I Never Knew I Never Knew…
As you “regulars” here know, I mostly keep this Journal a fun and - I hope! - entertaining saga of Indy’s Antics (with great thanks to my dear friend, Lynne, for coining such a wonderful phrase). Sometimes however, I feel so strongly about something that I am compelled to get on my soapbox. This is one of those times, so be forewarned!
I’ve been a horse owner since 1977, but only discovered so-called “natural horsemanship” training methods - by way of John Lyons - about seven years ago. At that time, I used some of those methods with my Morgan “teenager,” DJ. This was a true Turning Point in my long time relationships with DJ and Ami, and it insured that I would not make the same mistakes finishing Indy that I did with DJ.
I am now reading True Horsemanship Through Feel by Bill Dorrance and Leslie Diamond. The more deeply I delve into this subject, the more awestruck I become - and the more horrified at the things I did because I didn’t know any better. By most people’s standards my horses were treated very well - some said spoiled and coddled - but knowing what I know now, I see SO many things… I feel like a blind person suddenly given sight. All the while asking myself WHY I didn’t follow my gut feeling and figure these things out for myself. They were right under my nose the whole time.
An example. I’ve already posted in this Journal about how Indy never seemed comfortable in any of DJ’s snaffles, and I came to discover that was because they weren’t wide enough for his mouth. I kept thinking, how is this possible? DJ was considerably larger than Indy. Finally, of course, it dawned on me - they were too narrow for DJ too, but he had to learn to accept it.
Bill Dorrance discusses snaffles and positioning them at some length in his book. How we pull the bit up into the mouth until there are three wrinkles (sound familiar?) and if the horse opens his mouth trying to spit the danged thing out, we crank his mouth shut with a dropped noseband of a flash. Then we wonder WHY he just will NOT relax!
When I first started with DJ, he would pull like a freight train in a snaffle, mouth wide open. I was told by The Experts that he was trying to evade the bit (I wonder WHY!) and it would be more humane to put a dropped noseband on him than to be pulling on him all the time. Well, I wanted to do what was best for him, so I used a dropped noseband, and yes, he didn’t pull as much but he CERTAINLY never relaxed. He was totally relaxed in his hackamore but never in a snaffle. Gee, I guess he didn’t think it was funny, even though he was “grinning.” :o(
There are many more examples I could cite - depressing as they are - but this one will suffice. Yeah, I didn’t know any better; I was trying to do what I was told was best for DJ; blah, blah, blah… Any judge will tell you that ignorance is not an excuse. And it isn’t.
We have all these educational resources at hand, but far too often, we don’t use them. “I don’t have time for all that.” Or “I’m not patient enough for that stuff.” Or “I’m doing what I’ve always done, and I’ve won lots of ribbons doing it this way.” And I fear a number of riders actually ENJOY dominating their horses. These types wouldn’t dare listen to a trainer who told them that it’s NOT about domination, being alpha or any of that stuff. It’s about mutual understanding and partnership - a two-way street. Naw, they don’t wanna hear THAT.
SOAP BOX WARNING!
Guess what, folks? Horses are not on this earth for us to ride! Horses have a RIGHT to their own agendas - to be HORSES. Horses are intelligent beings that are in fact, far more sensitive than we are, and they have a RIGHT to have their feelings respected.
No, ignorance is not an excuse, and there is no excuse for being ignorant. All the info is at our fingertips - we just don’t bother to use it. Besides, we MIGHT find out that we’re not such “experts” after all and that just about everything we’re doing is wrong, wrong, WRONG. Quite a come down, huh?
If we are going to continue to ask horses to go against everything their instinct tells them and let a predator onto their backs, we at least OWE it to them to treat them with respect and an UNDERSTANDING of what a “horse” really is. If a person cannot take the time and effort to do that, they need to switch to motorcycles.
Okay - END OF RANT - for now.
The next installment will again feature the escapades of Indy, the Clown Prince of Morgandom. Since he’s been outdoing even himself lately, I have NO shortage of material.
Until next time…
suzym on 08.02.03 @ 10:27 PM CST [link] [4 Comments]
