Horse Sense and Cents

With the proliferation of social media and instant global networking, it seems every day there’s another opinion-driven outcry concerning what others shouldn’t be doing with horses. Unfortunately, most who support a pitch crafted to incite rarely take the time to understand the issues. This tends to be the case with any politically motivated activity (and regrettably, often those also designated to serve and appointed or elected to decide the fate of others), but it’s grabbing hold of the equine industry with a vengeance and should be cause for pause. Sadly, many fixated on the rallying cry don’t even have contact with horses, or in many cases, the equine industry.

There are usually at least three sides to a story – the opposing arguments (count that as two) and the truth.

Look before you leap

Any time a niche industry invites government regulation or assistance (read uneducated interference), there are negative ramifications that most don’t envision. Costs escalate. Who considers compliance demands, added operational difficulties, deep pocket influencers with their own agenda and the huge hit to efficiency in supporting client desires when they scream for intervention? Certainly not the masses who have no horse in the race, so to speak.

Over time, the rules put in place are completely counter-productive to the aim of the action. Just take a look at what’s going on with farming in US as an example of subsidies gone very wrong. Purported to help sustain the family farmer, federal and state policies are literally levelling generational, privately-owned farms (and our agricultural heritage and resources), while supporting corporate facilities and/or the city slicker with a savvy CPA.

It is always amazing to see a politician call a press conference to boast about how generous he’s been in securing money for us. It’s our money he’s spending so liberally – without our consent!

The horse industry and horse lovers have specific interests and issues that cannot be effectively addressed by legislation governed by a body of people who may only know a horse “as seen on TV.”

What cause did you join today?

Did you ask the government to take action concerning the BML mustangs? How’s that going for you?

Are you screaming to have the government intervene to keep the band of horses running free in Florida? Have you considered what happens to these horses when they are injured or sick? How about the fact that these are domesticated animals that may have actually enjoyed the job they were doing?

What about the multitude of Human Society hysterics over the cruel practice of hunting, carriage driving in NYC, leaving horses free (so they can starve to death) and, now it seems, allowing horses to be domesticated (they already are – we’re no longer dealing with an animal that is equipped or genetically programmed to return to an unfettered life and most seem to want to work with kind humans).

Are you lobbying the government to divert funds to maintain horse access to public land? Careful what you wish for here as it may come back to bite you.

Are you scrutinizing and reporting your neighbor’s apparent abuse while you toss your horse over to a boarding barn that “takes care of him” while you’re too busy to engage him in an interesting activity and/or give him attention? Have you considered how that behavior may be hurting your horse?

Have you bothered to take the time to learn about the cause you are supporting by seeking out contrary opinions and making a decision based on knowledge vs. hype?

Bring the heart strings home

Before you leap into the fray demanding that others consider the horse, try listening to yours. If you pay attention, they’ll tell you what they want, and it’s rarely what you suspect. Most horses, when given a chance to be understood, will jump at the chance to get engaged in a job they enjoy. If you’ve picked the wrong career for him or are not effective at striving for communications both ways, care for him enough to let him shine with a better match and go get a made horse already prepared and willing to do what you want (or an instructor, or trainer who can help you reach your mount).

Have you really looked at your horse lately? Is he bored? Overweight? Underweight? Frustrated? Difficult? Dull-coated? Cranky? Ill? Consider allocating some of the time you spend pushing causes that other’s propose closer to home by getting to know your horse better and listening to what he’s trying to tell you.

If you’re still intent on spending majority time arguing other people’s causes, at least get educated. Before you trumpet a message to the masses to get their equine house in order, take the time to research contrary opinions and the possible outcomes of your call for mandates.

It’s troubling that so much time and effort is devoted toward bandwagon efforts to control  the horse industry when so many horses are being neglected or misunderstood at the homes of those who are quick to condemn but slow to see.  Go hug your horse tonight and maybe you’ll learn more from that simple act about what horses really need from you than you ever imagined.

Sneak Peak excerpt from Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners. Due for public release in 2010.

Red

Red came to us after having been “broke” by a girl who had little experience and less heart. She gave up after this four-year-old filly began flipping immediately following her hopping in the saddle. Apparently this went on for awhile, and this steed learned she could immediately and successfully end the lesson

with this strategy.

