So far I've shared with you why I have started working (or not working) in a way that empowers the horses.  I'd like to take a moment to take stock and give some suggestions if you want to try it yourself.  After reading Empowered Horses by Imke Spilker, I felt kind of lost as to what to do next.  She suggested to me that this was OK, and that feeling empty because all of your former tools have been removed is good.  In other words, erase your mind of everything you knew before and approach the horses with a mindset of openness and wanting to communicate.  Ask them questions.  Ask yourself questions.  Give the horse a chance to give you feedback.  Observe, don't be so controlling, be gentle.  See what happens when you act this way. 


First of all, you really have nothing to lose by trying this.  Remember that your horse doesn't know if you are doing the "Parelli method" or "natural horsemanship".  Basically, all they know is that you are interacting with them.  It's probably best to give it a few sessions though so that you can see what happens.  It takes time for the horses to realize that something very basic has changed.  If you don't like it or it isn't working for you, going back is always an option. 


Here is what I would suggest if you want to try working with your horses in an empowered way.  It's also kind of counter-productive to give you a formula.  What I will do is give you a place to start.  What you do with it is up to you, because you are empowered just like the horse.  


Empowerment is about two-way communication and allowing the horse to have a voice.  It also involves being aware of what's happening.  Here's what some of your first sessions might look like:


- Spend time just hanging out with your horse, finding out where they like to be scratched, or just being together.  


- Do a grooming session (put away your phone and all distractions) where you focus on the horse completely.  How are you brushing them?  Are they relaxed, do they like what you're doing?  Think about how you would like to have your hair brushed.


- Go for a walk with your horse.  Walk in rhythm with them.  This creates synchronicity which horses tune in to and like.  Think of driving teams and how they move in sync.  Walk around the pasture and let them choose where to go.


While you are around your horse, think of games that they might like.  So far, games have been a difficulty for me.  My horses are mainly older and not as playful as they once were, which doesn't help.  So if anyone has suggestions for games I'd love to hear them!  


Also, after your sessions, review what happened and what didn't.  Watch what happens in the next session.  Is your horse acting any differently?  Is he reacting to you differently?   Any experiences you would like to share, I'd love to hear about them. I think you'll be surprised at the results - good luck!

The "gang" having a winter picnic

Angel, Tequila and Bella in summer (I'm tired of looking at brown landscapes!)

Last week when the weather was good I worked with Snickers, Luna and Tequila.  I spent a good amount of time with Tequila and felt like we had a good session.  


The next day I planned to work with Angel and Bella.  All the horses were in the yard, where I normally groom them, so when I appeared with my grooming kit at the tie place, the horses started to gather around.  Snicker stopped by and when I just brushed him, he left.  Then Luna stopped for a quick brush but was chased away by Tequila.  I worked on Tequila for a few minutes and then Angel showed up.  I stopped brushing Tequila and caught Angel, since she was the one I wanted.  


Little did I realize that I must have hurt Tequila's feelings.  That night and for two days afterwards, she refused to hug me.  This has been our special ritual whenever I feed her.  She always gives me some kind of hug by wrapping her head around my shoulders and squeezing.  Some are better than others, but never has she stopped hugging for so long.  

It really blew me away and at first I was at a loss as to why this had happened. Then I remembered that it had started after the grooming thing. It proves to me that horses have much better memory than we give them credit for and that they get their feelings hurt.  I have sensed this before, but this entire incident proved it beyond a doubt to me. 


Today I braved the wind (I really hate working in the wind) and worked with Tequila.  I groomed her and then lunged her for a bit.  And tonight when I fed her, I got a big, heartfelt hug! 

Yesterday I decided to work with some of the horses and chose Snickers first.  Or, I should say that Snickers was the first one to approach me.  Ever since I started clicker training him, he views of training have changed completely. He loves it!

Snickers in summer

So first I tried to get him to cross a ditch.  He's the only one who won't jump the irrigation ditch, so we worked on that for awhile.  Then I began to groom him without being tied. He stood in one place nicely, but spent the entire session looking for me to give him a treat.  He fidgeted (but didn't move his feet).  I was concentrating on being present with him, but for the first time I realized that he doesn't seem to enjoy grooming.  


This intrigued me.  Was it because no one really spent time grooming him before we got him?  Did he just not like it?  Was he so used to people not being tuned in to him in general that he'd given up, or was his personality such that he needed something to keep him occupied at all times?  


