Finding the Missed Path. Mark Rashid
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the horse’s “real time” needs and not forcing him into a one-size-fits-all training program—the kind that has a tendency to disregard the horse’s individual issues—he was often able to develop a foundation of trust and understanding in a relatively short period of time. From there, rehabilitation and, ultimately, training, usually moved along rather smoothly, eventually leading to the horse becoming a solid and trustworthy mount for any potential new owner.
I don’t really recall my old friend using the term “restarting” in relation to the kind of work he did with those horses back then. However, I suppose an argument could be made that that was exactly what he was doing. You see, he was taking horses that had an obvious lack of understanding for what was being asked of them, then simply helping them fill in the gaps.
Horses are a lot like people in that when there are gaps in understanding (particularly when it comes to the most basic of foundational concepts), confusion, and thus frustration, worry, and even anger are sure to follow. On the other side of the coin, the stronger the foundation of understanding, the less likelihood there is of overall confusion and worry and the easier it is to learn and ultimately retain information. This, in turn, allows for smooth transitions through almost all future learning situations.
Ironically, another reason some horses end up needing to be restarted isn’t because of a lack of understanding, but rather, just the opposite. Some horses have actually developed a pretty strong understanding of what has been taught them by their riders or handlers. The problem, however, is that the people doing the teaching inadvertently show the horses things they didn’t really want them learn in the first place.
This usually happens when inexperienced riders or handlers are not clear on what they are trying to achieve with a horse as they work with him, or experienced but inconsistent riders or handlers work with a horse without a clear vision of the end result. In cases like this, mixed signals are often given to the horse, which cause him to try many different “answers” when he feels pressure (either while being ridden or on the ground). Because people aren’t clear on what they are asking, or on what they want the outcome to be, they give the horse releases at the wrong time, which usually cause the horse to learn the wrong thing.
Here’s an example: Not long ago, I had a rider who was trying to teach his horse how to stand quietly next to a mounting block while he was being mounted. His horse, a pretty well-mannered Quarter Horse/Belgian cross, could be led to the mounting block without issue and would stand quietly as the man would get on the block. But as he went to put his foot in the stirrup, the horse started shifting his weight in apparent anticipation of the rider getting on. The rider, seeing the horse moving, took up contact on the rein closest to him in an attempt to stop the movement. However, this actually caused the horse’s hindquarters to swing away from the mounting block. Seeing this, the rider released the pressure on the rein and at the same time took his foot out of the stirrup, inadvertently giving the horse a release for moving away from the block (which he had basically cued him to do in the first place).
The rider got off the block, picked it up and moved it closer to the horse’s new position. He then got back on the block and tried again, only to have the exact same thing happen. After only a few times of this, the horse began to believe that whenever the rider climbed up next to him on a mounting block, he was supposed to move away.
This particular rider, on the other hand, began looking at this as the horse refusing to allow him to get on and figured that the horse didn’t want to be ridden, when neither was actually the case. It was a simple misunderstanding on both the horse and rider’s part that was rectified by making a couple of simple adjustments.
First, we put the horse in a halter and lead rope instead of a bridle. Then, instead of physically bringing him to the mounting block as the owner had been, we taught the rider how to stand on the block and direct the horse to a position in line but off to the side of the block. Once the horse understood how to get in position to “line up,” we taught him through a series of subtle movements with the lead rope, as well as a cluck or “kiss” from the rider, how to move forward one step at a time until he was in position for the rider to get on. We did this several times until the gelding was quietly and consistently standing in position next to the block.
The rider then tried to put his foot in the stirrup. If the horse started to move away, as he had in the past, the rider immediately redirected the horse back to the original starting position off to the side of the mounting block and began the whole process over. Within about 15 minutes, the rider had very effectively removed the behavior he didn’t want and had installed the behavior he did.
In situations like this, a rider will sometimes take the seemingly evasive behavior from the horse personally, and so each time the horse moves away from the mounting block, the rider might use more and more pressure to try to get the horse to stand still. And the horse soon becomes worried about even approaching the mounting block, and sometimes even begins to get defensive when asked to do so. This often escalates to unfortunate behavior from both parties and soon the horse is being deemed hard to mount—all because of a misunderstanding.
Another fairly common situation where mixed signals are often given involves teaching a horse to stop willingly when being ridden. Many horse folks understand one of the main tenets in working with horses is to reward the smallest “try.” So when teaching a horse to stop, the rider will apply pressure with the reins, wait for the horse to offer to stop, and then release the pressure. Working this way is certainly not a bad thing. Unless, of course, some of the components for the overall quality of stop we are looking for are missing when the release is given.
Here’s what I mean by this: If we ask an uneducated horse to stop by applying pressure with the reins and release when he offers to stop, but we aren’t paying attention to the overall quality of how he is stopping, we most certainly will teach him additional, unwanted behavior along with the stop.
In most cases, when initially learning how to stop, a horse may both stop his overall movement while at the same time locking his jaw and pushing or bracing into the bit. If we release when he stops and braces, he will very quickly learn to stop braced. Not only that, but he’ll also begin to associate any pressure from the reins with bracing and soon he not only stops braced but will seem to refuse to respond willingly when asked to give in any way to pressure from the reins. If this misunderstanding isn’t rectified relatively quickly in the horse’s training, he will simply assume that bracing is what we want and even though it is difficult and uncomfortable for him to perform while bracing, he will repeat the behavior every time he feels pressure from the reins.
In some worst cases, the horse is eventually deemed “hard-mouthed.” Severe bits and heavier hands soon come into play just to accomplish something as simple as a stop, turn, or back-up. With a bigger bit being used, the level of discomfort rises, and the horse usually begins offering additional unwanted behavior, such as hollowing his back and throwing his head in an effort to get some relief. This, in turn, often causes the rider to add even more pressure and/or equipment, such as a tie-down, draw-reins, and the like, to keep the horse’s unwanted behavior under control. Of course, this only causes the horse more discomfort, usually creating even more behavioral issues, which causes more strife between horse and rider, and so on.
In these examples, as well as almost any others that might be used, the problems actually stem from a lack of understanding on the human’s part of what the horse is learning during training. It’s a very common occurrence for us to think we are teaching one thing while the horse is actually learning something else entirely. Unfortunately for both horse and handler, this is usually the very type of thing that almost always leads to unwanted training issues that end up with the horse needing to be reeducated later.
Still, when reeducation or restarting is deemed necessary, many folks end up using a sort of shotgun approach to the process. They often put the horse in a catchall “program” if you will, in which an attempt is made to address any and all issues the horse may have through the mechanics of various repetitive training techniques. Some of these techniques might include daily desensitization of the horse (sacking out) with flags, plastic bags, or noises, monotonous lateral flexion while being ridden or on the ground, constant disengagement of the hind- or forequarters,