We spent some time on the ground with Red, as it was apparent she needed some preliminary guidance that had been skipped. We also wanted to establish communication benchmarks. She was actually responsive and compliant when we proceeded to under-saddle lessons in the round pen. Once we moved out of the confines and routine of this space, however, the flipping penchant resurfaced. In this case, we were able to step off as she went past perpendicular and hop back into the saddle while she was still on the ground, staying with her as she returned to her feet. That was the last time she flipped.

We had another week or so of good progress with this filly before her behavior deteriorated, and this time, she decided to lay down after we stirruped up. She was flat out on the ground and wouldn’t move. We sat on her neck (this is usually referred to as sitting on their heads, but that’s not really where you want to put your weight – horses cannot get up without their head and neck to use for momentum and the back of the neck is the safest place to be for both you and your horse) to immobilize her with a strategy designed to discourage this behavior in the future.

Horses tend to panic when they can’t get up and trapping an intentional flipper immediately generally teaches these horses to never go there again. She didn’t care. Red lay there, on the ground, perfectly content being stuck. This was a first. There was something really wrong with this filly. We didn’t have

enough information to determine if there was some major underlying physical problem that was causing this behavior (she traveled sound and seemed to be unencumbered by pain, but we didn’t dig too deep) or if she just had a major screw loose.

Either way, this was one of the few we quickly determined was best to toss back. We called the owners and admitted defeat.

They decided to forgo any future starting attempts and bred her instead. We’ll let someone else tackle that progeny beauty when it’s time to start riding lessons.

There’s been a recent barrage of messages lately through blogs, online forums, DVDs and other platforms that lambaste those who use tactics that ignore the horse’s needs. Of course, most of these directives are worded in a techie fashion that excludes the neediest novices from the conversation. It’s also interesting that some of the more vocal horse advocates are rude to the people who chime in with limited understanding and questions in an effort to learn. It kind of makes you wonder how they really handle a confused or green horse when no one is looking (and sometimes, even when they have an audience). When it comes to horses, though, anyone who professes a single right answer to a challenge may benefit from some basic observation and the associated horse sense it generates – provided they’re open to learning.

What’s a horse novice to do?

That’s the beauty of the uninitiated equine enthusiast – and the danger. They’re sponges for knowledge and easily influenced by messages that seem to offer easy answers, but may be designed with a profit motive in mind that doesn’t serve either the horse or handler. It’s sad that some who may have the knowledge and the willingness to share what they’ve learned over decades of kind approaches to horse interaction make their words so esoteric, the most eager learners flee feeling too ignorant to grasp the ideas being offered or fearful of being judged  if they join the conversation. Those who really want to help the horse should consider how their buzz words and platforms designed to impress their peers alienate those they claim to want to help.

Let horses teach you

Horses are great at communicating – if you know how to listen. It’s hard for anyone who hasn’t had a good deal of experience with a variety of horses to be able to read what a horse is trying to tell you. Often, it’s equally hard for someone who’s learned to reach horses in a subliminal fashion to express to others how they do it. Sometimes, it seems those who hide behind words and concepts too abstract for the most basic learners to understand do so intentionally to hide their failings.

Draw from the experience of those willing to speak your language

So, how can the novice begin to learn how to structure a plan to consider the horse? Spend time watching your horse and seeing how he reacts to what you do. Mix it up and carefully observe what he responds to with eager enthusiasm. Try to find people you trust who speak to you in terms that are clear with an approach that is flexible and responsive to your horse’s learning and performance preferences. Seek out those who are able to express ideas in simple terms, and willing to demonstrate, graphically, how certain actions influence the horse’s behavior. Ask people who are getting good results and building great relationships with their horses how they did it – and see if you can observe them in action. Use your head on what seems right and fair and where tactics designed to create a compliant horse may not make a happy horse.

