From: Charles Litwin
Hi Jessica, The msg from Jean ("Too fit for wimpy me") struck a chord. I've written you about our horse, Buddy, several times re caring for him; this time it concerns our 10-year-old daughter, Audra, too.
Buddy is your "normal" 8-year-old, healthy quarter horse, with a nice disposition and no bad habits, save one. When Audra's instructor schools him, he looks as if he's showing: great transitions, jumps beautifully, etc. When Audra gets on him, this is usually the scenario:
A few days ago, the last time this scenario played out, SHE kept going after he ran out of space and turned; she landed and skidded 15 feet. This time, she was ok; several months ago, she ended up in the hospital for two days with a mild concussion. She won't give up, and gets right back up, but her confidence is seriously shaken at this point. She wants to ride a friend's "push button" horse this week to get her confidence back, and we think it's a good idea. (In fact, her instructors tells her to ride other horses once in while just to get the experience.)
We can tell from her conversation and actions that she's really torn. She loves Buddy so much, but is scared to do anything but ask him to walk now. Her instructor has always emphasized that when she uses the crop, to REALLY use it so that Buddy gets the point. Audra didn't, and gave him taps usually. Maybe we're paying for that now. On other horses, she has great form and has won several first-place ribbons, as well as seconds-thirds. We haven't been able to work on anything lately (say, the last four to five weeks), tho', because of this "problem."
Her instructor noticed he fought the bit on the right, so we had his teeth checked and they needed to be floated. We have him turned out nearly once a day, and I have taken to longing him before lessons- something he LOVES, unless Audra is on him, then it's the "usual." We put his breastplate on so Audra would have something to grab for security if she needed it. (The last buck/bolt took her so much by surprise, tho', that she lost her seat and nothing helped.) About three weeks ago, her instructor started her on breathing exercises, which she said is good no matter how a horse is behaving. Anticipating what you said in your msg to Jean ("Horses find it incredibly difficult to entertain two ideas at once."), her instructor has always had her switching routines to keep Buddy off guard, and we encourage her to talk to him constantly. (By the way, he's on four flakes of hay and one scoop of grain in the morning and evening, with one to two flakes at lunch time.)
A big problem is the winter- everyone is stuck in the one indoor ring and all the horses are feeling it (nothing new to anyone, I'm sure!). When Buddy is ridden on the trail and indoors, he's at his best, so we suspect that being cooped up has a lot to do it. Be that as it may, he's a horse, and he's supposed to like being ridden by his owner- ANYtime. Our vet, a man with many years experience in training and medicine, told us that being ridden should be a horse's ONLY reward- that is what they should want the most. (He's not a big advocate of treats, either, but conceded that we could put them in Buddy's feed bucket a suppertime.)
We're at the point where my wife won't even go to the stable to watch lessons anymore, but sits at home just waiting for "the" phone call. I stand in the ring during the lesson so I can grab him if he takes off- a performance any major league outfielder would be in awe of! All said and done, tho', I've told Audra that SHE is the one who has to get control of him. Easier said than done.
What do you think, PLEASE? Once again- Thanks! Chuck
Many horse owners make the mistake of thinking that the horse is a human, and an ungrateful one at that -- like some sort of houseguest. They think that the horse should somehow understand that it is exchanging its services (an hour or two of total concentration, cooperation, and mind-reading) for its stable and food and vet and farrier care. But this is COMPLETELY wrong -- horse-owners do those things because THEY want to have a horse, for whatever reason... and the horse has no choice, and no voice, in the situation. It is NOT a bargain, a "deal" or an agreement. Fortunately for us, horses are sociable and cooperative and forgiving, and will put up with a lot, as long as what we ask them to do doesn't frighten them or cause them pain.
It's a lot like having a young child in school -- you would react very badly, I'm sure, if Audra was frightened of and disliked a particular teacher, and someone told you "it's her JOB to LIKE that class and that teacher, WHATEVER that teacher does or says." You wouldn't buy that -- you'd say "My daughter is a sweet, willing child and a good student, and if she dislikes one of her teachers it is NOT the child's fault -- her ability to understand and learn have already been proven, it's this other person who has the problem."
Even for an experienced and highly-motivated graduate student, it is difficult to get past a horrible instructor and focus on learning the material IN SPITE of the teacher -- for a young child in grade school, it's just impossible. Instead, the child develops stomach aches, headaches, tries to avoid that class and that teacher, and probably lives the rest of her life believing that she "hates" English or history or science or whatever the subject of the class was. And at least with your child, you can explain things and say "Mister X is a jerk, but science is actually a really interesting subject, let's go to the museum on Saturday and look at some things that you'll really like." You can't do that with the horse!
