The Art of Riding
A SERIES OF ARTICLES BY BERT HARTOG

Part 3: The horse, the passive thinker

Once upon a time... the horse lived in the wild.

This seems inconceivable to some of my city students. They look with puzzlement in their eyes when I remind them of this fact. In this age of technology we lose our relationship with nature. Milk is made in a factory, horses are always kept in enclosed areas.

A horse living in the wild is a grass eater He lives in herds and finds protection from his predators in numbers. As the zebra falls prey to lions, so was the horse hunted by wolves, dogs and so on. The herd only gives protection if all members abide by the rules. Once separated, members of the herd become an easy prey.

In the herd there is a great bond between the animals. There is a strong hierarchy or pecking order. The leaders are obeyed implicitly, otherwise there is disorder and weakness in the group. A chain is as strong as its weakest link. This works the same way with us humans. A company with a strong leader goes forward, its workers are motivated and profitability is high.

In the herd, horses take cue from one another. When one horse, usually the leader, pricks his ears and looks at something, they all do. One horse starts running, they all run. Doesn't that sometimes happen to us when we want to catch our horse in the paddock full of horses? Why does this happen? This is because the horse is a hunted species. Horses have keen senses; eyes, ears and smell. They will run from the slightest sign of danger. Predators, in nature, have an active mind. They create circumstances. They look for prey, and then design a plan of attack. They keep in mind the height of the grass, the position of the trees, the direction of the wind and the position of the other animals.

Horses as a hunted species are passive thinkers. They concentrate on eating large quantities of grass and run away from danger. In other words: They wait for things to happen. Keeping these instincts in mind it is normal for horses to get startled, to shy at unusual things (or even familiar things in a different place) or run when frightened. They will kick when cornered and start a pecking order when la loose with other horses. I remember saving some horses from a bushfire. I collected them in an arena. Instead of going to the furthest point away from the fire they started to establish a pecking order straight away, although they knew each other as neighbours.

I give this example because even though danger lurked around the comer, they went back to such a basic instinct as hierarchy. They will also, given the chance, start a pecking order with people. One can see many people who are afraid of their horses, because the horse has won the pecking order.

It is not difficult to become afraid of such a large animal. Horses give signals to each other that they want to be obeyed. They can put their ears back, they can attack one another with bared teeth, they can turn the rump and pretend to kick. If all fails they will go all out and really kick with hind feet or even strike with front feet. They will also give these signals to us. How many horses turn their rump in the yard when being caught?

We must take charge. The horse in the herd happily takes orders from the leader (it is for his own good). The horse, having a passive mind, is happy in submitting to our calm confident leadership.

Here are some thoughts about leadership.

First of all the horse must be our friend We must not beat a horse into submission. We must gain his confidence so he wants to obey us. We sometimes see a dog that lies flat on the ground when the owner approaches waiting for the next beating. Others wag their tail and work hard to please their owner. A horse will not lie on the ground and look up with pleading eyes. His best defence is attack, and that is why horses that are forced into submission often become sour and dangerous. This, of course, deserves more beating in the eyes of those who made the horse defend himself!

'Beating the horse into submission' does not necessarily have to be physical. It can also be mental: The work load is heavier than he can cope with, or he is made to advance quicker than his mentality and physique allows him. Such horses become nervous and therefore unpredictable. Nervousness in the herd can cause a stampede. We must show benign, calm leadership. We must not be a policeman, although we can a correct the horse sternly and with punishment, we must never forget the reward.

When, in our quest to become more skilful we are met with constant abuse from our teacher, we will soon lose confidence in our ability and often give up training. However if every minute improvement is noted and rewarded, we are pleased that our efforts were not in vain. If with a major success, the champagne is brought out, you feel great and are willing to tackle many a frustrating moment in the future.

When we train our horse we need to take a similar attitude. Praise the horse for every minor improvement and when he has achieved an extra difficult task make a real fuss of him. When things go wrong make a correction, reprimand if necessary, but reward immediately after and do not let your anger take over. Praising the horse verbally and physically has a profound influence on the horse.

When I coach students with their private horses I often make the horse stop so I can pet him too. After all we are all working together; rider, horse and instructor. Obeying can be as much a habit as disobeying The disobedient horse gets constant correction and punishment. The obedient horse gets constant reward.

Once I discussed the training of a horse with his rider, and he said that he always waited for the horse to do something wrong so he could correct it. Of course, that is the wrong way. We should create the circumstances in such a way that he can not do it wrong. If I give some examples of this it may make it clearer.

For instance, if we have a horse that does not want to make a halt with correct minimal aids. To solve this: We can ride him square into the wall and just before the wall or fence, we make our normal minimal halt aids and the horse stops. Now we reward him. We know that he had no choice but to stop, however he feels quite good being praised for something that wasn't even difficult.

Another example that comes to mind is the horse that runs on after a canter-trot transition. Try to make a small circle without pulling on the reins. He will find that quite hard when he is going fast, and will soon come back. Then a reward. Again he had no choice. If we make that little circle after each canter-trot transition, he will soon trot normally.

You see in both cases we did not fight the horse. We avoided resistance rather than conquered it. This way training goes forward without stress. We must make the horse our friend. We must do nice things to him; bring him tid-bits now and then (particularly with a new horse). Feed him personally. When his friendship and confidence has been won he will be more willing to submit to us. At all times we must show benign leadership and tell him what we want him to do. If it is new it needs reward when achieved; later certain things may be expected of him - such as being caught.

Keep in mind his passive thinking pattern, that explains why horses are happy with good leaders. They will generously submit without being subservient. He will accept punishment without nervousness. We cannot allow him to take the initiative as this is not natural for him; he is the prey not the predator. We need to guide the horse in every step. When the horse is directed toward us he will go through fire for us. He will offer himself totally. The dressage rule book calls it 'submissiveness throughout'. He will be confident and stand tall. He will do things for us he would normally not do.

Look at the dangerous jumps he is required to take going cross country. Normally he would go around them. The most important instinct of the horse is to flee. When this is harnessed it can be used for generous performance.

In all dealings with the horse we must take into consideration that we must 'go forward' in solving any problem. You must take this literally. For instance, when a horse does not want to go into a stable, it is no point pulling on his halter - someone has to stand behind him and send him forward. Here we use going forward to overcome unwillingness or fear.

When a difficult horse must go on the float, we get a lunging rein behind him.

In dressage we push the horse to create balanced paces and suppleness. We create impulsion, a desire to go forward, that can finish in brilliant movement. Franz Mairinger said 'When in doubt, ride forward'. It is not easy to make the right decisions when we deal with a living being; to deal with personality and temperament in changing circumstances. In a society where we sent a rocket up to the moon twenty years ago, many of us still have difficulty dealing with such a simple minded animal as a horse.

Xenophon wrote 2400 years ago:
'Anything forced or misunderstood can never be beautiful.'

I would like to add: Allow your horse to be brilliant.
He can not be made to.
It must come from within, because of his confidence and pride in himself and his respect for the rider.

Have a nice ride...

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[ Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 ]

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"Hi, I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Let me tell you; they are just a point of view. I did not invent horse riding or dressage. I wrote them to share my experiences in training horses with other riders. Tell me what you think!"

My email address is bhartog@horseridingcoach.com