Merry Christmas from Dartmoor

From left to right, Apollo waiting while I introduce myself. Spectators keeping warm with cups of tea. Apollo and I. Demonstrating backing up a hill with a loose rein and softness in Apollo's mind and body. Me riding Ash, Morgan's horse.

Harry Whitney Horsemanship Articles

Harmonious Horsemanship
(The Whole Horse Journal, November/December 1996)

Harry, how do you explain your training approach?

I start with really basic ideas about horses and humans working together. First, you need to look at why we have horses in captivity. Well, most of us want to ride or drive them. In order to do this, in order to get the horse to go where we want to go, we need to direct the feet. Whether we are riding a horse or handling him on the ground, we have to be able to direct him, to get him to do what we want to go where we want him to. There are many ways to do this. We can put a horse in an enclosure where the fence forces his feet to stay there, but that doesn't mean that he is there mentally or that it's his choice to be there. Likewise, many training methods use force and large amounts of pressure to make the horse's feet do our will. These create physical resistance because they don't allow the horse to make a choice.
If the horse is being led or guided but doesn't feel like he is a partner to the human, he'll feel resentment instead of respect. To be successful in the long-term, you need to create a relationship of willingness which works for both parties. You don't make a horse do anything. You allow him the opportunity to make a choice. The only way true leadership works is if it's a partnership.

How do you start this process?
Communication between horse and rider is the first thing. If I were to write a book on working with horses, this subject would be the first chapter. Most of the horses which come to me don't have training problems - they have communication problems with their riders. The horse can't hear the rider's request or the rider can't hear the horse. Then they are unable to work together.
For communication to happen, both parties have to be giving and receiving information to and from each other. The horse can't be looking back up at the barn or after his friends, and the human can't be thinking about work or his human friends. The two have got to be mentally focused on each other and always focused on what is happening at the present moment. They can't be worried about what happened a little bit ago - which is forgotten history - or what might happen later - expectations.

How do you communicate with a horse?
The line of communication from your brain to the horse's feet has to go right square through the horse's brain. First, the horse's brain has to hear our communication, our suggestion for action, and then organize his body to go where we are asking him to go. Horse owners have to understand this very basic idea. If a horse's brain and thoughts are not with us to begin with, our communication to him can't take place. He can't possibly respond with a correct response.
Think of a young boy in the classroom. If he is physically sitting in the classroom, but he is mentally thinking about being out on the sidewalk with his rollerblades or skateboard, he cannot hear the teacher. If he is mentally out on the sidewalk, he might as well physically be out there as well. It's the same with your horse.
If you are trying to ride your horse out on the trail, but he's worrying about his friends back at the barn, he will be unable to hear you asking him to go down the trail. He will also have no willingness to follow your leadership to continue down the trail. Furthermore, where ever a horse's mind is, his feet will try to get there. The horse who is thinking of the barn will be trying to go back to the barn.

How can a horse owner tell if his horse's mind is present?
When I use the term "mind" or "brain", I mean the horse's thoughts, his desires, his mental focus. The way you can tell if a horse is mentally with you is to watch his body - watch his eyes, posture, and feet. A horse's body, from his head to his feet, will be trying to go to where his brain is focused.
For example, think of a horse tied up to a post for grooming. If he is standing still and relaxed, you can bet his mind is right there with you. You have his mind and you have his body focused primarily on you, being with you.
Now, if he is stirring around, pawing and fidgeting around the post, he doesn't want to be there. He is thinking about going somewhere else. You are not in the picture. The tie rope and post have restricted where his feet can go, but that horse's brain is somewhere else and his feet are trying to get there. So he paws, kicks, and sashays back and forth.
Then, there is the horse who will not ride straight away from the barn. He argues with the rider, going sideways, trying to turn around, rearing up. Where is his brain, his focus, his thoughts? Back at the barn. And his feet are trying to take him there.

This idea sounds like a pretty important part of your program.
If people are going to successfully work with a horse, they have to understand this concept. The horse's feet are always working to be where his brain, thoughts, worries, or fears are. The other thing to realize is that anytime the brain and the feet are working together, the horse's anxiety level reduces.
Once the horse is with us mentally, then and only then can we direct his feet with no resistance and a smile on his face. This means we could lead him, drive him, or ride him where we want to go and have him be a willing partner. It's really important to be able to read the horse's body language and posture in order to see if his brain and body are in agreement.

Once you realize the horse is not with you mentally, how do you go about getting his mind back to you?
How to get the horse's mind working with you could easily be another chapter in the book. There are many different degrees of the horse being mentally absent in various situations and it can take different levels of pressure to draw his attention back to us.
Let's go back to the example of the young boy in the classroom thinking of his rollerblades. If the teacher can find a big enough motivation to bring all of the boy's thoughts into the classroom, there is a chance he will hear what is being presented.
Few people understand how to be the biggest motivation in the horse's life in a way which brings about partnership. When I say the biggest motivation, I mean we become the most important thing for the horse to focus on. We draw his attention. We become the leader, but we do this in a way which creates both respect and responsiveness from the horse. Once we do this, the horse desires to be with us instead of another horse, instead of at the feed room. Then, the horse might also have enough confidence in us not to flee his fears. He becomes content, willing to do what we direct.

By Harry Whitney