Respect and Ground Rules

[Does’ Leap]

As an aspiring teamster with a new team that was “broke” but hadn’t been worked regularly in a couple of years, I had some hard and fast lessons on the respect front. These lessons culminated in me being kicked to the ground by one mare and then kicked again while on the ground. Luckily the kicks were both to the thigh and I was not seriously injured. After another month of trying to make it work with these mares, we returned them to the owner after a three month crash course on working horses. We at least had the foresight to purchase them on a trial basis.

With our new team of bays, we set out to do things differently. After reading, interacting with other teamsters, and completing a workshop at Fairwinds farm, we strove to establish ourselves as alpha through acceptance training. We are attempting to accomplish this in the round pen and just during our day to day interactions with our horses. Some resources we are using on the recommendations of others include Lynn Miller, Doc Hammill, Clinton Anderson, and Pat Parelli. Several months back, I remember reading an old article in the Small Farmer’s Journal by Doc Hammill. Part of the article was a list of “Tests a Horse Must Pass Before Being Ground-Driven”. I tried to dig up the article, but couldn’t find it. If anyone else has the list and could post it, it might be an interesting grounds for discussion. I remember thinking at the time that many of them were out of my grasp. One of them was a horse following you at will, without a lead rope or halter which I thought near impossible at the time but have since made progress in this area.

Enough with the preamble. Since much of the interaction I have with my horses is when they are not in harness, I am constantly developing expectations of my horses for them to demonstrate their respect for and focus on me when asked. I am curious if others have similar expectations and what they are. Here are some of the things I have been working on:

• Being led on a rope with a halter with total slack in the lines. This includes sharp turns and changes of pace.
• Don’t grab at hay and thrust your head at me while I am feeding you in your stall. Wait patiently until the hay is in place, then commence eating.
• Stand at attention focused on me when led out of the barn with the temptation of hay in sight.
• Put head down on request.
• Follow without rope. (We can do this in the round pen 100%. We are about 80% outside the pen).

I strive to keep a good, light attitude when working on the abovementioned and other things. As a result, I like to think my horses are challanged and maintian a good, willing attitude as well.

Any thoughts on the respect / leadership issue along with examples of what folks expect of their horses while not in harness would be appreciated.

George

[Carl Russell]

I don’t spend a lot of time on “ground rules” so to speak. I definitely have behaviors that I don’t accept, like nipping, threatening, pushing me around, but I am bored by repetitive exercises.

I usually just work on yielding. The exercise that I really like is sending energy through a lead rope to get them to step back. It has been all I have needed to do. Basically they need to know that I have expectations, and I will back them up with an escalation of energy, until they yield easily.

This is the foundation for all other behavior corrections. So when they do something I don’t want them to repeat, they get reminded that they need to yield to me, and when they do, they get lots of lovin’.

Then their attention is always on me and what I’m doing, and I reinforce that by returning the attention.

I like my animals to show enthusiasm, for work, for fun, for food. I really try hard not to deaden that. There is a difference between being enthusiastic, and being disrespectful. Carl

[Plowboy]

Carl just about sums it up. We try to spend as much time as we can doing meaningful work while they are learning. Dad is a full time dairy farmer and I have a fulltime job, a side business as well as helping on the dairy farm my wife and I have a 60 acre farm. That doesn’t leave much time for extra groundwork. As soon as we get them going at light work we try to find productive jobs that help us get some of our work done while they are learning. While they are working we reinforce their desireable behaviors and skills as well as work through the undesireable quirks that most young horses have. As a result we have some really good horses that we know well. Keep working your team at whatever you have time to do. The more time you spend actually working them will make for a better team/teamster relationship. Good Luck

[Iron Rose]

Never seem to have the time that the Pro’s say you should take to break horses. We start a few horses each year they are never started till they are at least 3 and some are as old as 8 when we get them(older and unbroke = cheap) About the only ground work they get is getting them halter broke then hook them on the outside of a good broke team and go to work. After a week in the field they have a different outlook on things. Usually start on lighter loads.

[Kristin]

Carl, could you explain what you mean by sending energy through lead rope to get a horse to yield and back? How do you escalate the energy?
Thanks,
Kristin

[Carl Russell]

Standing facing the horse, with a long lead rope (10′-12′) or lunge line, start slowly waving the rope, sending waves up the rope toward the horse. Limit the body language, no verbalization, just focus on starting with low energy, looking for the slightest try demonstrating that the horse is yielding to your energy by stepping back. As your energy escalates, you will force more energy through the rope (so to speak) by waving more rapidly, and energetically. You may have to become extremely demonstrative before the horse yields, but with one true step back, immediately stop and relax. This is the reward, and it is the clear message of how you will use your energy when the horse does yield. As you repeat this, the horse will yield at lower and lower thresholds. When they yield easily at low energy, you can start reinforcing with voice commands. And it will be the basis for any other situations where you desire yield, like bit pressure, stall manners, etc.