The answer didn't come to me that day, so I will be watching to see if I can figure this out.  I also spent time with Tequila, who seemed to be anxious to work.  I walked both horses down the road a ways to get them off the property and do something different.  She was really good - moved forward easily while Snickers kept stopping and hesitated a lot, although he had been down that road more often than Tequila (she's only been down there once).  Maybe that's just the difference between mares and geldings. 

Tequila

In any case, my "work" is still focused on spending "quality time" with the horses - being present with them, focusing completely on them and nothing else. We do a little bit of lunging for collection, maybe five minutes. Still, what strikes me most was that somehow the horses know that things have changed.  How do I know that they know?  It's a few little things, like being less reactive to me.  It's not that they are disrespectful, it's more that they are calmer and they know we aren't on the former program anymore.  


It just proves to me that everything Imke Spilker said was true.  The most important thing in working with horses is your intention, your dedication to the moment and communication.  Not dictation - a two-way street.  That part is still difficult, especially with Snickers because we don't have a two-way thing going yet.  I can't always tell what he's trying to tell me. 
I sense that he desperately wants something to happen but I'm not sure exactly what that is. 


So, while it may seem like nothing is happening, lots of things are happening!

Tequila

Yesterday, while sitting around looking for something to watch on TV, I ran across a horse trainer on RFD I'd never heard or seen before.  His name is Michael Richards.  He works horses from his wheelchair (a car accident rendered him a paraplegic).  He made it seem natural, as if this was something that no one should take note of, but I did because it affects how you train a horse.  He was wonderfully calm and so was the horse.  His words were well chosen, intelligent, and spoken slowly. 

Snickers and Tequila in the back

I was impressed because he works in some of the things I've been learning about - being gentle, asking not telling, patience, waiting for something to happen...reward.  I found it easy to follow what he was saying because he spoke clearly and slowly.  This is something not to be overlooked, because instead of the repetition that Clinton Anderson uses, since what he says is said slowly, I have time to think about it and incorporate it.  I think so many "TV Trainers" speak quickly, have accents (like Texans, Australians, etc) and expect instant results from people and horses that they forget that everyone needs time to take it all in.  

Bella and Angel having "quality time"

Sometimes they seem so intent on "showing off" or getting their message across that they forget what it's like to be on the learning side.  As an instructor, I find that I need to make myself STOP TALKING when giving lessons.  I am trying to give an instruction, keep it short and let the person work on it for awhile. 


Also, when you think of someone training a horse from a wheelchair, you realize that he cannot pressure them or create so much energy that he loses control.  I wouldn't say, either, that he is overly controlling the horse.  He controls it by keeping things very, very calm.  He asks for a little and uses the little to gain more.  I really enjoyed just listening to him talk and liked the whole picture.  Very cool!

Luna and Tequila

In any case, his show on RFD is called "The Gift of the Horse" and here is link to his website:  http://www.brokenrranch.com


Check it out and let me know what you think. I love to hear people's opinions and my hope with this blog was to get people talking about horse topics that normally don't get discussed.  So please, make yourself heard (herd, lol)!

If you asked your horse what they thought about how you trained them, what do you think they would say?
 I wrote what follows and started to feel very sad, very bad about myself.  I almost can't post this, but I think it's important for others to think about this and admit to themselves how their horse might have felt about what they did to them.  How do you know that your horse feels this way? Actually, it's not as difficult as it sounds. 


I know what mine would say. Unfortunately.


"Cari, you:
1. Lack patience so often, and you get upset and frustrated.  We don't understand why? What did we do wrong?  We are trying to do what you want.
  (I know this because I DO get frustrated, and the look on the horse's face says it all.  I do think that they want to work with us, as long as we are fair, explain things clearly and have patience.  We lack patience because we think things should be a certain way.  When you are following a training DVD, for example.  They make it look so easy and when you try it, you run into problems.  You get frustrated.)

Angel - I think....

2. Sometimes you don't even pay attention to us when you are doing things with us.  You talk on the phone while grooming us and we feel like you don't care. 
  (I have talked on the phone, thought about things that are bothering me, etc, especially while grooming them.  When I began to pay attention to the horse I was working on, everything changed!  THEY changed. They relaxed, they liked what I was doing.)

Snickers

3. We can clearly see you are asking something of us but we have no idea what.  Then you keep changing things.  You aren't very clear in what you are asking. 
  (This is a problem I have been aware of for awhile. Clicker training actually helped me get more organized.  Empowering the horse removes the intense structure, which is more my style.  Still, it's important to be clear!)

Luna

4. We don't understand WHY you want us to do half these things.  What purpose does it serve?
 (It's always MY purpose, isn't it?  And my purpose may not make sense to the horse because they don't understand the goal or why the goal is important.  There is one goal we have in common - to move beautifully and with athleticism.)

