--- In IceHorses@yahoogroups.com, "Judy Ryder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > In what ways do horses try to communicate with us? > > How do they try to tell us if they are OK, not OK? > > Horses are always trying to communicate with us; how do we listen to them? > In a "training" situation, I like to see the horse relaxed, feel that the horse is relaxed, maybe even see the horse take that deep sigh, and let everything go. Things flow smoothly when the horse is OK.
I know something is wrong (probably with me or what I am doing) if the horse gets tense, wants to get out of the situation, wants nothing to do with what we are doing, something is going wrong there. On a more extreme note, if a horse is biting, rearing, bucking, they are telling us that something is very wrong, except I think it is us who must change what we are doing, I don't think there is something wrong with the horse for doing these things, it's the only way they can tell us, scream to us that something is not ok. I would have to guess that if the horses end up having to "scream" the message at us, something has been going wrong for a while, or something is going terribly wrong in their minds at that moment. I think I have the responsibility to change my approach at that point, even if the horse is just fidgeting, trying to avoid something, and seems to be uncomfortable. I feel I need to do something about the situation. It may just be too much is going on for the horse to feel safe, maybe we aren't doing things in a way that they can understand and they are confused, maybe we are rushing the horse, maybe something is hurting them. So it dawns on me that I'd better stop what I am doing and think of another approach. The horse tells me when I've got it right. Maybe try to see it from their point of view. I know I would not like someone using a whip on me. I know I wouldn't like to have a bit in my mouth, pinching, or be pushed or pulled into something I'm not so sure about, or worse pushed and pulled at the same time. The thought makes ME feel like I would want to escape. A woman at EA asked me if you could really get an Icelandic into tolt, "collection", without pulling in front and pushing from behind. I don't see why a naturally gaited horse can't get self carriage in gait, I don't really see how pushing and pulling is going to achieve this. While I'm on this, I think head flipping while riding should really be telling the rider that something is wrong, it's not ok with the horse, there is another way. I think another clear sign that the horse is not happy with something is when they don't want to come with us to go do something, haltering the horse in a pasture, I don't think it means that we are bad, just that the horse is uncomfortable with something, it has happened to me on occassion, so I have to really think about what I might be doing and make it right. A big part of listening to a horse, is really trying to be mindful to stay in the present with them, to really pay attention to what is going on, not just impose a routine on them while we are chatting with our friends and our minds are somewhere else. Kim
