Insecure Horses and the Power of Praise

My horse has a fundamentally insecure base personality.  He was a very young bottle-fed orphan who loved humans, but isn't human, and never really adapted well in the herd.  No matter which herd you place him in, he'll always be the omega.

And yet, I love him and love working with him. It's always a challenge between discipline and praise, and he's quick to need both.  Because of this, he's sharpened me.  I have to be more aware of when he's challenging me and when he's feeling trapped, and I have to be able to respond immediately with little time to analyze which it is.  

When to wean a horse is always a debatable topic.  The first horse I ever purchased was a weanling, and I bought him before he was weaned.  I was so excited to have him, I'd go visit him with his mama as much as I could without being a pest to the owners.  On the day of weaning (it's been so long I can't remember how old he was, but I think he was about 5 or 6 months) there was a lot of calling back and forth between he and his dam.  I boarded him on the same property and his owner wanted to start using his mom for team penning and trail riding, so she was happy to get them separated, but it was a stressful day on the two of them.  He turned out to be a solid, trusting, brave trail horse, and I think it's in part because he was with his mom for so long.  Cowboy didn't get that option.

Almost 20 years after the weanling, I brought Cowboy to the same barn, same stall, where I'd had my former horse.  In his stall, Cowboy was the bully of bullies.  If a horse was walked down the aisle in front of him, he'd raise his head up as high as it would go and lunge out like he was going to bite them.  He seemed like an alpha.

Then we brought him home and let him go with the herd.  What a difference.  He became the most docile, submissive horse you've ever seen, and soon, the omega, where he's been ever since then.

Cowboy and I have worked together for twelve years now and he still keeps me on my toes.  I have horses in my herd that you can depend on to be brave and unshakable in almost every situation, but Cowboy is not that horse.  He's brave and unshakable in most situations, but will choose the strangest things to be scared of.

Two weeks ago I took him to the despooking clinic and it was once again revealed to me that, at his core, he is insecure.  For him, challenges have to be met one by one, mastering each one.  

Which brings me to the topic of praise.  One of the things they told us to do at the clinic was praise our horses...BIG TIME, as in, make a BIG deal over every success.  "GOOD job, Cowboy.  Good job, boy!!"

That really isn't my way.  I'm more of a quiet praiser.  But to make them happy, I exaggerated the praise--took it up a few notches, and I've continued doing it to see if it helps.  As of now, it's new for him and he's trying to figure it out.  Like, "What's this all about?  Is she faking?"  

I've had a few trail rides since that clinic and in some ways he's doing better, and in some other ways, worse.  The area where he's doing worse is trust.  He seems to anticipate that I'm going to ask him to do something he's afraid of now, like I did at the clinic.  He's a bit more adversarial with me.

Today I went out with him before I had to leave to work.  I wanted to spend some time just being with him and giving him some easy tasks he could accomplish so that I had more opportunity to praise him.  He seems to like it.  The heart of a horse wants to please.  I really think they take pride in doing things right and are even competitive with one another.

Tomorrow I have a long ride planned with him, about five hours, and I'm hoping to work on trust throughout it.  I want to break down the tasks I've come to expect and make a bigger deal over them.  I want him to know how proud of his accomplishments I am.  He's twenty years old and we've been partners for twelve years, but you can never have enough trust.  If anything, my desire to see him confidant and brave has only increased with time.

Please share your own thoughts on praise and how your horses respond to it.  Do you think they need it?  How BIG is your praise?

River Gods (Riverside State Park) & An Early Spring

Originally published 2/16/15

 

 "Simply put; I'm trying to see what I can get done with the horse without him being troubled about doing it."- Buck Brannaman

Here in Spokane, WA we've had an early spring.  In fact, it's the warmest February on record.  For us, that means trail rides.  Where normally we'd be waiting for April, this Valentines was spent at Riverside State Park with my Valentines Baby--actually born on Valentines Day 23 years ago.

This weekend I realized my survivor heart-horse, Cowboy, is getting old.  I have to dig out his papers (which I don't need and don't care about except to find out his age) to see if he's 19 or 20.

19 or 20???  How did that happen?  He was supposed to be dead, by most accounts, 8 years ago almost to the day when he fractured and displaced his coffin bone.  The worst case scenario, he's never sound.  The best case scenario, you get a few seasons out of him until the arthritis in his coffin joint makes him unsound.

8 years later, I'm riding my old boy Friday, Saturday and Sunday--Riverside, Palisades and Slavin Conservation Area.  I am a blessed horsewoman!!!

 

While riding at Slavin on Sunday, we spotted a group of Snow Geese.  (See picture directly above with Cowboy looking at the lake.)  What's unusual about that is they don't usually arrive until April.  This is February.

It has been a wonderful February so far--which is yet another blessing for me.  My youngest son set off to Boot Camp two weeks ago to prepare for his future with the Air National Guard.  The loss, although I know I shouldn't think of it as a loss, has left me pretty empty.  It's even been hard to play the piano.

