A Sensitive, Neurotic Horse May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered

 Humans need to avoid stereotyping equine personalities into “good” or “bad.” “It's important to realize that, just like in people, there is no perfect personality type," she said. "For example, a neurotic horse will be more prone to stress and will be more likely to spook, which may be difficult to work with. On the other hand, their sensitivity means that they are incredibly responsive and can thus appear 'in tune' with their handler. If you're a good, calm handler, you can get amazing results by putting this to good use. "Researchers Develop Subjective Equine Personality Test", Christa Lese'-Lasserre,MA, June 13, 2013

What an inspiring quote to start the day out with, at least for all of us with super-sensitive-borderline-neurotic horses that we LOVE.  And, thanks for all your stories and wisdom last week regarding the post, "Equine Anxieties, From a Psychiatric Perspective."   All were GREAT food for thought.

The things I took from that human/horse panic attack connection were:

1. Control some physiological parameter.
2. Use a top down approach and get them thinking.
3. Do not pressure them forward, but get them to relax and not run away.
4. Help them experience the feared situation as a pleasant situation.

I'm not going to put this on the list, but I do think it's great insight.  My husband said that a panic attack feels truly horrible, and people who have them feel like they're going to die.  Eventually, their anxiety comes from the fear of the panic attack itself.  I imagine it's similar for horses.  Horses have phenomenal fear memory and can remember a scary place for a long time (maybe years later) even if there was nothing there to fear.  What is that except fear of fear?

Kerry Thomas, the "Horse Detective" in the last post, wrote a paper on Equine PTSD.  In it, he said:

(Concerning an Arabian Show) From a psychological standpoint, I saw these otherwise beautiful horses being brought into the arena much like a pin-ball being sprung forth, injected if you will into a game of psychological chaos.

(Concerning training mind and then body)  Physical change is necessitated by environmental conditions and stimuli.  Mental interpretations of these happen prior to the physical response.  This is why in training the horse; we must train the mind ahead of the body, if we wish to have the most efficiency from that body. 

On the trail, you're usually riding with a group, and have pressure to keep going--get across the water, get past the ravens in the trees, get past (insert anything here that scares your horse), that's why it's so important to have trail partners who think like you do and are able to adapt the ride to help the horses. It might take extra time to let them think about things and develop curiosity and courage, but it has to be done if you have an eye for the long term.  I so regret the times I didn't do that--didn't have enough confidence in my own instincts and didn't have enough courage to listen to my horse.  It's not about the ride, getting from point A to point Z, it's about the partnership along the way as you encounter A, B, C, D.....Z.

I'm very picky about my riding partners.   How about you? 

Equine Anxiety, From a Psychiatric Perspective

After the last blog my mind has been racing around with words like these, as they relate to horses:

Anxiety, Insecurity, Panic, 

Refusal, Fear, Stress, Reactive Mind

I'm sure we could all think of more along that line, but those are a pretty decent list of completely UNWANTED responses in our horses...and ourselves.  It actually causes me a little pain in my neck just reading them.

After my ride yesterday, I sat with my husband, at home, and processed my thoughts with him.

Me: So, Cowboy has always hated going into water, right?  And, we came up to Fishtrap Lake during our ride.  And a couple of the other horses went in and started splashing around.  And, usually I'd pressure him in to going in, too, right?  But today I stood back and let him watch the other horses and waited for him to show interest, relaxation, and curiosity and, sure enough, he did.  He really enjoyed watching them.  After a little bit, he wanted to get closer and stepped closer on his own.

Husband: Did he go into the water?

Me: No, but he went up voluntarily, about 2 feet away, and showed no signs of panic.  So, I got off and walked down to the water myself and he followed me, very relaxed, and we just stood there as I petted him and praised him for being so calm.

(Photo: Me standing by the water at Fish Lake, petting Cowboy.)

Husband: That's perfect.  You want him to have new, positive experiences in situations that he usually fears.  [Picks up his book to read.]

(Photo: Cowboy looking at Fish Lake after we left it.)

Me: [Not satisfied to stop there.]  Because, usually, I'd make him go to the water, but it's always unpleasant and his heart is pounding and it's a fight.  But then, when he gets in, he sees it's okay and eventually relaxes.  But today I told Cowboy, I know it's crazy to talk to your horse, but I told Cowboy that the ride was about him...and me...and building trust.

Husband: Yep. [Thinks to himself, as eyes glaze over, "Oh no, she's starting to talk about talking to her horses.  I really need to read my book."]

Me: [Realizing I sound like a parent who might come to our clinic to get help for their anxious child, or themselves, I finally see the correlation.  Maybe, just maybe, there's something to learn from human anxiety and its treatment that could be applied to horse anxiety and its treatment.  And, sitting across from me is my husband, a psychiatrist, who specializes in helping people past their anxieties.]  Do you think horse anxieties are like people's?

Husband:  I don't know.

Me:  Can you explain what happens in a human panic attack?

Husband:  Sure.  [Seems to be eager to talk about one of his favorite topics.]  There are cells, deep inside the brain that release norepinephrine, it's adrenaline, and that is released throughout the brain and affects all the major structures of the brain such as the cortex, which is where thinking goes on, so people have scary thoughts.  It affects the hypothalamus, which is what controls heartbeat, breathing and, of course, those go up in a panic attack.  And then, norepinephrine stimulates nerves that go to the peripheral nervous system, which creates the shaking, sweating, and all those sorts of things, as well as the gut which can go into spasms and become part of it.  That can go on from anywhere between ten minutes to two hours, and then, those people experiencing a panic attack will be drained, but it will replenish itself in a few hours.

The interesting thing is, while panic attacks usually start in some kind of situation of fear and anxiety, after a while, the thing that's really painful is that people fear having a panic attack itself--they fear the feeling of anxiety, and then they can become housebound.

Me: How do you stop a panic attack once it's started?

Husband: You have to start with a top down approach, so you go to the thinking part of the brain and start to rethink what's going on, re-frame what's going on, learn new ways to relax, learn to control at least one physiological parameter, because in a panic attack physiology is out of control.  This tells the brain, I might be partly out of control, but I'm not totally out of control.  And, eventually, you have to begin to expose yourself to feared situations, in small doses, so you can begin to re-experience them as more pleasurable now.

Me: So, for instance with Cowboy, panicking about water or anything else, how would that apply if they're already at the feared object?

Husband: If they're already there, try to get them to relax without having them go further.  Don't let them run away.  For humans, you have to get them to recapture some bodily function that they can control.  Eventually, you want them to experience the feared situation as a pleasurable situation.

I'll stop here because I haven't formulated a post about what this means for horses from my own, personal observations working with them.  My husband did add that when a person (or horse) is panicked or in flight mode, you cannot accomplish anything positive.  It's over.  The work always has to be done in small doses, and small accomplishments, that build on each other.

As always, I welcome your thoughts about the correlation between human and horse panic attacks. Thanks!

(Photo: The falls at Hog Lake, our destination on yesterday's ride.)

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.