The truly successful are humble

Some of the most successful human leaders in the world are humble, accessible and able to speak to anyone of any status or education as a respected and appreciated peer in a language that is easy for them to process and implement. The same holds true for those working with horses in a stand-out fashion. Those who use communications to dominate, impress, posture, separate and/or put others in a place below their status are suspect – both when it comes to human and horse communications. Learning should be fun for all involved and those who can make it easy for both the horse and human to understand, implement and embrace are special.  Sometimes they lurk in the most unexpected places. Finding someone with truly selfless motives where both you and your horse are concerned (and some of these people may charge for their knowledge – but it’s clear early on that it’s not about profit, but satisfaction in improving the experience for both you and your horse) is a joy. If you haven’t discovered such a resource yet, keep looking. They’re out there.

Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners due for public release in 2010. Discounted bulk pre-publication orders now being taken.

Chapter Eight

Sometimes they’re just plain crazy

On occasion, you really do find yourself burdened with a nut. While preliminary bad breaking definitely exacerbates problems, when you strip it all down and finally get past the baggage, there are times you must admit that the horse you’re working with is simply just not right in the head. Interestingly, these critters can be very predictable in what sets them off, but how they react is never a given. Surprisingly, they can usually handle distractions and circumstances that should make a sane horse blow, but freak out with stuff that shouldn’t be a concern.

Crazy horses rarely give you an opportunity to completely relax. There will always be issues that make them occasionally frustrating and often dangerous. Horses that are totally governed by fear rarely consider their own welfare when reacting, and this is a common trait of equines who are nuts. Mean horses are always limited with what they will do by a self-preservation instinct, making them at least predictable in how far they will go. Not so with crazy horses. They’ll crash through fences, impale themselves, flip, run off on unsafe ground, and have occasions when they go deaf, blind, and oblivious to immovable objects that cross their panicked path, while reacting to ghosts in ways that make no sense.

Sometimes, you’ll encounter a psycho that has so much talent it seems worth the effort. Usually, it isn’t. Still, we’ve had some success with crazies, and some failures too. Most, ultimately, leave you shaking your head on the time and money spent to get them two strides forward and ten steps back, wondering if the sanity issue extends beyond your equine’s behavior and if there’s a white jacket in your size.

While it seems prudent to try to recover your investment, sometimes it’s best to cut your losses. Time and money gone is just plain lost — and putting good money after bad is rarely a good idea.

If you’re determined to proceed, the anecdotes below may help guide you in your quest.

Flash — hurdler extraordinaire

Flash was a narrow, five-year-old, 15.1-hand Thoroughbred that somehow wound up as a lesson horse at an area riding stable. He was a terror with students, running off at will and occasionally unseating the brave kids who dared to try to conquer him. One of our former riding instructors asked us to take a look at this horse. She was considering buying him. He was deemed unsuitable as a lesson horse (imagine that) and was on the block. We hopped on him in the arena, and after a brief flatwork primer, pointed him at a 2’6” line (there was something about this horse that squealed natural talent over fences). He cleared the fences easily, correctly, and with a ton of finesse. He had never jumped. We leapt off immediately and said “buy him.”

She didn’t, and we landed the prize for $500.

The next three years netted unimaginable nightmares. We figured he had just been mishandled, poorly started, and conditioned to react inappropriately. Certainly, with patient and skilled guidance, he’d transform into a cooperative steed. We were wrong.

We’d spend minutes or hours working with this horse one day, progressing to a new understanding, only to find those lessons not only lost but problems magnified by the next day.

Compounding the frustration was the fact that this horse would willingly clear jumps of any size placed before him, but was out of control after hurdling the fence, not to mention during flat exercises. We progressed to the point where we were competing in events, and if we didn’t get eliminated in dressage (this was a common occurrence — he had no qualms about hopping over the arena perimeter, particularly when the judges used a horse trailer for shelter), we were sure to go clean during cross-country and stadium, almost always finishing in the ribbons. Consequently,

we were thrilled if we were able to complete the first phase. We were also convinced his incredible talent over fences made it worth the temporary embarrassment and extreme frustration borne while we worked through his issues.

