my little brother tried to get what he wanted: "I won't stop punching you until you give me your candy!"
The thing is, most people really don't want to hurt an animal. I believe that Flora's owner, David, truly loved her and she loved him too. But the way she was trained and worked was so demeaning that it made her angry, I think. After Flora's retirement a woman came with Raul to visit her. This woman was completely enamored of her, thought she was so beautiful and really wanted to connect with her but sensed that Flora didn't like her. Even so, they rode her and then the woman got off onto a tree branch, and Flora wrapped her trunk around the woman and beat her against the tree. The woman fell or was thrown to the ground. She had very serious multiple injuries and was hospitalized. The interesting part, the part that perhaps we all understand, is what the lady said afterwards, "I didn't feel any pain. I didn't feel anything but heartbreak." Wow. The owner of the elephant sanctuary, Carol Buckley, said that Flora was good example of "All that can go wrong with the best of intentions". It reminds me of that cartoon of the Abominable Snowman, how he would pick up Daffy Duck or whoever and squeeze the life out of him while saying "I promise to love you and keep you and hold you tight forever and ever!" Meanwhile, Daffy Duck was dying in his hands. We love our animals to death, sometimes smothering them and not really understanding them.
Even though we love our animals and try to act with the best of intentions, things that we don't think twice about can also be harmful. I think that many horse trainers, Clinton Anderson included, don't think that they are doing any harm. They are taught that you must be brutal or the animal will get the upper hand! They are dangerous and they can really hurt you and this is what justifies how horses (and other animals) are trained. While it is true that animals can be dangerous, I tend to think that the way we try to completely control them makes them fight back more than they would otherwise. Other things, like separating babies from mamas before they are really ready, keeping a social animals apart from those of thier kind and other practices are more subtly harmful. Many people never question what they are taught, or like me, they question it internally and search for another way on their own, while trying to fit in with everyone else. It took me many long years to find the answer, and now I need the courage to be that way. Horse society will look down on me, but a few choice souls will understand.
It's time we give the horse a chance, give him the choice to hang out with us and interact, or not. We have been so sure he's dangerous we haven't looked to see if that's true. I believe that horses are made dangerous by people, just like elephants. They get fed up with our "holier than thou" attitude and fight back. What if we gave them the chance to show us what they can really do, and how wonderful and trustworthy they really are? I have found the courage to look at horses in a new way (for me), and not let others opinions sway me anymore. I hope that whoever reads this will take a chance and do the same... and maybe we can make a true "horse-man-ship".
As I watched the movie, many things became painfully obvious. How they interacted with the elephant is very similar to things we do to horses. Horse training (and elephant training as well) are about putting out the fire, not encouraging it. It's about dominance and making the horse submissive. Yes, the techniques for that have gotten much gentler over the years, which is generally good, but they are still about dominating the animal, not allowing the animal to be itself. They have to be what you want them to be. I will try not to give everything away, but there is a part at the end that describes how baby elephants are trained. The techniques are all old cowboy training methods (tying up a leg, making them lie down, etc.) and it was hard to watch! It upset me. Then the elephant's owner admitted that he didn't like the way the trainer was breaking his "baby", but "that's how it's done, and they have to learn to behave a certain way if they are going to be around people".
I can't fault this man for thinking that way because I have said the same thing! The problem is, if you aren't told that there's another way, then you can only do what you are told is "the" way. Some will argue that you shouldn't accept these things, that you should stand up, etc. etc. It's not so cut and dried, however. The horse industry is INUNDATED with horse training videos, each one saying that their "method" is better, more gentle, different than the last. In truth, 98% of them use traditional training theories as their "method". Some clinicians give credit to the old-timers that taught them, others pretend like they came up with it all on their own. None of it is really new, and none of it is based on positive reward except clicker training, and only empowering the horse gives the them a voice and a choice.
If anyone spends the time to really study each "method" (I don't think most people do, they find a training "guru" and only pay homage to that person) it can take years to sort out what's really going on. Once I learned about positive vs negative reinforcement it was easy to see that all traditional training methods use negative reinforcement. That is, "if you don't do this I am going to increase the pressure on you somehow until you do it". When the horse acts correctly, the punishment stops. The Punishment can be poking them with a finger, using your stick to tap-tap-tap harder and harder, anything irritating or annoying, etc. They use reward sparingly (the "reward", we are told, is that we stop annoying the horse or whacking it). Sounds like the way my little brother tried to get what he wanted: "I won't stop punching you until you give me your candy!"
The thing is, most people really don't want to hurt an animal. I believe that Flora's owner, David, truly loved her and she loved him too. But the way she was trained and worked was so demeaning that it made her angry, I think. After Flora's retirement a woman came with Raul to visit her. This woman was completely enamored of her, thought she was so beautiful and really wanted to connect with her but sensed that Flora didn't like her. Even so, they rode her and then the woman got off onto a tree branch, and Flora wrapped her trunk around the woman and beat her against the tree. The woman fell or was thrown to the ground. She had very serious multiple injuries and was hospitalized. The interesting part, the part that perhaps we all understand, is what the lady said afterwards, "I didn't feel any pain. I didn't feel anything but heartbreak." Wow. The owner of the elephant sanctuary, Carol Buckley, said that Flora was good example of "All that can go wrong with the best of intentions". It reminds me of that cartoon of the Abominable Snowman, how he would pick up Daffy Duck or whoever and squeeze the life out of him while saying "I promise to love you and keep you and hold you tight forever and ever!" Meanwhile, Daffy Duck was dying in his hands. We love our animals to death, sometimes smothering them and not really understanding them.
Even though we love our animals and try to act with the best of intentions, things that we don't think twice about can also be harmful. I think that many horse trainers, Clinton Anderson included, don't think that they are doing any harm. They are taught that you must be brutal or the animal will get the upper hand! They are dangerous and they can really hurt you and this is what justifies how horses (and other animals) are trained. While it is true that animals can be dangerous, I tend to think that the way we try to completely control them makes them fight back more than they would otherwise. Other things, like separating babies from mamas before they are really ready, keeping a social animals apart from those of thier kind and other practices are more subtly harmful. Many people never question what they are taught, or like me, they question it internally and search for another way on their own, while trying to fit in with everyone else. It took me many long years to find the answer, and now I need the courage to be that way. Horse society will look down on me, but a few choice souls will understand.
It's time we give the horse a chance, give him the choice to hang out with us and interact, or not. We have been so sure he's dangerous we haven't looked to see if that's true. I believe that horses are made dangerous by people, just like elephants. They get fed up with our "holier than thou" attitude and fight back. What if we gave them the chance to show us what they can really do, and how wonderful and trustworthy they really are? I have found the courage to look at horses in a new way (for me), and not let others opinions sway me anymore. I hope that whoever reads this will take a chance and do the same... and maybe we can make a true "horse-man-ship".
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| What they REALLY want to do... |
Visit the website for "One Lucky Elephant"
Or the website for Ahali Elephants where Flora now lives:
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