It has been a long time since I saw this demonstrated by a true expert, but it was a huge eye opener for me. An incredible side effect of this exercise is that I learned how to comfortably control my energy so that the escalation was methodical and not complicated by frustration or anger, both of which will provide the same result, but it is very difficult to see the result with clear vision, and also very difficult to release the highly charged energy that you are emitting, thereby wasting the opportunity, and conditioning for all the wrong things.

Yielding is the most basic, and in my mind the most important, reflection of respect. I get concerned about understanding the difference between training behavior through repetition, and true respect. Any animal will learn to follow your lead, but may never truly develop respect, or trust. Getting a horse to yield, and rewarding the yield, is communication based on mutual respect, and is very different from domination/submission, or Pavlovian response. Carl

[Does’ Leap]

Interesting hearing everyones’ reponses. Thanks.

Carl, I bought Parelli’s book as a result of seeing it in your library / books post. That yielding with a rope seems similar to what he does. In addition, he tries to get his horses to yield in all directions – foward, backward, right, left, up and down. Have you asked your horses to yield in other directions other than back? If so, any tips? Parelli recommends having the horse yield up close in all 6 directions and then move to a 12′ rope. I have been working up getting my horses to yield to my touch and am interested in moving on to the rope. Our horses have been in a large paddock surrounding our dairy barn which we frequent several times a day for feeding, catching babies (this time of year), etc., so we have the opportunity of interacting with them briefly as we move back and forth to the barn.

PS We moved to a straight bit dropped from the hames from a broken snaffle and horses seem to do well with the new system.

George

[Carl Russell]

I expect my horses to yield in all directions. However, as I described, the rope exercise is pretty much all I do. The other yieldings all come from general interaction.

I really enjoy reading or watching some of the many techniques used by trainers, because it gives me food for thought, but as Plowboy writes, I also spend most of my interaction performing purposeful endeavors, and I incorporate some of those points emphasized in the books.

I really like reading Pat Perelli because I think he does a good job of fleshing out the rationale behind his techniques, and I can see their application in day-to-day working situations. So, no I haven’t followed his, nor Doc Hammell’s, nor any other lists, rather just picked up a few effective tools to accomplish my desired results.

As I have written before, one of the most effective ways to gain respect from animals is through initiative. By having purpose, I find that I demonstrate an awareness and competency that is attractive to horses, and steers, and dogs,etc.

I caution against using training techniques too much as a way to gain respect from animals, as by relying on these practice sessions we can adopt body language that presents ourselves as desirous of respect, which will give the horse reason to question the objective. Real working conditions give the teamster an opportunity to demonstrate their prowess and control of the situation, which I have found to be very effective.
Carl

[Donn Hewes]

For those that want to spend a little more time teaching their animals to yield I have found the rope halter to be a valuable new tool. This halter is constructed with several knots designed to rest on specific pressure points on the horses head. With the addition of a long lead rope there are many diffferent yeilding techiques you can work on.

These techniques were offered to me as a possible solution for a mule that wasn’t working all that well. Pulling on the bit, ground manors not that good , etc. Intially I was resistant because I saw it as ground work for saddle horses and I was a farmer. I saw were you could teach the animal which foot to cross over and lots of other stuff I wasn’t sure applied to farming with horses and mules. Eventually I realized however that my mule was “locking up” everything from her jaw, to her head, neck, and everything else. Rather than try to address this issue with a harness, bridle, bit, and all the rest, I could first address it with just the rope halter and a lead rope.

The first technique I accepted was asking the mule to yield her head to the side with out moving her feet. At first you go around in a circle, but you continually look for any oppurtunity to reward them giving their head to you by giving a little slack. As with any training, as your skill and understanding grows it becomes easier to get the desired results. Over time you are trying to get the animal to yield with the least amount of pressure possible. This is much like what carl described with the tension up a lead rope technique. This one concept of yielding her head was like a revolution for this mule and I have not let her forget it. getting her to yield was the first step in getting her to relax in harness.

