Horse Information - Aussie Horsemen

Many years ago I had the opportunity to learn a valuable lesson in theimportance of ‘comfort’ to a horse. These days, many of us have heard of the principle of‘comfort and discomfort’ when communicating with horses, however there is a still a majorfocus on using discomfort to show a horse what we don’t want, or in other words to tell ahorse what to do, rather than understanding the value of having a horse going ‘to comfort’.

Being big strong animals that naturally oppose what they are asked to do by a predator,there is only so much a horse will do willingly if you try to ‘make’ him do something.However, all horses love to find comfort or release in what they do and they will put effortand enthusiasm into doing something, if they know there is a good deal involved for them atthe end. A reward of comfort if you will.

This particular story that I want to share with you all, was a very clear and valuablelesson for me in this principle and it is one that has stayed with me and shaped my dealingswith horses ever since.

I got a phone call one night 8 or 9 years ago, from a student of mine. This particularstudent had been studying with me for some years; she had completed Level 2 in our programmeand was working on Level 3. So she already had some great skills, knowledge and timing.So, when she called and said she was having trouble with a horse and could I come take alook at it, I knew the problem was genuine and she really did need my help.

She told me a bit about the horse which she had recently been given. It was a blackClydesdale / Thoroughbred cross mare of 16 and a bit hands ... only 4 or 5 years old. Not alot had been done with the horse, she hadn’t been ridden however her owners had beenhandling her and trying unsuccessfully to get her loaded onto a horse float.

One thing led to another and pretty soon float loading had become a huge issue for thislittle girl. The situation ended up being one where she was beaten and flogged in an effortto try to get her into the float but to no avail. In absolute terror, she would throwherself onto the ground and lay there shaking whenever she got within sight of a horsefloat. About this time, a friend of my student’s had rescued the horse just to get her awayfrom her current owners. However they couldn’t keep her so my student ended up with her.

My student had had her for only a week or two and of course as yet had been unable to gether home. She had been doing a lot of groundwork with her, trying to build theirrelationship, the horse’s confidence and trust and communication. She’d also been workingon her forward so that the day would come when she could get her onto the float. Stillthough, whenever the mare saw a horse float, she would throw herself onto the ground.

This was how things stood at present and my student was out of ideas. I agreed to cometake a look and see what I could do to help.

The next Saturday I went along to where the mare was and met my student, Chloe, there.First up I asked her to show me what she had been doing with the mare ... what sort ofgroundwork etc, how they were going and where they were at. Well ... everything lookfabulous! Chloe was doing all the right things and had the mare going beautifully. So Isaid, “Show me what happens when you try to load her.” All went well until the mare got towithin about 40’ of the float, then down she went ... shaking in her hooves. She wasterrified. While she went well with the groundwork, once she got an inkling that the floatwas about to come into play she just went into panic mode. And once she was on the ground,there was nothing humane you could do to get her up again. She’d lie there shaking andgroaning, staring off into the distance ... literally going through the death throws and ifshe was convinced she was about to die.

So ... what do you do with a 16 ½ hh Clydie mare who is lying on the ground waiting to die?That was the question. From that point we certainly couldn’t ‘make’ her go on the float ...we couldn’t make her do anything! A different tact was called for. One that we focus on inQuantum Savvy and that is one of our basic principles.

I made the suggestion that this poor girl ... while she had been nicely ‘trained’ to do allthe yields ... did not believe that humans could be trusted to offer a good deal to horses.In other words, she did not feel that there was any comfort to be found or any good to begained by trusting humans when it came to float loading. She just expected discomfort ... abad deal, or a flogging, so she had simply stopped trying to find comfort anywhere and gaveherself up to whatever came her way. It was an incredibly sad moment. This poor girl didnot know that comfort existed at all.

I explained that what we had to do was to convince this girl that not only was therecomfort, but that she could find it for herself anytime she wanted, just by trying. So ourimmediate goal was to reward the slightest try and build from there.

This was going to test all of our horsemanship to the letter. We would get nowhere if atanytime we stopped acting like horsemen. In other words if what we wanted was moreimportant that what the horse needed, if we got impatient, lost our cool, had bad timing ordidn’t reward the try, we’d get no where and would run the risk of things getting worse.

So there we were with this huge 600kg horse lying flat out on the ground, shaking and notacknowledging us. We began at the beginning, with the first skill of ‘No Yield’ justrubbing her all over and making friends with her again. Gradually she calmed down a little,her attention started to come back and after a time she was with us once more. Once she waswith us mentally she wasn’t such a dead weight on the ground. Now we felt we had somethingto work with. We then started on basic contact yields, asking her to move a leg, her head alittle and her tail. Eventually she began to get curious and things improved. We had toreward the slightest try at first ... and I mean the slightest. There was no way we couldmake this horse do anything. We had so little to work with in the beginning that we had toreward even just a positive thought in the right direction. Getting an actual yield and hermoving would come much later. Remember ... this girl did not know that comfort existed soshe was learning new things for herself. I’d rub her head, then gradually apply a littlepressure to ask her to lift it. As soon as I saw her think about what I was asking her todo, I stopped the yield instantly and rubbed her again.

Pretty soon she realized that after the yield came comfort so she started to put more effortin. Once she got the idea of that, she actually went all the way off very little pressureand actually lifted her head off the ground. Now we were really getting somewhere.

Horses are incredibly smart and this girl was no exception. Once she started to see apattern of comfort or release being offered her, perhaps for the first time in her life, sheactually put some effort into trying to find it for herself.

Once we had her head up she soon offered her front end too and raised herself onto her chestand front legs. A change happened at this moment. The fear went away as she went fromright to left brained and her curiosity over came her fears. It was a very specialmoment.