Snickers chasing Bella, who is protected by Angel

5. Do you even trust us?  You don't act like it. 
  (In fact, while my actions say otherwise, I do trust them more than I let on.  I am concentrating on letting them feel the trust I have for them.)

Tequila

6. So many wonderful, perfect days go by where you stay in your house or you're gone.  We wish you would come spend time with us.
  (I need to make more time for them, even if it's 15 minutes.  Sometimes my life gets in the way, and I feel their questions at the end of a perfect day that I had to spend inside applying for jobs or cleaning the house.)

Bella

7.   We don't like the bit.  It hurts.  It makes us want to run away.  You pull too hard on us and you are very demanding!
  (Angel and Snickers never had a bit when I got them, so I started them on the bit. Snickers really doesn't like it, even if I am as gentle as I can be.  Angel is more tolerant, but after watching Nevzorov's movie, I decided to try using the hackamore.  Not bad!  Tequila, too, fights the bit, and saddle, so I am re-thinking what to do with her. I had always been told that if they fight back, they are just "testing" us.  Sometimes that's true, but when I got on Snickers and let him do and go where he wanted, he continually took me to the tie rail.  "Of course he did!" You say.  "You must make him do things, take control!"  I no longer believe that.  Snickers did not enjoy what we did together under saddle.  Neither did Tequila.  Angel was kinder, and we have a better relationship than the others.  But what does that tell you?  The question is, can they get to the point where they like it?  That's what this is all about!)


8.  We don't like to be whacked with the orange stick just because we don't understand what to do.
  (This is something I did while following Clinton Anderson's videos.  He likes to whack a lot.  If they don't move, then you continually increase the pressure, many times using the stick to tap-tap harder-whack.  It's punishing and if they don't get it to begin with, how does it help?  When I did this type of training with Angel, she gave me a look I'll never forget.  It said, "Why?  Why are you hitting me like this?"  I never did it again.)


These are a few things I thought of and I'm sure there are more. Some are things that I had realized and already taken steps to change myself.  Some are more recent discoveries and I still feel guilty about them.
We have only just begun down the path to the goal, the goal of becoming stronger, more beautiful in movement and closer in our relationship. Those were always the goals, when I think back on it. 


Just what is it that I want?  I want to have that kind of relationship where my horse moves like the beautiful athlete they are, where there is mutual trust and communication, where we all feel safe in what we are doing.  The kind of relationship that I think certain masters have with their horses.  Where we can dance. 

The past month has been a difficult one for getting any work done with the horses. Between the weather and the job search, I have not worked with them much at all.  I did manage a few sessions of very light lunging and grooming, as mentioned I think. What I had done seemed so minor, so insignificant that I wasn't expecting any results.  Not that my work was really based on results - it was more about communication. I guess what I mean is that I didn't expect those few sessions to change anything about the horses or my relationship to them. 

Tried to get pictures of them in motion - these aren't the best!
However, you can see Snickers' (in fore-front) inside hind coming
 underneath his body nicely.

However, yesterday I let the horses out in the pasture together (they have been in two groups because Snickers harasses Bella) while I watched from my living room.  They began to run around, full of energy.  As I watched I noticed - could it be?  They were moving differently.  Luna has always had a very heavy gait - not very light or "floaty".  Her hind legs tend to drag. As I watch her now her hind feet are really moving, coming up off the ground with so much more grace.  It's not perfect, but it's so much better.

As I watch all of them out there they are all moving better.  Even Snickers, who moved fairly well to begin with.  He looks like a dressage horse.  Angel and Tequila, too, are moving more gracefully and freely.  All that from maybe three sessions of lunging and working with them on bringing the hind leg underneath them further. I concentrated on keeping that mental thought in the forefront of my mind while lunging them, in order to get across to them what we were trying to accomplish.  I didn't push, and if they wanted to stop OR keep going, we did.  

Angel and Bella, best friends!  

I'm floored and very pleased.  I think perhaps there was communication and that they are finally doing something that I taught them that they want to do! I find that so inspiring and wonderful.  There's something about trying to get a horse to do something that only you think is important that ruins the relationship.  It becomes an oppressive relationship rather than a cooperative one.  

What's the difference?  When both sides have a say in what you do together, there is more trust, true friendship and love than just you saying "This is what we will do today and if you don't like it, too bad, because I am in charge!"  So I'm very excited about the future of the horses and the future of my relationship to them.

From left to right, front to back: Snickers, Tequila, Luna, Bella, Angel