Excerpts

Chapter 1: A Tale of Two Ponies "...the first question in their mind is not who is boss, it's 'Who is the protector, and who is being protected?'...In the horse's mind, it is an automatic agreement that the protector becomes the leader." --Kim Walnes ("Being a Leader/Protector") Snickers, our first foster pony, was a charming tri-colored pinto, rescued by court order as a starved yearling. After four years at a rescue farm he was healthy, sound, and handsome, but his adoption prospects were low because he was not trained for riding. We were looking for a companion to keep my husband's retired mare company when we rode our other two horses. Fostering a horse from a rescue meant no long term obligation, or so we imagined. I love to train, and my first focus is the kind of safe, reliable behavior that helps horses find and keep long-term homes. Snickers appeared to be a fun project whose future prospects would be improved with such training.Snickers, Pony Einstein?It soon became apparent that beneath Snickers' cheerfully friendly exterior lurked a significant amount of anxiety. Since an anxious horse is neither safe nor reliable, this posed a dilemma: how to reduce his anxiety and build his confidence?Our communication with horses relies heavily on pressure, whether it is a pull on a lead line, the squeeze of a leg, or our body language. Theoretically, that pressure is a cue that tells the horse what you want, and is released when he complies. To a horse that has not been taught what it means, however, it is just pressure, and that can create anxiety even in horses who are not anxious to start with. Picture the frantic reaction of a horse who puts his head down, steps on his own lead line, and doesn't know what to do about it."Corrections" are also a big part of horse training: when a horse does something wrong, he is notified with sharp words, or more pressure, such as a yank on his lead line. Since even a stern tone of voice sent Snickers' head up in alarm, this was another source of anxiety I wanted to avoid.If I could minimize pressure and corrections, I might build Snickers' self-confidence so he would become anxious less readily in the future. I capitalized on all the positive training techniques I knew, expanding on anything that elicited cooperation and enthusiasm. I risked ignoring "misbehaviors" whenever possible, correcting Snickers only when his behavior was immediately dangerous, such as barging into my space. Even then I tried to anticipate problems and quietly redirect him before he got in trouble.For example, Snickers had a habit of using his stall door as a starting gate, shooting out the instant it opened. In the past I would have brought him up short and scolded him sternly. Instead, I headed him off. I slipped in and shut the door behind me, haltered him, and backed him up a few steps to get his mind on me instead of going full speed ahead. If he started forward when I opened the door, I backed him up again, and asked him to wait for my cue to walk forward. This meant that every time he left his stall he was getting a friendly two-minute lesson in "Back up, head down for halter, stand still, walk forward on cue." Daily repetition in this logical context reinforced the skills. He soon understood that the opening of his stall door meant back up.I used the same principles for all of Snickers' training. I showed him what I wanted, praised him for trying, ignored mistakes, and reassured him when he looked anxious. When introducing something new, I gave him time to think things through and experiment until he found the right answer. My consistently clear expectations emphasized that I was the leader; my quiet manner reassured him that he could trust me. My relationship with him was more like a friendly teacher than a dominant leader. Many trainers would have predicted that Snickers would test, disobey, and run roughshod over me. He did nothing of the sort.Snickers whizzed through his lessons so quickly he confused me. There was little resistance and no regression. Rude behaviors disappeared. He stood like a statue at the mounting block. He responded to light cues for speed up, slow down, turn, stop, and then for lateral moves. When I taught him to stop on his own if I leaned off balance, a safety feature for young and novice riders, he understood immediately. His spooks went from a wild bucking charge across the arena to spook-in-place. His confidence blossomed, anxiety creeping in only in stressful situations. He met me at the pasture gate every day as if he looked forward to his training sessions (fig. 1.1).There had to be a catch. This was not normal. Certain I was missing something, I went through a spell of being downright nervous about riding him, but the explosion I feared never came. His skills were solid, and his attitude positive--for me. Would he fall apart when he was ridden by someone else? I had one of my advanced students ride him. He never missed a beat. The first prospective adopter was a skilled riding instructor who brought along two very different