Cody

Today I went trail riding with a friend of the library, Kristy. I rode a different horse, Cody. Midnight was a wonderful horse, but I really really enjoyed riding Cody. He would sometimes take a different route than the other horses and I let him. There was one particular spot where the rain had washed part of a hill down, and Cody took the most difficult way to the top, but it was exciting. Cody was a little spontaneous, for a horse anyway, and I found that I like that- when it isn't dangerous. My significant other is spontaneous as well, I should learn to communicate to him that I enjoy that aspect of his personality. I think an important aspect of a relationship is communicating approval or happiness.

I also worked on my paper some more today, but it still has a long way to go. I can't believe that interim has gone by so fast! And for those of you that have kept up with my blog I appreciate your interest and hope you found my days with horses interesting! :) More posting will come tomorrow, but I thought my appreciation should be noted.

Horse Dentist

Yesterday was a full day. I met Mr. Gary Biggerstaff at 8:00 and we did not get back into Spartanburg until around 7:00 in the afternoon. We drove to Charlotte, NC and visited three different Horse Farms where he did his work as an Equine Dentist. It was interesting to see the trust that the horse had for someone to grind or pull his teeth.

At one of these farms I met with a lady named Charlotte that has won national trophies several times for her horsemanship. She thought my project was neat and proceeded to tell me about how she learned about psycho pathways, and right brain left brain. Extremely interesting but somewhat difficult to understand. From what I understand and remember- a teacher taught her students by making do tasks that involved both their right brain and their left brain. Charlotte heard about this and attempted to do the same thing with horses. It kind of relates to my project, but is so difficult to understand, I'm not sure it will be fully included into my paper.

With talking to Gary I learned that he used to be a very shy person. He said that working with horses has allowed him to open up and communicate more and better with people. This is exactly what I have been searching for. Horses have helped him to become more comfortable around people and therefore communicate better with them. I was extremely excited to hear him speak of how his life had changed because of horses.

Today I rode Midnight with another person on a trail. It was very fun and different from just riding in the arena, but I learned that he is not very confident in himself and I am not a very assertive person. Maybe that is why I am not great in crowds of people.. I am not assertive enough to put myself out there... this is what I have been looking for. If I can learn to be more assertive with the horse, and since I have learned this about myself, maybe I can work on it and become better and communicating with other people.

I also volunteered at Hope Remains today. There was a new kid there today, and before we went down to see the horses he claimed that there was not way he was going to ride him. By the time the hour was up, he was riding and I believe enjoying himself. It is amazing how therapeutic a horse can be. It seemed that spending even an hour with this horse gave him more confidence than he walked in the door with. I am sure with time, he will learn to have confidence with other things in his life.

I have worked some more on my paper today, no where near where it will be come Feb. 1st, but slowly getting there. Yesterday was a major motivation for my paper, and learning from Gary inspires me to continue to learn about horses and keep them in my life. My advice, if you have a bad day find a horse to pet or brush, you will be more relaxed that you could imagine.

The last few days

Friday was not very successful. I was supposed to meet the 'horse whisperer' again, but the rain prevented me from meeting with him. We were supposed to go to King's Mountain and meet with a lady that has 7 horses, but her arena was in really bad shape and not usable. He called me on Friday and told me this. The arena at the stables was also messed up, so I couldn't go ride Midnight. I decided to watch my last film Saddling and Riding, which was interesting to watch, but somewhat repetitive to what I have watched and read.

Today I volunteered at Hope Remains. I got to speak to a young boy about his experiences there and how they have affected his life. He said that working with horses has given him confidence, this is exciting and supports my research. I hope to speak to him again on Wednesday when I volunteer again.

I also started writing part of my paper and filling in my outline with specific details.

Tomorrow's post should be much more promising! I will be shadowing an equine dentist!