The next small application of pressure had her all the way back onto her feet where werubbed and made a fuss of her as she licked her lips like there was no tomorrow. And allthis only 30’ from the horse float! It was like she had forgotten it was there.

I got Chloe to just do a few very basic yields, moving her fore and hindquarters just togive her mind something to do before she realized how close she was to the float, then weput her away. It had been 3 hours by now and she had made a major break through already ...that was enough for one day.

The next day I came back again and we picked up where we left off. It didn’t take us longto get her back close to the float again as she’d found comfort there yesterday and we’dquit at the right time. Now it was time to try the float again.

Once more we approached it with all the attitudes of a horseman. We had all the time in theworld (or so we told ourselves!), we would be very patient, we would have excellent timingand release, she would dictate the pace at which we worked and most of all we would rewardthe try and show her how to find comfort.

This then is the crucial time and the moment I see some people go astray. They get sofocused on getting the job done that they fall back into discomfort mode. By that I meanallowing some ‘make’ in here. Not quitting the instant the horse tries, using the stick atthe wrong moment. I love the stick and use it often, however it needs to be used as a phaseand to support direction given by your focus and lead, not waved around to chase your horseinto doing the yields. Time and again I see a horse trying and the human is still standingthere waving the stick, or tapping the horse or even just holding it up with energy in itinstead of deactivating it and relaxing it. Timing is crucial in offering comfort and therecould be no mistakes with this big girl or we’d be back to where we started again....withher on the ground.

We asked her to try. She actually looked at the float so we quit and left her alone. Weasked her again and she wobbled around and rocked toward the float. This was a HUGE try forher so not only did we quit, we gave her a nice big rub with the stick and let her thinkabout that for a few minutes. People often ask me how to tell when a horse is trying. Ifthey are wobbling around … almost like rocking from side to side and forward to backward,they are thinking about something so they are trying ... if they’ve been really scared. Ifyou can time your release to just that right moment when they wobble toward the directionyou want them to go, next time they’ll go that way sooner. Which is exaclty what she didnext time we asked. We asked with clear direction on the lead rope and she rocked forwardstraight away so we quit straight away.

It’s really important here to understand that it’s not the yield or the rope or the stickthat ‘makes’ horses learn. Horses learn by release, or when comfort is offered, so it’syour timing in your release that will get those great results.

This beautiful big girl was learning that when she tried, she got comfort ... the ultimatereward ... .so she was learning and discovering a whole new world for herself. It was avery exciting moment to see her making these discoveries. And with each discovery ofcomfort her confidence was building ... her confidence in herself and her confidence andtrust in us! It was amazing to see.

After a few tries she made a big breakthrough. We asked her to go toward the float and shetook a huge confident step toward it. We were so thrilled ... we gave her quick release andI told Chloe to take her right away from the float for a few minutes. We wanted to reallyemphasize the comfort here for her and what would happen when she tried, so we gave her timeout for 5 minutes or so. She licked and chewed, lowered her head and had a good think.

Next time we approached the float she went straight back to her previous spot without anytrouble. Confidently she walked up to that spot only 30’ feet from the float. Already ahuge break through.

From this point she got quite cocky. She realised that not only was theregoing to be no flogging, but also she had found comfort, a good deal with humans and thatshe could find it anytime herself. When we asked her to try and take a step toward thefloat, she took a good confident step and with each one she immediately found release andcomfort. When she’d take a few steps and get closer to the float, working through herfears, we’d take her right away again for a graze for 5 or 10 minutes. When we took herback again, she’d go a little bit closer with more confidence each time. It was great tosee.

Of course, she still had her moments where she’d try to turn away or to leave however wekept our focus on the goal at hand, stayed patient and made sure she found comfort only whenshe tried ... but when she did try she found lots of it.

Eventually we got her right up to the float, standing at the foot of the ramp. At thispoint we ended the session, put her in her yard with some feed and went and had a cuppa forhalf and hour. We wanted her to have a good think. We had stretched her emotionally andmentally and she had worked up a bit of a sweat, but not too bad so the timing to break fora while was just right.

When we came back again it only took a minute to get her back by the ramp, the whole processbegan again. The next step was pretty much back to the basic programme. Getting her to putfirst one then two feet onto the ramp. Then walking across it from side to side, yieldingher butt once she’d crossed. We took photos of her standing on the ramp with all for 4feet. We’d come along way.

I suggested to Chloe that I was more than happy with our progress for the day. We’d justtry one thing then leave it there. We’d ask her to go on to the float. What ever sheoffered us we’d be happy with ... perhaps we’d get only her nose loaded and that'd be okay.Maybe we’d get two front feet in or even a chest!!! We’d just see and then knock off.

Chloe gave her clear direction with the rope, pointed into the float with energy herself andguess what happened? She walked straight in! We grinned and winked at each other as shestood there ... not what I’d call calm but she was there and she was okay.

After 30 seconds or so and while it was still our idea, we took her out of the float andonce again took her right away ... taking the big deal out of the actual load.

The 3 of us hung out together for a few minutes, letting the big girl graze while we chattedabout what had happened then we put her away.

I asked Chloe what she had learnt from the experience and she told me that the big thing wasthat without comfort, without your horse actively seeking it and trying for you, there isnot much you can do with them. With this big girl who weighed about 600kg, there was no wayyou could make her do something without comfort working on your side. But boy! ... once yougot it, you could do anything with your horse.

I reckon she was pretty right too.

We both learnt a big lesson that weekend. The principle of having your horse activelyseeking comfort was something I was already aware of but this girl really brought home to mejust how important it was. Without it we have nothing ... and how often do we take ourhorses try and good will toward us for granted.

I got a video in the mail about 2 weeks later of Chloe loading her beautiful big girl ontothe float on the end of a long rope and at the trot! Both of them had learnt a huge lesson... .and me too.

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