That's why being able to be on horseback--on the trails--early this year is a personal miracle.  Being with my horse sets things straight.

I'm going to include another poem I wrote last summer after a 20 mile ride along the Spokane River with a good friend.  (See above Friday's picture with my daughter a day before her birthday--that's the beautiful Spokane River behind us.)  The loneliness I mention is what I felt the next day writing about it from my office and wishing I was back there.  The only remedy, spend every waking hour with my horses.

Happy President's Day, everyone.  I hope you're all having lots and lots of great moments with your own herd families today and always.


River Gods (Riverside State Park, WA)

     I do not know much about gods;  
     but I think that the river
     Is a strong brown god -
     sullen, untamed and intractable.

                           T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets: Dry Salvages

Nothing makes you feel more alone–
Yesterday’s twenty miles of river
Calculated today, a lifetime.
The hunting bird, you said eagle,
Then, you said Osprey,
It was an Osprey.
Great beautiful white-winged thing
Hunting the Spokane River
For the one that jumps too high,
Makes itself too known,
Dares to release itself
From the swelling under-swell.

by Linda Reznicek

Listen to T.S. Eliot read Four Quartets.

Another bit to share: I've been looking for a piece of art for my living room for seven years and found this piece this weekend.  It reminded me so much of Cowboy I had to buy it.  It's almost as if he was the model--but he wasn't.  

Horse and Rider, A Poem

Originally published 9/30/14

Once there was a horse, and on the horse there was a rider.  How handsome they looked in the autumn sunlight, approaching a strange city! People thronged the streets or called from the high windows.  Old women sat among flowerpots.  But when you looked about for another horse or another rider, you looked in vain.  My friend, said the animal, why not abandon me?  Alone, you can find your way here.  But to abandon you, said the other, would be to leave a part of myself behind, and how can I do that when I do not know which part you are?

by Louise Gluck
from The Faithful and Virtuous Night

Time for an autumn ride on that horse which is a part of me.

The King of Comebacks

Originally published 10/2/12



 

When my farrier was out today we were talking about the miracle that is Cowboy--he called him "The Comeback King".  He survived being orphaned, breaking his foot, and a serious case of Head Shaking Syndrome.  Always, when I was about ready to give up, some miracle would come along and save him, and here he is today. 

 

 

I took profile pictures this morning in hopes of practicing and coming up with some that are good to blow up, frame, and hang in our Living Room.  I largely stopped taking pictures and photographing the horses a while back--something in me just did not want to chronicle the journey.  I'd consciously think that I should be taking photographs of rides, but I just did not want to, and I wouldn't.  I wish I had, because I missed some wonderful photos of the grandkids riding this summer. 

 

I guess I needed to live it and enjoy it and not analyze it for a while.

 

 

But now I'm thinking again.

 

And I think I need to get my butt in gear with Beautiful and Cia.  My rider/trainer was supposed to come out at the beginning of September and help me put some more time on them, but he was too busy and won't be out until April. 

 

 

So, that leaves it up to me and, frankly, I've been lazy.

 

End of story.

 

If you see me writing again on the blog, it means I'm going to address the elephant in the room, my young ones.  If you don't see me writing, I'm probably still avoiding it.

I Wouldn't Have Believed it! (Equine Head Shaking Cure)

Last year, about this time in the summer, was so heart-breaking for me when I realized how bad Cowboy suffered from Trigeminal Neuralgia--or Head Shaking Syndrome.  I didn't know what to do for him except keep him in a dark stall with a mask and wait for winter or a cure.  I didn't want to start throwing things at it until I knew what I was doing--mostly because everything I read about had some side effects. 

During winter I did take the T-Touch lessons privately here at my home, and they did a lot for getting Cowboy back solid on his four legs.  He rarely, if ever, stands with his previously fractured P3 out in front of him anymore.  It also helped to reduce his stress and give him a relaxed frame.  But when the sunny days of spring came, so did the head shaking.

If you've followed the blog recently, you know that the carbamazepine (2000 mg 2X a day for 2 weeks) worked for him and I was able to ride around the property here and begin to work on the other behavior related issues--pulling back and fear of being approached from the right side when tied.  All I can say is thank goodness for Blocker Ties---I LOVE THEM. 

But if you'd told me last year I'd be riding Cowboy on the trail again this year, I wouldn't have believed you...but I did. 

We took our time and kept it as relaxed as possible and it all went wonderfully well.  I even rode cliffside--something I hadn't intended to do, but after a couple of hours of him doing so well, I trusted the situation enough to do it.  I was lucky to have a great riding partner who understood the seriousness of his first ride going well.  She was more than happy to stop and let them relax in the shade (half falling asleep) a couple of times along our route.

It felt so good to be back out with him again...like I was given a second chance.  Needless to say, I'm very happy.