riders, one gentle and timid, the other bold and determined. It was a real test for Snickers, and he passed with flying colors, adjusting gracefully to each new rider. They adopted him.Snickers left me wondering, what just happened here? How did this previously anxious pony learn so quickly, then figure out for himself how to adapt to three new and completely different riders, and do it all with calm, cheerful confidence? Was he a Pony Einstein? Or was I onto principles that not only help horses learn more efficiently, but promote the confident, willing attitude that makes them most reliable?I researched what different trainers said, and what scientific studies have to tell us. I began to suspect that Snickers' success had more to do with my change in leadership than changing training techniques. Instead of emphasizing my authority, I had focused on making him feel safe. Several other surprising discoveries emerged from my research.What I Discovered about Leadership* This Leadership approach has been around a long time and is still used by world class trainers. The following quotes reflect the recognition that horses want leaders they trust to protect them.Kim Walnes, partner of The Gray Goose (Eventing Hall of Fame 2012), says the most important thing in horses' minds is survival. When they encounter someone new, "...the first question in their mind is not who is boss, it's 'Who is the protector, and who is being protected?'...In the horse's mind, it is an automatic agreement that the protector becomes the leader." Magali Delgado and Frederic Pignon, founding stars of the spectacular Cavalia show, explain it this way in Gallop to Freedom. Although human leaders are the decision-makers, we must also be the horse's protector because "...a horse seeks freedom from fear and stress above all else..." Vanessa Bee, founder of the sport of Horse Agility, says, "They don't want to be 'on duty' all the time, so when you turn up and take responsibility for their safety for a while, they're delighted!" Her horses prove it by negotiating complex obstacles at liberty, in large grassy fields where they are free to leave. Protector Leaders inspire bonds of trust that go both ways.Over 2,000 years ago, Xenophon advised his fellow cavalry officers, "Make your horse your friend because in battle your life depends on him." Harry deLeyer, owner of Snowman, the legendary show jumper of the 1950s and 60s, summed it up in the saying, "If you take care of your horse, your horse will take care of you." * Research shows that Protector Leadership is based on horse behavior: the way horses think, learn, and relate to each other and to humans. Studies of behavior in free-roaming herds (those with little or no human intervention) consistently show that horses care more about security than rank, and security means having "friends" (close association with other horses). Other research indicates that horses who feel a close attachment to their person have a stronger sense of security, making them calmer and more focused, thus more reliable. This is significant because anxiety is more prevalent than most people realize and, along with pain, accounts for many behavior problems, including many perceived as aggression. The Value of Scientific ResearchResearch shows significant differences in domestic versus free-roaming herds. Free-roaming herds actually have fascinatingly complex social dynamics. They are not led by a single dominant individual, nor do they have a clearly linear ranking. Domestic groups, which often appear to have a dominant leader, do not represent normal social dynamics. These herd characteristics are the subjects of chapters 3 and 4.In the past, horse people tended to be skeptical of "scientific evidence," and rightly so. Horses were described as unintelligent creatures that operated solely on instinct and learned only by rote memory. Equine researchers now recognize that the intelligence and behavior of horses, like other species, are best understood in the context of what matters to them, not what matters to people. Many new studies, focused on practical application, provide truly useful insights. Brandy the UncatchableConsidering Snickers' success, I was eager to see if the same approach produced similar results with a horse of a different personality. The director of the rescue farm was happy to introduce us to another pony in need of training.Brandy was a dark bay mare built more like a small horse than a large pony. Found wandering loose in upstate New York where we are not supposed to have free-roaming horses, she was so feral it had taken months to lure her into a pasture so she could be herded into a trailer for transport to a rescue farm. I cringe to imagine how traumatic that must have been for her. It was many more months before she could be touched. Scars show she'd had serious wounds. Her eyes, though now healthy, show signs of an untreated infection. Her udder indicates she'd had a foal. All this happened before she was captured at the age, according to her teeth, of three. Like Snickers, she