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Post by Jlynn on Feb 25, 2016 15:06:07 GMT
All the posts lately have me thinking about what we do with our horses and why - or why not. We all want to be safe. Some of us want more thrills than others - some want to trail ride down the two track and others want to jump a cross country course, but none of us want to injure ourselves or our horses doing it. Polo is a dangerous sport, especially if the rider and horse aren't trained and conditioned for it, but so is cutting or jumping or trail riding or loading your horse in a trailer and driving to the show grounds.
Being safe around a 1200 pound animal is an illusion. You can be safer, but you are never not at risk, and the danger lies in thinking you aren't. I think it is only by pushing yourself, trying things you might be uncomfortable with under the supervision of someone who knows how and what and why, that you garner the skills to keep you and your horse out of trouble. Unfortunately people with those skills are getting harder and harder to find.
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Post by rideanotherday on Feb 25, 2016 19:59:26 GMT
All the posts lately have me thinking about what we do with our horses and why - or why not. We all want to be safe. Some of us want more thrills than others - some want to trail ride down the two track and others want to jump a cross country course, but none of us want to injure ourselves or our horses doing it. Polo is a dangerous sport, especially if the rider and horse aren't trained and conditioned for it, but so is cutting or jumping or trail riding or loading your horse in a trailer and driving to the show grounds. Being safe around a 1200 pound animal is an illusion. You can be safer, but you are never not at risk, and the danger lies in thinking you aren't. I think it is only by pushing yourself, trying things you might be uncomfortable with under the supervision of someone who knows how and what and why, that you garner the skills to keep you and your horse out of trouble. Unfortunately people with those skills are getting harder and harder to find. Safety itself is an illusion. At best you manage what you can and hope for the best. It boils down do to choices though as to what risks you are willing to take. I'll give a for instance. A few years ago (ok, several) I dated a guy who wanted to get riding lessons. He wouldn't take them from me and really didn't want lessons from a woman. I have a good friend who's married to a cutting horse trainer in California. I made arrangements for a 3 day private clinic. I expected to just sit back and take pictures and video but that's not how it went. The first horse I rode was a kid's competition horse. He was a solid packer. Kind of like the Toyota Corolla of cutting horses. Safe, non-complicated and willing to get it done but there won't be a ton of flash when it comes right down to it. He was fun because I got to focus on my riding and not so much on what he was doing. That was the morning of day 1. After lunch, horses got changed around because my ex moved up to the horse I was riding and I got handed Nita. Nita is a grandaughter of Peponita. If Bubba was a Toyota Corolla, Nita was a Mini Cooper Sportster. I had some misgivings at first because my first intro to Nita was watching her get longed down for 45 minutes. She was incredibly quick. I got told I could do it and mostly, I listen to experts. I felt that Don had more confidence in my riding than I did. There were times that I felt like I was all over the place and a few times I'm not sure how I stayed on. There were also times where it felt magical. The video posted isn't my best ride on Nita. Believe me, I have watched it several times and I know where my work needs to focus. |
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Post by horseguy on Feb 26, 2016 14:40:35 GMT
Safety is both a feeling and a physical state of being. As a teacher, we need to be arbiter between these two realities, physical and emotional, on behalf of the student. People get confused between the two. I have always focused first on the physical reality and second on the rider's feeling of safety or lack of it. In doing this, I feel it is much easier to deal with someone who is scared than someone who has an inappropriately high sense of safety. I had a cross country course for many years and opened it to the public for schooling. I finally gave up and closed it to the public after observing so many near death experiences where riders absolutely believed that the laws of physics didn't apply to them and their horse. The worst was a 40ish mother of two who rode to a substantial XC jump at an angle on a not so great jumper. A hind leg dragged hard on the jump, which resulted in a rotational fall. Miraculously, she was thrown safely away from her horse. But there was a study done years ago by an insurance company that demonstrated that a person is three times more likely to be injured when standing on the ground near a horse than when riding.
People have said that I appear to seek out dangerous circumstances. My response is I am maybe the most careful rider they will ever meet. Most of my injuries have been working with horses from the ground.
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Post by rideforever on Feb 26, 2016 17:20:21 GMT
As an instructor, I have noticed that many of my students who are dealing with fear, are out of shape. In some was, they aren't really afraid, so much as their body is saying "hey stupid, you really have no core strength, your balance is shot, and you are gonna get hurt". Once we resolve the lack of strength and balance, they are much less afraid.
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Post by jimmy on Feb 27, 2016 15:11:52 GMT
Since I have the task lately of teaching several adults how to ride and handle horses, safety is an issue. People who are new to horses, have no idea of the dozens of ways things can go bad in a hurry. They have never seen a horse wreck, or someone get kicked, or run over, or loose control while riding. They may have fear, but even their fear is misplaced. The things they should be concerned about are they things they miss, while being fearful of everyday horse behavior that is not dangerous.
One man I work with if so indulgent of his horses. He wants to treat them like a puppy. If he's leading one, and they want to go over to the right, for instance, he chuckles and lets them, because he thinks it cute. "What do you see over there, big fella?" That kind of thing. I tell him leading is like riding. Go in a straight line to where you want to go, and at the pace you want. I try to convey that deviations off that line of intent leads to lack of control, and the horse making decisions for you. That the horse pulling you around with the lead is no different than him taking the reins from you. On a narrow trail, that can be disastrous for you. So don't do it on the ground. Don't let the horse move your feet. You move his feet.
I'm sure many times this comes off as unnecessary bossiness, and strictness from me. It is difficult to convince the unwarry how this is a safety concern for them. It's either a habit of control, or a habit of lack of control.
