Last night I found some notes that I took while reading Imke Spilker's wonderful book, Empowered Horses.  They were notes for when I went out to work with the horses, things I wanted to remember.  Finding the notes inspired today's work, or non-work as it were.  The results were telling, to say the least.  Here is what happened:

     I got Snickers out first because he has wanted time with me for a while.  He loves clicker training, so with that in mind his regime involved teaching him to walk in step with me.  He might have picked this up otherwise, but he was partly focused on dinner so he wasn't his usual self.  Using the clicker allowed me to point out something, that it would be nice if we walked in step.  Then he easily and almost on his own started to lunge himself around me.  He was quite willing and picked up on stepping further underneath himself with his inside hind leg (to help collection).




Snickers in Winter, and  (left) in summer



    










Next was Luna, who loves being groomed.  This will be the foundation for everything else, this will be the start of trust and affection, so I went slowly and with attention.  I focused on making her feel good.  The difference is that she responds in a whole new way to that!  Her eyes close part way in pleasure, she stretches up her neck to be brushed underneath.  She sighs and stands very still.  She tells me where she is itchy.  Then we did some lunging, just walking, and she gave me a real hug.  It felt good.




Luna


     Now for the best - Tequila.  Tequila usually avoids me when I go to catch her and it takes a bit of convincing that she should hold still.  Today she stood and allowed me to catch her right away.  This was new!  Without tying her, she stood quietly while I groomed her, probably for the first time, with attention and focus.  Her head dropped as she relaxed.  She never fidgeted or flicked her tail.  She liked it!  I got the camera and took her picture.  She preened and posed for me.  It made her feel special, I think.




Tequila, right after her special grooming today.


     Then I lunged her, just at the walk, and she got the idea about her inside hind leg quickly.  Afterwards we walked around a little and looked at the sunset.  She bit my hat and we played a little.  This wasn't the Tequila I knew, it was totally different.  Her calmness and playfulness came through.  I got the feeling she didn't want to be put away.

     As I write my experiences the words of other trainers come to mind, their boasts of what "they" have accomplished.  It's clear to me that my own ego has gotten in the way of true communication with the horses.  They've tried to tell me many, many times that they didn't like what I was doing.  Today brought it home like a sledge hammer.  Wow, I totally gave up what I had done with Bella to be a "trainer". 

     It blows me away, how much of these things I already knew when I got Bella. I trusted my instincts, and with a few rare things, I might be much better today if I had stayed that way rather than learning everything I could.  But then again, I wouldn't know all this, nor would I be so wise or feel so insensitive and stupid.  

     After reading Empowered Horses I didn't know where to start, what to do.  The book also empowers the "trainer" to do whatever they think they should.  That's so scary and also so freeing.  I've felt lost until today but now I know how to proceed.  I can get one of the horses and start grooming, or with Snickers, do something with treats.  It doesn't have to take a long time, it just has to be intensive and requires my attention and focus.  That I can do, that I will do.

From Mark Nepo's "The Book of Awakening":
"...the Eskimo also teach us how to hunt for truth in the way they fashion their bait (a wolf's rib sharpened at both ends and frozen in blubber so that the bear eats it and then dies). Not by intellectual debate or esoteric study, but by risking something of ourselves, by placing something troublesome and sweet in the open.  By offering something essential from our hunger and coating it with our vulnerability, we call the greater truth into the open with the smaller. Humbly and unavoidably, the need for truth will lead us into the unexpected living of our lives beyond all images of perfection."

 How true - that's what this journey is all about!

I have been watching Alexander Nevzarov's movie, "The Horse, Crucified and Risen".  I think I wrote about this in an earlier post.  Since then I've thought a lot about the way people treat their horses, the way they are trained and used.  I've thought about Nevzarov's movie, and the first chapter of his book (by the same name).  I've thought about all these new methods of training there are, and the old methods of training. And natural horsemanship.  And everything.

Here's what I think:  I think that Nevzarov is right in part.  People have been very cruel to horses in the past. They were also very cruel to each other in those days.  While it's horrible and awful and proves that man has, in the past, thought nothing of how he treats animals, that doesn't necessarily translate to now.  He does show Russian riders competing at a horse show and how abusive they are.  I have never seen people quite so abusive on a horse. I have seen gaping mouths, uncomfortable horses, scared horses, scared riders.  I have seen mild abuse, and now that I think of it, outright abuse (under the guise of traditional horse training).


However, last night while watching (embarrassingly) a show called "Sweet Home Alabama", which is a bachelor-type show where half the men are from the country and half from the city, I learned of a horse that was stolen and killed.  The owner was Shaun Smith and his horse was named "Credit Card".  Smith was one of the top riders on the Southern Arkansas University rodeo team.  One of the girls on the team apparently stole his horse because she was angry at him, presumably due to relationship issues.  While five horses were taken, only Credit Card was shot and dismembered.  The others were tied to trees and left to starve to death.

This is a horrific and sad story, of course.  During the filming of "Sweet Home Alabama" Smith learns that his horse had been killed.  He cried, openly, on camera and sought comfort in the arms of a fellow cowboy on the show.  He cried to Paige, "the girl" on the show that they were all vying for. He was clearly upset, very upset.  In my mind it's perfectly understandable, and even expected. 

So what came to my mind after learning about this story was that no matter how they train their horses, ride them, jerk on their mouths, or any other myriad things, they love them! Smith's horse was shown in the rodeo arena with the De rigour tie-down, which he was clearly leaning on.  But he was a champion.  He did his job well, and apparently found some joy in that (although I am speculating).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that love can overcome some mistakes and some training methods.  I am still working out what I really feel is "the" way to train that is best for horses and people. However, Nevzarov would have anyone riding with a bit, or not training his way as being mean, aggressive and abusive.  That's clearly not true. His movie made me question using a bit, period.  But when I watch Oliviera riding, his sensitivity with the bit and the spurs and whip, I know he isn't being the least abusive or even aggressive.  




My cowboy and his horse, Snickers

 I know that I have made mistakes working with horses. As for my own horses, I think they have forgiven me for my mistakes, and not being able to communicate so directly I can only point to how they react to me now.  I experiment, a LOT, with different techniques.  When they give me a negative reaction, I stop.  When it's positive, I keep going, and they respond in turn.  They have, miraculously, always given me another chance to get it right. My gut feeling is that the love I bear for them overshadows everything else, good or bad, and that the relationship I have with my horses is one of the most honest one I've ever had. There's a lot to be said for love, Nevzarov! 




I love you even when you're covered in mud, Angel!





 

You might have noticed that I have changed the look of the blog and hope to change other things about it as well.  While this has been a forum for my many, many thoughts, I realize that the longer the blog, the less likely people would like to read it.  At least that's how I feel when I go to a blog and it's a lot of pages of print.  I love photos and a few really good words.  Maybe I can't censor myself that much, but that's my goal.  I would like this to be easier and faster to write and more "user-friendly" because I like things that are "user-friendly". 

So, welcome to the 2012 and a better blog... we can only hope.