When I Listen To Horses

I am so grateful Ruby Rose came into my life. But there was a time when I so wished our paths hadn’t crossed. A client came to select four mares for her breeding program. Ruby Rose was one of these. She was an eight year old Appaloosa that had spent all of her life running with a mob of 20 to 30 brood mares. She was unhandled. Part of the contract of sale was to have the mares float trained so that they could be floated rather than free trucked. Like my dad says,” If there are 4 screws to be removed from a piece of timber, then one of them is likely to prove difficult.” My float training seemed to parallel the same story. Three mares were a trainer’s dream to work with. Ruby not so. But as I began to think about it, I accepted full responsibility for my total lack of progress. I should have thought of the old saying “Same, same, Different”.  While Ruby was a horse the same as other horses, her experiences, her herd status, her limited interaction with humans and a million other thi...

 As I worked with my twelve-year-old Appaloosa this morning, I became aware that at one point we were not understanding each other. When this happens, I believe it is critical to listen to what the horse is trying to tell us. They want us to understand things from their point of view. So, we have to try our best to work out where we may be confusing them. Can we break it down into smaller bite size bits or can we present the idea in a different way? It is so important to try rather than repeatedly bludgeoning on in the same manner, otherwise if we don't listen, the horse's voice will get louder. Bucking, rearing running away, freezing and rising frustration can result and that is not the way to build our relationship with our horse. I am reminded of a comment from Leslie Desmond when she said. "How important is a 'Yes', when 'No' has no value. Really listening is an important part of communication and leads to building any relationship.