What happened to the excitement and joy of learning something new? At some point in life, and I’m not sure when, having to learn something new comes together with fear, frustration, and anger. Or if? I am led to believe that our reactions to change never change, they just become more pronounced as our perception of risk grows.
I remember a short time ago watching my daughter learn new skills that she would use for the rest of her life and there was fear, frustration and sometimes anger that she couldn’t “get it” soon enough. Who told the six-month-old how long it would take her to crawl to her feet or the one-year-old how long it would take her to walk and even run? None. It was a self-perceived notion. Her reactions told the story of how she would later take on the challenges. How she would deal with her own limitations and shortcomings and trust me, was grim with the big exception that she would not stop until she reached the goal she had set for herself.
The reward she received as a child was better than any payment or recognition she received from those around her. The joy of being able to do something she had never been able to do was enough. And while adults see risks, falls, getting hurt, ridicule, shame, and failure as obvious obstacles, the child only sees the goal in the distance. So what’s up with that? What does this have to do with horses? A lot actually.
When we enter the corral with a horse, we are going to see traits in that animal that will show us how they will deal with something new. We will see fear, frustration and even anger at our attempts to teach the horse new skills that he needs to share a life with us. We need to learn from the horse and try to minimize those reactions as much as we can. This allows the horse to think clearly about what we are trying to communicate to it. We will learn how far and how fast we can go without being left out. We’ll learn their reactions to new or stressful situations so we’ll be ready to disarm them before they explode.
Let’s see the response of fear. I have worked with numerous horses who face new situations with fear, which can also manifest as anger. It can take a lot of work to replace this reaction with trust in you and that you are here for them. For me, true fear in a horse is one of the easiest problems to deal with as a horse trainer. It is easy to see and easy to empathize with the horse as no one likes to be afraid. It can also be the most difficult subject, as it can take months for the fearful horse to grow up mentally enough and be ready to move from ground work to saddle work, walk to trot, and trot to canter. Anything new has to be introduced slowly and the horse has to have a lot of time to figure it out.
Frustration and anger tend to walk a fine line. No reaction makes training sessions fun as you learn how much the horse can learn in one session or how hard to push or not push. Much of the horse’s frustrated reactions quickly turn into anger if not defused by shortening lessons or breaking them down into smaller steps. There are several ways to view frustration in a horse. They may withdraw, shut down, or even throw a tantrum. Some horses will explode and get angry when you try to push them. I have only seen a few horses that react with immediate anger. These horses are some of the most dangerous horses to work with. Reactions can be as minimal as sticking their ears up in an entire show that includes biting, kicking, and punching. With both frustration and anger, each lesson should be broken into small enough steps that the horse doesn’t feel pressured to react. Some pampered horses throw tantrums when asked to do something other than what they have in mind. It seems to be anger, but after constant training, the reaction subsides, and they enthusiastically take lessons. The key is to learn your horse’s true learning style.
Just like people, when the moment of truth arrives, they will fall back into the patterns that make them who they are. However, the more we work with our horses and establish a communication system that makes sense to them, you will see that they will trust those “instincts” less and less and learn to trust us. I work with a lot of ‘difficult’ horses, good horses don’t need fixing, and many of them need a firm, fair and, above all, consistent leader. Sometimes that means being very firm and very consistent, as you are showing that you are ‘horse’ enough to handle any situation and that you will handle all situations fairly.