had been handled kindly at the rescue farm but, unlike Snickers, she had spent thirty days with a professional trainer, and returned more fearful than ever. Now age six, her adoption prospects hovered around zero. When my husband and I first saw Brandy in a paddock with a small group of mares, she seemed fairly calm. The director of the rescue turned Brandy loose in a large arena so we could observe her by herself. Brandy instantly darted away, kept her distance from us, and then dodged all of Donna's attempts to catch her. We saw no aggression, only fear. Since Brandy had not objected to Donna catching her in the paddock, I supposed that it was the presence of strangers that had triggered her flight reflex. Now every step Donna took toward her heightened her anxiety.I have always been good at catching horses. I have been doing it the same way for so long I don't remember when or how I learned, but it works. Donna, satisfied to let me have a try, joined my husband at the gate, and I moseyed into the ring. What happened next surprised even me, and that was just the first of many surprises Brandy had in store for us. Her story will continue in the next chapter as I describe how I learned to be her protector, leader, friend, and source of security (see p. 00).Protector Leadership As I studied the kind of leadership I aspired to, I could not find a consistently used term for it. Mark Rashid describes elements of it as "passive" leadership--"passive leaders" being followed willingly because they lead by example, not force. Human leaders who offer friendship and protection do lead by example, but also take initiative. Frederic Pignon describes us as "the decider." We are passive only in the sense of being quiet and patient. As a result, horses tend to be calm and quiet, creating little drama and thus rather tame training demonstrations. After many discussions, my husband and I agreed on "Protector Leadership" as the most descriptive term we could think of. The very next day, I happened upon an article in which Kim Walnes gave a wonderfully clear description of the relationship. The title of her article is "Being Your Horse's Leader/Protector." That clinched it. Training vs. Relationship Leadership is not a technique. It is a relationship, and we are the ones responsible for making it whatever it is. Good training teaches horses how to meet our expectations, but good leadership is what makes them want to. It is independent of riding style, skill level, or training style. As Mark Rashid says, "I have found that tools and techniques don't matter all that much unless they are applied with the right attitude." Horses' actions are influenced by their feelings, just as ours are, no matter how much training they have. Thus, controlling a horse's body is only part of the equation. We must also have a positive influence on his thoughts and emotions. When horses associate people with unpleasantness, their focus naturally turns to how they can most effectively avoid whatever unpleasantness they anticipate. When they have a positive attitude about us and the things we want them to do, they learn new skills readily and apply them reliably. In order to develop that willing attitude we must have communication going both ways, so that we are listening to our horses just as we want them to listen to us. After all, how long do we want to listen to people who do not listen to us? Empathy vs. Anthropomorphism Consideration for horses' feelings is sometimes dismissed as anthropomorphic (ascribing human characteristics to animals), but there is an important distinction between anthropomorphism and empathy. Anthropomorphism means projecting human motivation, feelings, or behavior onto an animal. Empathy is the ability to recognize and respect the emotions experienced by another being of any species. It is an indispensable quality of a good leader. Recognizing a horse's emotions is essential to humane treatment; we cannot relieve pain, fear, or other distress if we don't recognize them. Failing to relieve distress jeopardizes our own safety because horses' feelings are important predictors of their actions. Empathy also impacts performance. When a horse is seen only as an obedient servant or a piece of sports equipment, there is no partnership. A real partnership requires understanding a horse as an individual with personality and feelings. Margie Goldstein Engle (American Grand Prix Association Rider of the Year 10 times) described this nicely in an article titled "Empathy, the Secret Ingredient for Success." Being in Charge Protector Leadership is a responsibility position. You accept responsibility for your horses' safety and welfare, and for showing them what you expect of them. In order to fulfill these responsibilities, you must be clearly and reliably in charge. You are attentive to your horses' needs, and take them into account as you make decisions, but you make the decisions. Then you carry them out in ways that are consistent and friendly, so that you are the leader, not enforcer. This is like a teacher