Seven tips for making winter weather a great time to get horsey

There’s so much to do at the farm on any given day, but when footing or blustery conditions cause us to choose to stay out of the saddle, there’s still an opportunity to spend time with horse scents and activities that allow us to connect with our companions (and get excited about the coming of spring). As you start to get frustrated about the weather and grumpy because you can’t seem to figure out how to replace the spiritual energy that comes from the equine connection, here are some ideas to get your mind right and your time well spent:

1. Spend quiet time with your horse. Even if it’s simply watching them enjoy time in the paddock and/or observing how they spend time with other equines, hanging out in the stall or catching up on grooming or handling activities that you may have neglected a bit in active months, you can use this time to learn and bond.
2. If you don’t already have one, buy a calendar or planner that records and tracks all care and issues with your horse. Include records and schedules for vaccinations, the blacksmith, worming, medical surprises and results, mare cycles and findings if you’re breeding, training schedules or objectives – whatever is important for you and your horse to ensure continued health, happiness and success.
3. Start a journal. Really watch your horse and strive to learn from him. You might be amazed at how seemingly little observations can reveal patterns and teach you more about you and your horse.  Horses are great teachers when we let ourselves see what they try to say. There’s also a great opportunity to grow in quietness. Winter provides a time to watch, reflect and connect.
4. Go through all your tack, brushes, equipment, supplies and tools.  Clean it, check it, fix it, discard it and replace or repair the damaged. Think about creating a good first aid kit and having it handy (see http://horsesenseandcents.com/blog/2009/09/page/2/ for some ideas to include).
5. Devote extra time to giving your horse attention he enjoys. This is a great time to learn what he really likes and grow in your knowledge by watching how he responds to you as a result. Use this time to try to better understand how horses communicate and find ways you can develop a language your equine can more easily understand.
6. Explore new ideas for learning more about horses. This could include forum participation, books, conversations with trainers, finding blogs that appeal to you, going to equine conferences or demonstrations or even really listening to what your horse is trying to tell you.
7. Get ready for spring!  Share all your plans and excitement about the coming season with your horse and you may be surprised how quickly he absorbs your enthusiasm.

Sneak Peak excerpt from Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners. Due for public release in 2010.

Horse Sense for sour equines

• Rule out physical issues that may be causing pain and the horse’s associated frustration in his failure to communicate.

• Do not continue to push a sore horse, or you will only make him sourer and could turn him mean. Give him the help and the time required to heal prior to resuming training.

• Figure out whether routine or varied activities are the preference of your sour horse and give him what makes him happiest.

• Be patient, flexible, and accommodating with a sour horse when their behavior is justified. Conversely, if you’ve taught a horse to be sour by rewarding bad behavior, resolve to stop the pattern or get some help.

• Try getting a horse out of the routine with some fun activities, trail rides, and long walks if his sour behavior is likely due to too much of the same grind. Some sour horses will bounce back pretty quickly once relieved of the drill that has made them bored and cranky.

• It is rarely effective to discipline a sour horse for his behavior. If a horse has come to resent riding, punishing them aboard only reinforces this conviction. Instead, try finding an easy activity they enjoy and rewarding them for their cooperation. Once you’ve gained a rapport, reintroduce them to the discipline training in lighter doses and with greater rewards for their achievements.

• Horses that have turned sour rarely become standout competitors (unless you change their career to something they learn to enjoy), nor fun pleasure horses. If your aim is to put them back into the routine that created their sour nature (unless this is due to pain you address and correct), you are likely to be disappointed. Consider a different project.

• Find some riding activity that’s really fun for your sour horse and reward him with this after every positive response to a lesson (this could be trail riding, jumping, riding with a companion horse, going fast, going slow, a long rein, a swim in a pond – each horse is different and you need to figure out what makes your horse happiest).

• Know when to call it quits. Sour horses are some of the toughest to turn and sometimes there is no reward for the effort. If you come to hate riding or working with this horse, it may be time to say goodbye. Quality of life (yours and theirs) is something worth considering with these projects.

Tim Van Loan launched www.HorseShoeCorner.com in July of 2008. It’s an interesting concept borne from personal challenges. While he’s still working on gaining critical mass to make it a regular destination for buyers, he has created some useful tools for those tired of trying to compare horse services and products.

Horse Sense and Cents for geographical markets

Basically, the site came about due to the frustrations he experienced searching for a suitable boarding facility in central New York State for dressage horses.  After a four hour search that discovered a perfect facility, until he realized it was in California, he saw a need for a better solution and started the research that became www.horseshoecorner.com. This site allows the viewer to put in geographic and facility parameters for 13 business types, which include boarding facilities, tack shops, massage therapists, trainers and more. The site also includes horses for sale, classified ads, a US national events calendar, discussion forums, articles and product reviews.