That's very much the situation that a horse is in when he has problems with a particular rider. He's stuck, he doesn't have a choice about being ridden, and from the moment he's saddled to the moment he goes back into his stall, he's confused, upset, and uncomfortable. His conclusion: riding, at least THIS person's riding, is unpleasant and something to avoid.
If the horse enjoys being ridden by a particular person, he will go happily and cheerfully -- and as you have seen, if an experienced, competent rider is on board, Buddy does just that! This means that he does understand when he is spoken to correctly and clearly. For a horse, what makes the ride enjoyable is comfort and clear, calm communication from the rider.
If a horse -- any horse, not just Buddy -- does NOT enjoy being ridden by a particular person, he has his reasons, but he can't talk. Buddy can't give voice to his complaints and say "This person isn't speaking clearly, and she confuses me, hurts my mouth, hurts my back, makes me afraid." All he can do is show you, through his actions, what the problem is -- and that means that you must be able to understand what his actions are telling you.
AUDRA, BUDDY, COMMMUNICATION, and INSTRUCTION
Your description of Audra asking Buddy to trot is VERY clear, so you are obviously a good observer! Now, you'll have to learn to interpret what you are seeing.
First of all, just from your description of the situation, it's clear that Audra is frightened of Buddy and is not using her legs; she's trying to use her hands instead, to hold him back. When she asks the horse to go forward, she doesn't give him room with the reins -- and without pressure from the rider's legs, there is no actual request for forward movement. So when she taps or hits him with the crop, she may THINK this means "ignore my lack of leg and my tight hand, just GO FORWARD," but that's not what it means to Buddy -- what HE hears is "Don't move forward, but DO SOMETHING NOW!" A normal horse's first reaction to that will be to walk backward or to jump up and down in place, and eventually -- if you don't address the underlying problem -- he will rear. And if all else fails, he will try to remove himself from the whole unpleasant situation by running away.
Horses are not machines, but in this instance you might consider a comparison with a computer, just in the sense that as long as there is nothing wrong with it, it will reliably do what you TELL it to do, although that may not be at all what you WANT it to do. How often have we pressed the wrong key and gotten "the wrong response" -- it was the correct response to the key we pressed, but NOT the response that we WANTED, from the key that we MEANT to press...
It's very common for a nervous rider, told to "make your horse trot", to hit the horse while holding him back at the same time -- because the rider really doesn't WANT to trot, and is afraid of the horse going forward too quickly or energetically. So the rider clashes her aids, saying "Go forward" and "Stop, stay here" at the same time. The horse is getting conflicting signals -- it's either being told two contradictory things, or it's being held in one place and punished for no reason, and it will inevitably become resentful or frightened. A resentful horse is likely to buck; a frightened horse is more likely to make a run for it. A resentful horse that gets punished further will usually become fearful -- a fearful horses that gets punished for its fear will become terrified -- or resentful.
Audra needs to ride some other, older, child-proof horses until she learns more about riding, and feels more confident about her ability. There's no reason to put her at risk just to make an imaginary point to the horse, who won't understand it anyway! Buddy will be a better horse for her when she is a better, more experienced rider.
Not all horses, no matter how sweet, are suitable for beginner riders -- just as not all teachers, no matter how nice, are suitable for beginners or young children. Some of this has to do with temperament, and a lot of it has to do with training. The more highly-trained the horse, the less accepting it is of ineptitude on the part of the rider. A good school horse for a beginner is a patient animal that has been ridden by so many different people that it has learned to generalize -- ANY sort of thump anywhere on its sides means "go", and ANY sort of pull sideways means "turn", etc.
A horse that has been trained to respond to specific, clear, gentle aids will offer a set of completely different responses to the rider's legs, depending on whether the rider uses a squeeze with one leg, with two legs, with one leg at the girth and the other leg behind it, and so on. The more detailed the horse's knowledge, the more the rider must know to be able to ride it! At this point in her riding, Audra needs to be safe and secure, so that she can learn, and she needs to be on a forgiving school-horse who has learned to generalize and interpret a variety of aids from a variety of riders.
Audra also needs a good instructor who will teach her not just WHAT to do, but HOW and WHY and WHEN to do it. So many children take lessons for years without ever learning to ride -- they learn to assume a position and pose in it, but they aren't taught anything about horses OR riding OR cause and effect! It hurts them later on, because if they do become interested in learning to ride, they have to start over.
