Part 1

     Your horse is in self-carriage, he is totally focused on you, he willingly responds to the slightest of your aids, his back is up, his tail is swinging in the rhythm of the gait, and his ears are moving forward and backward showing his attention to the road and to you. In your connection through the reins he lets you feel the power of his motor and his willingness to submit to you. Both of you are having the time of your life and the spectators are in total awe. That is the way it should be. Now leave your dream world, mount your horse, and ride. Compare what you feel now to how you felt in your dream. May I assume that it is not the same feeling? The difference between what is (reality) and what should be (goal) causes you stress and this stress motivates you to go to work with your horse in order to do better and move closer to the way it should be. This is the most basic form of motivation. You have a goal (how it should be) and you realize that you have not reached it (how it is) and that nudges you off your seat to work towards achieving it.

     About a year ago I read in a horse magazine that about sixty percent of all show horses have ulcers. That made me wonder how our horses are doing, so I asked my students to have their horses scoped. We arranged for a sponsorship to cover the expenses and scheduled two days of scoping for ulcers in our show horses. Out of the forty horses that were volunteered we found only one with an ulcer. The veterinarian was amazed, the sponsoring pharmaceutical company was disappointed, and I was happy. It seemed that our horses were at least content. The reason I brought this story up is that to me twenty percent would have been too high a number and I would have been looking for ways to bring that number down.

     For those of you who have read any of my articles before you may have noticed that in dealing with horses the most important word is, “WHY.” Horses are unable to deliberately deceive you. If you can find the logical answer to the “why” of their behavior, it and your goal will automatically indicate to you the “how” of your behavior toward them. If there had been an inordinate number of horses with ulcers in our barn, I would have looked to their work and their care as the major sources of stress. Since in our case the horses are ridden by their owners and four different trainers, work is not a common denominator with any of them. That then would have pointed toward their care as the problem. We will discuss some of the specifics about management later on.

      Why do we own horses? I just simply have to ask this question. We can play with so many interesting toys. Why horses, I ask. There is a fascination about horses that nothing else can give us. It makes them special. That is why we want to be around horses. They are so generous toward us, yet they are equally demanding of us. Their personalities are so strong that they can totally submit to us without losing any of their pride or their spirit. That is what sets them apart. That is the reason we would rather ride a horse than a motorcycle. Let me describe two incidents which I personally observed that had opposite results.

     This first one I observed at a horse exposition in Houston, Texas. A man was demonstrating for the audience how to bombproof a horse. He wanted this horse to ignore all stimuli and stand perfectly still. By the time I arrived at the scene the horse was already in a sweat. He was tacked up in a western saddle and bridle and this man held him by a long rope that was attached to the bit. Every time the horse just as much as tried to look in the direction of a noise, he was chased backwards across the arena with the demonstrator blowing into the microphone and swinging his arms and the end of the rope at the horse’s head. All this time the demonstrator talked about the need for a very safe horse that can deal with all the sounds and surprises with which today’s world may confront him. I was so tempted to go down there, take the horse away from him, and ask him to talk to the audience about the beauty of motorcycles. They are easy to park, you can turn them off, and you will not have to worry about them moving on their own no matter what happens.

     This man was right about the need for safety around horses. He was wrong in his way to achieve it. What he was doing was to break the spirit of that horse to where it would move into a state of resignation. In order for it to do what he expected from it the horse had to give up its will to live. The horse is an animal of prey. Its ability to survive depends on its awareness of the surroundings. Its most basic instinct demands that it check out strange sounds. Such an instinct is hard to overcome and in the process of killing it many other highly desirable aspects of the horse’s mind will be lost. To me the process alone constitutes an act of cruelty. By gaining the horse’s trust, you can convince it to ignore the surroundings and obey its handler. This, however, takes skill, a great deal of time, and patience.

     Here is story two. Several years ago I was involved in a situation that showed me that a horse, although frightened into a panic, could overcome its need of flight and trust a human to help it. This was a mare that had only recently been brought to me for training. My wife, my friend, Louis, and I had just returned from dinner when we heard a loud commotion in one of the barns. It sounded like a horse was cast and struggling to get up. When we arrived at the stall, we noticed that it was this mare, and she was just frantically running around in her stall and kicking out hard. She was dripping sweat and was wild eyed. The problem was immediately obvious to us. Four or five horseflies had entered her stall and were chasing her. Since she seemed blind from panic I did not want to just let her out for fear she might run into something and hurt herself or have the flies chase her to death. Therefore, I asked Louis to please hold the gate closed after I was in the stall but open it quickly in case I had to escape. He was to not let her out if possible. Talking to her as I entered the stall, I tried to sound confident in spite of my apprehension. After a few more rounds of running and kicking she stopped the running and let me put the halter on her. All the while she was still fighting the flies by kicking at them. She pranced and kicked all the way to the wash rack where we managed to get rid of the flies with water. This horse had been handled right and she had learned to trust humans to help her. We learned to keep her covered with fly spray because even stable flies or mosquitoes made her nervous.

     Some of you may already know where I head with this. I am trying to explain what an awesome responsibility you take on when you decide to own a horse. They are not pets and they are not machines. They are living creatures that totally depend upon you for their care and well-being. We have about eighty horses boarded here and many owners have to make significant sacrifices to pay for the expenses yet none of them seems to mind. Most boarding facilities take good care of the horse’s physical needs, but horses also crave the human touch. That is the responsibility of the owner. Our horses are very fortunate in that the owners make sure that somebody will spend real quality time with their horse if they for some reason cannot be there themselves.