Virtual equine store needs more product

Right now, Tim says “I’ve built the largest equine store in the world, I just have empty shelves.” He’s looking to increase the number of equine businesses listed and is offering free membership to all for a three month period (and isn’t requiring he capture your credit card information to do so).  So, if you’re a horse service provider or sell equine products, this might be a sight worth trying to move your wares. We’ll be putting a link to the Horse Sense and Cents blog up there as soon as design is completed and if we can get a day without gray skies and ice, we’ll probably head out with a camera to capture some of the horses for sale at the farm. I can see a lot of ways we could use the site to promote Halcyon Acres services and plan on doing so in the near future. I’ll report back on the results. Of course, you can’t beat the price, so it’s a matter nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Horse non profits reside free here

Another interesting feature of this initiative is a not-for-profit component. It’s actually a clever business idea and I’ll be curious to see if it proves effective. Realizing critical mass is going to be necessary to attract visitors, Tim’s crafted a program where he offers non profits (interest seems to be coming primarily from the horse rescues) the profits for membership sales they make. The non profit will be able to sell the annual membership for a reduced rate of $30, $10 of which will go to horseshoecorner.com’s administrative costs, with the rest going to the organization. These organizations also get free membership to the site for a year.

What are you selling, or buying?

Right now members on the site come from a variety of states and the focus is not on New York. If you have tack or horses for sale, are an equine business, or work for an industry that supports horse activities, try it and feel free to comment here on what you find. If you want the free three-month membership, you need to contact Tim directly at either info@horseshoecorner.com or (607) 369-2982. And for the feds now mandating full disclosure (and readers who want to know), there are no paybacks involved in this one. I just like what he’s trying to do and hope it works for him and us.

It can be tough to find good horse blogs. These are some we recommend you take a look at if you’re interesting in finding news of note. We’ve taken the time to review the sites and provide summaries below.  Hope you enjoy these finds as much as we did.

www.equinevip.com

This is a website home page, but it reads like a blog. It includes videos and focuses on people who have attained status in our society and enjoy horses.  Interviews and coverage ranges from mounted police, horse riders and trainers, non-equine celebrities and others who have a connection with equine companions. The site has a registration and log-in feature, but the videos are available to anyone who goes to the website along with blog-like written content without a log-in requirement. Posts are not in chronological order, but they are fairly frequent.

http://irishvillageatweg2010.blogspot.com/

This blog is a lot of fun with videos showing the versatility of the Irish Draught and Irish Draught Sport Horse as a teaser to demonstrations planned for WEG at Kentucky Horse Park in 2010. Short copy makes this an enjoyable and easy read with the support of mostly YouTube Links to Irish Draught progeny (a very different breed than the American version of drafts) that will be featured in showcase events. Sarah McMullen has created a reference for those interested in updates from WEG with a special focus on the Irish Draught and a dynamic and timely resource to keep you alerted to new happenings regarding this landmark event.

http://thealphamare.wordpress.com/

This is a new blog with only three posts to date, but worth checking out. The author discusses some horse and training techniques along with leadership issues as they pertain to horses and people.

Sneak Peak excerpt from Turning Challenging Horses into Willing Partners, due for official publication in spring, 2010

• The round pen provides the close quarters to begin to develop a rapport and trust with a timid horse. Here, you can establish some basic body language cues supported with voice commands to present yourself as a confident, kind guide while you encourage and reward your steed to tackle future requests with courage. While many contemporary horsemanship methods advocate considerable training time in the round pen, we’re not convinced this is a good approach, and have found it is not effective with timid horses. It’s a good starting point for a few days to see and guide the horse, but not the best environment to bring a timid horse along. Exposing them to various concerns in differing environments with a steady and unflappable nature is more effective in helping these horses blossom.

• Timid horses tend to respond much better to praise than punishment. Most timid horses love a pat or an encouraging voice when they face and conquer a challenge. Conversely, a stern voice and/or training that incorporates stimuli designed to discourage behavior tends to make them more wary.