Beware of instructors who want beginner riders to punish the horse for failing to understand. Saying "hit the horse" is not enough. If the horse is not moving forward, and Audra's instructor thinks that Audra should hit it -- this is already a bad sign, by the way! -- then she should give complete instructions: "Audra, you are going to hit the horse, not as a punishment, but to make him move FORWARD, so loosen your reins and take a handful of mane, or hold on to your neckstrap, and be ready for him to JUMP forward when you hit him, and just go with whatever he does -- we don't care WHAT it is as long as it's forward."
The trouble with asking a child to do this sort of thing is that unless the child understands what to do and why to do it, the whole idea makes the child nervous, and the instructor has to be very clear in her explanations. The child thinks that her "job" is to punish the horse for "being bad" -- and this will set her up for a lifetime of failure with horses.
Look at the situation from Buddy's point of view: If Audra hits him to send him forward, but doesn't open a door for him, and holds the reins tightly, he is going to "learn" one of two things: (1) Audra didn't really mean for him to go forward, so that is NOT what the crop means, or (2) Audra meant for him to go forward, and he did what she asked -- and was punished for doing it! This is why well-trained horses can behave very differently for beginner riders -- the horses are getting confusing, mixed signals from the riders, and they never know when they've done something right, or exactly what they've done wrong. Eventually they come to dislike the rider, and they just want to get away. Horses are VERY accepting of discipline, but they resent unfair punishment. And no beginner rider can offer effective discipline -- beginners lack the balance, judgement, and timing to discipline effectively. Beginners hit inappropriately, or too late, or they punish the horse in the mouth -- they don't discipline, they punish, and that's another can of worms entirely.
If you can find a good dressage instructor in your area, it would help a lot to get Audra a few lessons with someone who can teach her about horses and riding, and who can help her begin to learn about cause and effect. Not all riders, and not all instructors, understand this, and as long as effect (Buddy's behaviour) is confused with the cause (Audra's riding), progress will be slow and painful,and communication between Audra and Buddy will be poor.
Even if Audra is learning hunt-seat, as I suspect she is, some basic dressage lessons with a good instructor will do her nothing but good. Many instructors are comfortable teaching "cues" -- "You do A and your horse does B, you do X and your horse will do Y" -- but don't know the language of the aids; this doesn't teach the riders very much! It's a bit like memorizing ten phrases in another language -- as long as what you need to say is covered by those ten phrases, you're fine. But if you haven't learned anything about the language, you can't construct a sentence of your own, and you can't understand what anyone else is saying to you. And if those phrases aren't what you need to say, screaming them more and more loudly won't help -- the people you're screaming at aren't DEAF, they just don't UNDERSTAND. Riding is another form of communication -- if the horse doesn't understand what you want, and if you aren't making yourself clear, you can "yell" louder and louder with your hands and legs and crop and spurs, but it won't help the horse understand you any better. If Audra is going to be a good, safe, secure rider, she needs to learn the language of the aids so that she can really talk to AND LISTEN TO her horse.
BUDDY: EXERCISE AND FEEDING
One thing that will help quite a lot will be to deal with Buddy's actual needs for exercise and food. I suspect that he needs MUCH more exercise, and he's being fed as though he were an active cavalry horse covering thirty miles a day with a heavy rider on his back. Good hay, water, and salt (and a handful of grain IF the vet feels that he NEEDS grain to compensate for inadequate hay) is plenty for the average QH, even in moderate work. Buddy is getting the high-energy, high-performance diet and being given no chance to work off his energy, then he is brought out of his stall and asked to be a quiet and understanding mount for a child. This is a formula for trouble! And it's dangerous for Buddy, too -- overfeeding can lead to obesity, founder, and colic. Talk to your vet about the amount of food Buddy is getting and the amount of exercise he is getting -- I'm sure your vet will help you come up with a safer and more sensible horse management program.
Audra's riding education is important -- unless you see this as a temporary, casual hobby for her. But either way, your #1 concern has to be her physical safety, and learning to ride on a confused, under-exercised, overfed horse is NOT safe. Look around your barn and see whether there might be a suitable horse that you could lease or part-lease for Audra to learn on. I'm sure that her instructor will be happy to help you -- she must be concerned for Audra's safety and security, too. And if she isn't able to provide the instruction or the help that Audra needs, then another instructor would be an excellent idea. If Audra has a good time and learns to ride and appreciate horses NOW, you will have given your daughter a sport she can enjoy for a lifetime. It's worth going to some trouble to see that she learns to ride and care for horses properly. My own instinct would be to put her into Pony Club, because it's the ONLY organization that teaches and tests horse care and horse management together with riding skills. If you want more information, I can put you in touch with the Pony Club nearest you.
Let me know how it goes!
- Jessica
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