     In case you wonder how all of this relates to motivating for better performance, think back to the last time a friend asked you out for a game of tennis. You went but played lousy. Your heart just was not in it and you would rather have stayed home. There was no real obvious reason for your listlessness but you think it might have been because you had worked very hard lately and had not rested enough. It could have been that you had overdone the junk food and not eaten enough Wheaties. Maybe the upcoming visit of your mother-in-law had you down. There are many possible reasons for your poor performance, both physical and emotional. Horses deal with the same problems.

     Since we domesticated the horse it has become dependent on us. Therefore, we are responsible to see that it is not overworked, is fed properly, and is protected from the many stresses that may befall an animal in captivity. The horse is a living creature and, therefore, it must eat and drink, and since it is an animal of prey, it must make sure not to be eaten. Because it cannot search for food and water itself while in a stall, we must take care of these needs. Of course we all feed our horses well and many of them are overfed. Now place yourself in the shoes of your horse. Your stomach starts growling at 6:00 a.m. but there is no feed. You are a horse now so do not think like a human. Horses are like children; they want instant gratification. Horses do not set priorities in their needs. They do not let the need to lose weight override the calls of the stomach. They feel hungry now, they must eat now and if you do not bring the food, they will try to go get it and promptly start to tear the walls down. Fortunately domesticated horses have only one predator left and that is man. Thieves, abusive owners or caregivers, and some egomaniacs in search of glory on horseback are the only real threats to the survival of a horse outside of nature taking its course.

     By now you probably feel abused. That was not my intent but unless you have really studied this part of horse ownership you are not aware how sensitive a creature the horse really is. They are so big and powerful but outside of their speed they were very helpless against their former predators. Therefore, their motto for survival was, “Run first, check later!” Food, water and their position in the herd are the other major motivators for the horse.

     In the herd there was an order established through fights among the members of the herd for the right to the most succulent grass or the first spot at the water hole. After that order had been established life in the herd was easy. Horses would find their favorite playmate to run and stay fit or to just stand and scratch each other. The dominant stallion would stand guard and the alpha mare would lead.

     Now that you own the horse you are the provider for all the goods and services to keep him healthy and strong. You are also the playmate, protector and alpha mare for him. You can hire out the providing of his physical needs to boarding facilities but the playmate, protector and leader is your responsibility if you want him to fight for you in the show ring.

     Two years ago we rebuilt one barn and added another barn. In the design of the barns I made sure that all the horses could see each other. This way I hoped to create a sense of the herd. To further enhance this sense of herd we turn the same horses out in the same adjacent paddocks at the same time. This way they have the same neighbors and can make friends. Horses are creatures of habit and by creating a routine in their daily lives a great deal of frustration can be avoided. The horses are fed morning, noon and night at the same time. I feel this is important to reduce frustration over their inability to go out and search for food. At the Hanoverian stallion station in Adelheidsdorf, Germany, they have to feed up to a hundred young stallions at a time three times a day. To protect the horses at the end of the line from too much frustration they have computerized the feeding system and now with the push of a button all horses are fed simultaneously with the feed especially formulated for each of them.

     Consistency is the key to a content horse. Feeding time, turnout time, neighbors, and the feed itself must be the same since the stabled horse cannot go out to find the type of grasses that will give him the balance of minerals in the diet he needs. This balance is the secret to good health and the major feed brands conduct research to mix products that will satisfy the needs of our horses for every situation or station in their lives. Foals have different needs than show horses. Seniors need to be fed differently from mares in foal, etc. I am affiliated with Purina Mills and have visited their research facility. The work the researchers do there is very impressive and I cannot see a barn owner matching that effort to select the best mix of feeds for the various horses in her barn.

     The next need for consistency is the handler of the horse in its daily routine. I like to read about famous horses and their idiosyncrasies. Many of their riders will tell how they needed to bring the horse’s groom to the shows because the horse would fret or even go off its feed when the regular groom was not the one taking care of it.

     If you keep your horse at your barn at home, you must make sure that you keep most of these aspects in mind when planning a routine for your horse. You may not be able to do everything as described and that is okay, but I would ask you to have a companion for him. One of my students wanted to buy a horse for himself and his wife to ride and to keep it at their little farm. He asked me to help him find a suitable horse and to act as an advisor in the maintenance of the horse. The only condition I attached to that agreement was that they buy two horses. The second horse did not have to be more than a “lawn ornament” to fill their horse’s need for a herd. Horses are very social creatures and as I said before, any need not filled over a long period of time will cause frustration or worse.

     Consistency is of even greater importance when you handle your horse. Not only must you treat him the same way all the time, but you must also expect him to behave in the same manner at all times. You are the alpha in this herd of two. You set the rules and then both of you must stay within the boundaries of those rules. He is only a horse and, therefore, he will test you just as a child would. Just like a good parent, you will correct him according to the misdeed without emotion but with firmness in the same manner every time. If you feel generous today and let your horse get away with all kinds of misbehavior and tomorrow punish him as he acts in the same way, you will soon have a neurotic horse on your hands.

     There is so much to consider when owning a horse and we have not even saddled up yet. One other trait of horses is their extreme generosity and willingness to forgive. If you feel that you might have fallen short of filling all their needs, just change that part of your horse management. Be consistent about it and your horse will gladly accept your apology. One good way to find out how your horse feels about you is to go out to the paddock with the halter and observe him. If he comes to you, stands still while you put the halter on him, and then follows you to the saddle area with quick fresh steps, you are probably okay. Should he try to search all your pockets for a treat and pull you towards his stall or a grassy place, you are dealing with a brat. That is not good in children and it is not good in horses either.

     Look into his eyes and the question you want to see is, ”I wonder what we get to work on today?” How to get him there is the topic of the next article.

                                        End of Part 1