I try not to let anyone get hurt under my tutelage. But you can only repeat yourself so many times. You can only demonstrate what to do instead so many times. Sometimes, people end up having to get hurt, to figure out how not to get hurt.
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Post by grayhorse on Feb 28, 2016 6:52:18 GMT
Jimmy, you are a good instructor. When I worked with you I can't remember a time I ever felt afraid, and you took on a pretty big task with me having a young green horse and me being a green rider. I might add I never fell off working with you either. However, I have had some serious mishaps with other trainers after you. There was a lady reining trainer I used for awhile that was highly recommended but good grief almighty, every single lesson I fell off. She pushed me way past my riding ability at that time.
I started with a new trainer today and even did a little jumping, something I did not think I'd do so quickly after having broke my finger. My confidence has been low in that regard. But the new guy was patient and methodical and focused a lot on a good approach and I never felt fear, not even once. I liked him. I have noticed I do best with male trailers overall (no offense to the ladies), I don't know why in particular, but I just do.
I will add to the topic of this post to say that what Jimmy describes in the beginner riders, I see in the more experienced riders, BUT not the more "serious" ones. I know several people who've owned horses for years but never really travel out of their comfort zone. Somehow they end up with horses that just pack them around, forever. I cringe frequently when I see them do certain things and think to myself don't they know better, yet? But like Jimmy said, sometimes something bad has to happen in order to learn from it.
My pet peeve is people who give my horse treats by hand. In a public boarding facility, this is a problem. My mare is a jerk about it and yes I've been nipped before because my mare goes looking for "treats". It just leaves the door open for all sorts of problems. I remind people all the time, please don't do that...but it's as if their deaf or something. I know in her paddock, when people walk by and I'm not there they lean over the fence and feed horse cookies to her. Drives me nuts. I have put up a sign, but apparently some people are deaf AND blind. Grrr.
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Post by horseguy on Feb 29, 2016 14:01:17 GMT
... People who are new to horses, have no idea of the dozens of ways things can go bad in a hurry. They have never seen a horse wreck, or someone get kicked, or run over, or loose control while riding. They may have fear, but even their fear is misplaced. The things they should be concerned about are they things they miss, while being fearful of everyday horse behavior that is not dangerous ... That pretty much sums it up. Equines are unique in their behavior. They are not like dogs or cats, the most common animal experiences people have had and those experiences are not generally transferable. Also, I think there is an increasing feeling from contemporary students, maybe resulting from all the simulated computer games, that they can somehow intellectually master anything while the physical part is limited, like to their thumbs on a controller. It can be difficult to get through to them that horses are unique. The story of the guy treating the horse like a dog is so contemporary. That kind of student makes the experience all about them. It's about how much fun they are having with a pet, not at all about what is really happening. My only advice is that I came up with a sort of safety explanation for new students. I made up a term "horseness". I told students that they needed to develop their own horseness in order to relate to a horse because horses, unlike dogs, will not attempt to mimic human behaviors. Therefore they must learn to mimic horse behavior in how they move, stand and project themselves in order to find their own horseness. I had drills I did with the students to demonstrate this. Some students really responded well to this approach. Many did not. |
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Post by jimmy on Feb 29, 2016 15:35:58 GMT
HG, you may be onto something with the computer game analogy. Many people are "intellectual horsemen". The understand things in a cerebral way, but not in a physical, empirical way. Horseness you talk about involves a functional physicality many people lack these days.
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Post by horseguy on Feb 29, 2016 16:04:07 GMT
HG, you may be onto something with the computer game analogy. Many people are "intellectual horsemen". The understand things in a cerebral way, but not in a physical, empirical way. Horseness you talk about involves a functional physicality many people lack these days.
Yes, people more and more are not physical enough to relate well to a horse. One of my "horseness drills" is I have them stand in front of a normal stubborn horse, look the horse in the eye, and walk forward toward the horse stomping their feet as they walk. If they do it with enough physicality, the horse backs up. Then I will have them do the same drill with a more stubborn horse, typically they will have a more difficult time of moving the more stubborn horse away. When I have a real dominant horse (that won't kick them), I use it to demonstrate how some horses hold their ground if you just walk stomping at them. With that horse I will demonstrate hard foot stomping, and maybe waving my arms. The point being, horses have a physical language.
Disclaimer: Don't try this at home or with horses you don't know. Some horses will take the direct look in the eye as a challenge and the stomping as a threat, and will strike you with their fore feet.
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Post by jimmy on Feb 29, 2016 18:39:18 GMT
HG, you may be onto something with the computer game analogy. Many people are "intellectual horsemen". The understand things in a cerebral way, but not in a physical, empirical way. Horseness you talk about involves a functional physicality many people lack these days.
Yes, people more and more are not physical enough to relate well to a horse. One of my "horseness drills" is I have them stand in front of a normal stubborn horse, look the horse in the eye, and walk forward toward the horse stomping their feet as they walk. If they do it with enough physicality, the horse backs up. Then I will have them do the same drill with a more stubborn horse, typically they will have a more difficult time of moving the more stubborn horse away. When I have a real dominant horse (that won't kick them), I use it to demonstrate how some horses hold their ground if you just walk stomping at them. With that horse I will demonstrate hard foot stomping, and maybe waving my arms. The point being, horses have a physical language.
Disclaimer: Don't try this at home or with horses you don't know. Some horses will take the direct look in the eye as a challenge and the stomping as a threat, and will strike you with their fore feet.
I think you just played a Parelli game! LOL
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Post by horseguy on Feb 29, 2016 19:40:11 GMT
Geeeeezeeee 
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