whose students work because they recognize her caring for them and respect her rules, not because they are intimidated by her authority or fear unpleasant consequences.Respecting your horse's needs and wishes never means indulging him. Permissiveness is not kindness. I hold my horses to a high standard of reliably good behavior. They have latitude to express their personalities and opinions, but not to be rude or unsafe. When my farrier was recovering from a broken leg, and still on crutches, my horses were the first he chose to work on. That was because, he said, they were the ones he trusted most. They did not disappoint us.Mentors and Role Models It is a fact of life that we are influenced by the actions and attitudes of those around us. If our main horse time is spent with people whose view of horsemanship is authoritarian, it is easy to see that approach as normal and acceptable, and to see horses' reactions to it as inevitable. When good horsemanship is perceived as the ability to "ride out the bucks" or "show a horse who's boss," it is easy to overlook the quietly competent people who do not provoke unwanted behavior in the first place. As I worked to improve my leadership skills, I looked for opportunities to spend time with horse people whose horses were not just obedient, but relaxed and confident. I shared ideas with horse friends who were trying to improve their own horsemanship. I thought back to people I knew in the past whom I now recognize as Protector Leaders, and reviewed in my mind how they had handled various situations. I joined an online group of like-minded people who share ideas and problem-solve together. I watched countless videos of people using body language instead of pressure to communicate with their horses. As I watched and listened to Protector Leaders, their approach became my new normal. No one person knows everything. I have learned useful things from more people than I could possibly count. In the end, our most important teachers are the horses themselves. Each horse is an expert on himself, and each horse will tell us his own truth if we listen. When in doubt, I ask my horses. Theirs is the final word. SafetyAll ideas I present are offered with the assumption that you already have safe horse-handling skills. One of the most important of those skills is the ability to read a horse's body language and assess his emotional state so you can be aware when trouble is brewing. As you plan your work with horses, please give very careful consideration to your own skills, experience, and safety relative to the behavior of every horse you handle. When I describe working with horses whose behavior was potentially dangerous, please consider that I am a certified riding instructor with many years of experience working with a variety of different horses, including re-schooling horses with problem behaviors. Protector Leadership provides guidelines that help prevent and resolve problems; it does not magically turn dangerous horses into safe ones. You must always be mindful that horses are powerful animals, easily frightened, and that even the kindest, best trained horses make mistakes and bad judgment calls, just as we do.Things to TryAt the end of each chapter are suggested "Things to Try" with your own horse, or any horse available to you. These are experiments, not training exercises. Only two rules apply: First, of course, stay safe. Second, do not measure your success by how "obedient" your horse is. There are no right or wrong answers in this context. Instead, focus on understanding your horse's responses. If you have more than one horse to engage, so much the better. Notice individual variations in their responses.Summary Horses look for leaders they trust to protect them because security is more important to them than who is in charge. Many unnecessary problems and disappointments stem from overlooking horses' need for security, while focusing instead on what we want them to do. The amount of pressure often used for training, cues, and corrections is a common source of trouble. You can offer the security horses need by being a protector/leader instead of an authority/leader. Then, horses readily accept your direction and your rules. You get better cooperation, faster learning, and more reliability. This has worked for horse people of every riding style and skill level for many centuries. Research validates that a "protector" approach to leadership is compatible with horses' natural social order. Authoritarian leadership is not. [start sidebar]Things to Try1. Write down three things you like about your relationship with your horse and might want to build on.2. Write down three things you would like to change in your relationship with your horse. 3. As you read on, watch for ideas on how to make those changes. 4. Recheck those lists a few months from now, and notice your progress.[end sidebar] Excerpted from What Horses Really Want: An Unexpected Guide to New Directions in Horsemanship by Lynn Acton All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.