Right now I use it to teach an animal to put their head down, lead, back, yield their head to each side and change directions by turning toward me while circleing at a walk. I know for different horses and different activities this is just the tip of the iceberg for this training method. So far this is all I have felt might be useful to my work animals. I don’t spend a lot of time on it, maybe five or ten minutes a day. I don’t want anyone to mistake this for the work we are doing.

In the past I have always been one to get them in harness and then let the training happen. Start with something simple and work your way up. I still believe in that, but now I might use a few minutes with the rope halter for a trainee. It gives them a chance to remember they are paying attention to me know before I ask for something new or expand on what they have done before.

I don’t even know the proper name for these methods if there is one, or who to credit for them, as they were shown to me by a friend. I am sure some one here knows more about it than I do.

[Does’ Leap]

I have also had good results switching over to rope halters for my horses. They increase sensivity to the horse when pressure is applied and I believe are more comforatable for the horses as they are extremely light. You can also make them for a couple of bucks. Here’s a link for anyone interested in tying their own: http://www.naturalhorsesupply.com/tiehalter.shtml

George

[Carl Russell]

Donn Hewes;1118 wrote:

…. This is much like what carl described with the tension up a lead rope technique…..

It just occurred to me this morning while milking (as always) that I may not have described this exercise quite right, as it is not tension in the rope that I am trying to describe.

A parable if I may; Many years ago I had a mare (still do, 22 years since) who was pretty bossy, and before me had been pushed around a lot by humans trying to dominate her. I used to say “you can put a piece of paper under every foot at the same time”. She just hovered.

At the same time there was an older man, well respected horseman, Floyd Fuller, who in his retirement traveled around the region floating horses teeth. As this mare was new to me, I thought she should have her teeth attended to. It was the first time I had met Floyd. He was 80ish (+/-), and an unassuming man with a generous and gentle demeanor. I had a healthy dose of apprehension about his being successful. She was in cross-ties (not all that restraining) and he just approached her, looked her in the eye, placed his hand on her nose, and gently slid the floating rasp into her mouth and started working off the sharp points.

I was astounded. I had know idea how he had done that, but I saw it happen. In fact he had done it to me too. My presence couldn’t have been anything but unhelpful, as I was convinced that she was going to explode. It was entirely through his presence that he was able to project to her his intension, and his capability, and his trustworthiness. I was bowled over with awareness, unable to describe it, or even understand it, but absolutely aware of it.

If you think of humans as energetic beings, we are emitting energy at all times. Some people may refer to this as an Aura, but it is also presence, demeanor, and attitude. If you can think of the energy being emitted from your body as having impact on those other energetic beings around you, then you may be able to imagine energy as an appendage, like an arm, that you can control, to have specific impact on others around you.

We do a lot of this involuntarily, like being shy, or angry, or amorous, or submissive. Because we have been trained to be so dependent on spoken language, we rarely understand the messages we are actually conveying through the energy of our body language.

The way this relates to the lead rope exercise is that energy vibrates. It travels in waves. Like sound waves, etc. The lead rope becomes the manifestation of the energy that you are emitting. When the rope is slack, and you are completely relaxed you are holding your energy, and not affecting anyone else, including the horse. As you wave the rope, you are sending energy waves up the rope directly at the horse. Low energy waves do not affect the horse, but as you put more and more energy into the waves, getting bigger and faster, your energy will begin to impact the horse. At a certain point your energy will be more than the horse is willing to resist, and they will move back.

You have shown the horse that you have control of your energy by escalating slowly, by concentrating that energy on that horse, and by immediately stopping when the horse yielded. This is communicating at the most basic level, body language. As you continue this exercise the horse will observe you increasing your intension, and will learn that it is safe for them to yield at even a very low level.

As I wrote before, the side effect is that you can also learn, by practicing the feeling that is the foundation for the body language that you emit. This feeling will become the presence that you carry with you, and the horses, cows, dogs, people around you will all respond to it.

The reason that I like this exercise, and I don’t do it a lot, is that I don’t have to touch the horse, or give any commands, or try to direct the horse in any way. It is pure and simply a demonstration of comfort, control, and communication. It has been the foundation for me in the way that I approach my horses. I think that I have a sense now of what Floyd projected to my mare. I can assume a presence that says I am here, I have intension, I am more determined than you, I am safe, and I am trustworthy, all at once.

This is not to say that I have nothing but success, this is not the case. However, the basis for constructive communication is well laid.

I think that it is important to recognize that in all of these different training techniques, the result should not be measured in how smoothly the animal crosses over, or follows, or yields, but how they perceive the teamster. Carl

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