• Take your time with timid horses. Their condition is often the result of too much, too soon. It’s important to gain their trust, and bolster their confidence, by encouraging them with your steadiness to tackle easy tasks they can understand and learn to enjoy.

• Make early lessons quick and easy for an immediate win. Timid horses blossom and excel after just a few sessions if they have a confident hand and are rewarded for their effort.

• Buddies can be a good tool for encouraging timid horses, but don’t overdo it. While another horse can help avoid some challenges, it’s equally important to establish a trust in the human handler to keep them out of harm’s way. If all issues are resolved by another horse leading the way, the timid equine will not gain the confidence in themselves and their rider/handler to excel.

• Give timid horses the time to process a lesson. Rush them and they will become more concerned and less trusting of you.

• Be fearless with timid horses. They will sense your concern and react. If you can’t be confident, patient and calm in all situations you introduce them to, find someone who can.

I imagine if my horses could manage a keyboard and were connected to the Internet, they’d have a lot to say about how dumb some people are when it comes to communications. In the herd, horses learn who to embrace and who to avoid and they follow the one who is courageous, caring, kind and fair in how they treat others.

Horses follow caring leaders

Relationship building is a purported hallmark the Web 2.0 movement and smart small business owners (most who got this long before the internet came to be) are incorporating the tools and technology afforded by this claimed new marketing think to bolster their businesses. The savvy ones are listening the herd of customers and prospects they’ve already lead with understanding and responsive solutions to concerns by selecting what works based on feedback from their trusting and supportive clan. They’re not wasting energy on what doesn’t work given welcome and forthcoming feedback from a respectful fan base. Of course, this has tremendous applications for equine professionals (and their approach to online communications is probably more telling than they would like on how they handle their human and horse students).

Ever feel like some people who are celebrating Web 2.0 as their sandbox and turf come at you with teeth bared and heels flying with their unrelenting “embrace me and my offerings” barrage of messages and never consider what might be comfortable for you? They may get an initial sale, but early buyers tend to lament their decision and warn others of the danger.

Do you sell, or get buy-in?

Usually there’s another mare in the herd who commands respect through fear (or in human terms, selfishness). She gets her pick of the hay pile, is first out of the gate and chases others away from water until she has her fill, but no one will follow her. They avoid her. Some commanding the Web 2.0 moniker as their platform for selling, using it a justified excuse to be in-your-face, fail to recognize their methods results in retreat. Sure, they might get a few early followers, but ultimately, the herd sways the lemmings away from the cliff.

Human or horse – herds tend to behave the same

I learned a lot about horses (and humans) when I fenced in 26 acres last year. Initially, I divided the herds for compatibility, but as time passed, horses were sold, and winter bore down, I culled out the broodmares (a requisite to weaning foals), and combined the rest. An interesting thing happened. I was most concerned about a client’s horse that had shown extreme aggressive behavior with the boys. I was worried about him hurting the babies with his dominant tendencies. He tried, and was immediately lambasted by a three-year-old filly (who’s the leader of the herd now) and banished for his actions. He is not permitted to eat with any of the other horses anymore and must wait until all others are settled with their feed before he gets his.

We do have another mare in the herd. She’s hostile, bossy and avoided. She gives her message in an obnoxious way and gets what she thinks she wants – but isn’t respected, just avoided.

So, how does this apply to social media (and combating some of the economic challenges the small business and horse industry is facing right now)?  If you’re there for others and show you care, they’ll follow you. Those who feel they can bully buyers with manipulative and self-centered approaches may get their way at first, but won’t likely gain a following.

Think about how you operate with people who are just getting to know you over the seemingly impersonal venue of the internet. Are you putting yourself out there as a leader willing to be on the line to help others gain security and traction, or are you operating with a selfish approach to making your needs heard without regard to how others may feel?

Get real

Horse or human, it’s not rocket science, but does seem to be an elusive insight for some. The buzz around the new Web 2.0 is no different than what successful small business owners have always known about being smart in building relationships and gaining traction with centers-of-influence. Give and you get exponentially. Do nothing but take, or defend your turf, and your gains will be fleeting.  Do you want to be avoided or embraced? It’s your choice, but don’t blame the herd if they choose to dismiss you.