Skybreaker fall of 2014
Have you ever been in a situation with your horse when you wanted to either strangle, decapitate, or leave your precious pony on the side of the road with a sign dangling from his neck saying “FREE”? Of course hundreds of you are going to quietly pretend you’re not human for a second and shy away from this article out of pure dismay. However, the other more honest group of fellow equestrians might nod their heads in agreement.
Obviously we all adore, love, can’t live without, and can’t imagine our lives without these darling creatures, but there are those moments in our riding careers, where our horses truly test the limits by pushing all of our buttons simultaneously. Like the time when “Suzie” would NOT load on the trailer for SIX hours, which was puzzling because Suzie loaded the last nine hundred and sixty two times. Or the time when “Jade” would NOT, I mean would NOT go anywhere near that stream, to the point where you fell off twice in attempting to get the horse through the water.
We’ve all been in, or we will be in extremely trying situations with our horses where our patience will be tested immediately. How do we avoid the inevitable, or the nearing boiling point with our horses? How do we avoid confrontation, and how do we basically cool our jets, when the going gets rough?
Eventing requires a certain amount of grit, combined with that inherent just jump in already and get it done sort of attitude. Event riders need to be bold, brave, gutsy and thrill seeking. I’m fairly certain that other equestrian sports require these characteristics, though I can only speak from an Event rider’s point of you at this moment in time. Not only do we need to possess these skills, but we also have to learn how to relax and keep our cool when the adrenaline hits an all-time high.
Learning how to ride and learning how to be an analytical person takes years for some, decades for others, and a lifetime for several other individuals. Understanding our horses and the way they actual think and react is not an easy task, but can be accomplished. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard riders say, “my horse is being a jerk,” or “my horse is being an idiot,” or “my horse doesn’t like x, y, and z.” It’s so easy to blame a problem on a horse and not take responsibility for ourselves and our actions, or lack of actions in many cases.
We need to learn how to rephrase our questions, such that our horses are not the bad guys. In other words, “how can I explain this better to my horse?” Or, “what could I do differently in order to get a more appropriate response from my horse?” Or, “How can I get inside my horses head right now, so I can better understand where this episode derived from?”
Unfortunately, I have witnessed riders losing their tempers with their horses. I’m guessing, many of us have witnessed this, or have experienced this in some form or another. At the end of the day, no matter what discipline, or what level you ride at, or whether you’re a professional or an amateur, you need to learn how to keep your cool.
If the ‘drama’ with your horse is escalating, figure out a non-confrontational way to deal with this drama. Don’t add fuel to the fire by battling it out with a horse. Your horse is not being “bad,” or being a “jerk,” but instead your horse does not understand what’s being asked of him or her. We have to learn how to be diplomatic with our horses.
Learning to cool our jets seems easier said than done. When the going gets rough, we have to learn how to control our tempers and read our horses. We have to be private investigators and truly understand what makes our horses react to certain things.
We have to get inside our horses brains and understand the way they think. We have to find, or discover a non-confrontational, and usually non-verbal form of communication with our horses. We need to be problem solvers, not soldiers ready for battle at a moments notice.
There are absolutely going to be trying moments with your horse, or in our riding careers, but it’s our job as the human being to take the high road, and the more advanced and sophisticated road by not battling with our horses.