Chiropractor

Yesterday I shadowed a horse Chiropractor. Her work is very fascinating and opened my eyes to the body of the horse. It is amazing that an imbalance in the rider can cause a horse to be insufficient in performance. This Chiropractor, Natasha, works with humans, horses and animals of all sorts. To see the relief and relaxation that she brings to animals and humans alike is inspiring. I did not know much about Chiropractic work, but here is what I learned. Your nervous system is centered in your brain and down your spine. If your spine is not aligned properly it can affect your nervous system and cause pains and problems throughout your body. It works the same for a horse. If the horses body is out of align due to a saddle, the rider, or an activity that may be strenuous to the horse- it affects his ability to perform. Once the horse is aligned he may be able to respond quicker to his rider and therefore increase communication.

The first stop with Natasha was a stable that had 2 horses. One horse was 26 years old, and you could definitely tell, swayed back, slow walking, and enlarged knees due to arthritis. The other horse was maybe 10 years old and in really good shape. It was easy to notice when Natasha relieved the horse, she would adjust a part of its body and the horse would seem to breath a sign of relief. Can you image how much easier it is for that horse to perform and to do task quicker after it is relaxed? It would be like having a pinched nerve and someone telling you to run that mile faster, you aren't doing it quick enough! We should do the same thing with our human partners, don't ask them to do something that might be impossible for them. If they seem resistant to doing something you want them to do, maybe you should take a second and think what might be preventing them from granting my wishes.

The second stop was at a lady's house and she wanted a saddle fitting. This lady was quirky but fun. She was talkative and seemed to really care for her horse. Natasha had her ride briefly to get an indention mark in gel. (She placed a gel mat underneath the saddle and had the lady ride, so she could see where the lady was placing pressure on the horses back- she could adjust things on the saddle from there) This lady rode off-center. She recognized this problem and has done things to try and correct this, but she has been off-center for her entire life; that is not easy to fix in just a few years. Natasha made the imprint and found where the lady was putting more pressure on one side of the horse than the other, and inserted some foam in that spot to help the horse be more comfortable riding. It was refreshing to see a 'horse person' so willing to experiment with different things. She was even so kind as to loan me a book to read. (The Tao of Equus) I feel that if you can be open to communicate with an animal in which you cannot communicate verbally with, then why can't some people be so willing to communicate with other people?

The third and last stop was at a stable in which Natasha spent time briefly with two horses. She did not do any chiropractic work on them, but she gave them a brief ride to keep them used to someone on their back. (I believe the owner has been out of town recently.) She rode this giant horse, over 17.3 hands, for those of you who don't know how big that is, image the top of a 6 foot man's head being even the the top of this horses back. This horse towered over me and her, but it was absolutely amazing for me to see that she still had control over this animal. The other horse was smaller, but full of enough energy for 3 horses. She was warm blooded and tested her boundaries every second Natasha was with her. A very important observation was that Natasha did not treat these animals exactly the same way. She was more stern and attentive to the second horse, the mare, because the horses 'horseanility' called for it. We should treat people this way too, when we communicate with them we should realize that it might have to be different depending on who you talk to. If someone if very sensitive you might want take that into consideration over someone who 'has thick skin'.

I did not get to volunteer at Hope Remains yesterday, because most of the kids were sick. It also rained and with few kids there were way too many volunteer and not enough for us to do. We went home but before we did that we gave a horse worm medicine. An exciting experience to watch since one of the horses DID NOT want to take the medicine. I learned that the horse needs time to get used to an idea that you want it to get used to immediately. The horse did not want to take the medicine just like a young child might not want to take medicine. But if you explain it to the child and do a little coaxing it eventually happens, without the entire amount of medicine all over you or the child. Once the horse got used to the syringe (it was just squirted into his mouth, not injected) he accepted the medicine and we all went on our way.

One important thing I have realized is that I have trust issues. I have a very wonderful and stable family, this does not stem from that, but more so because I have had many friend bail. I find myself expecting the worse when I meet a new person- or when meeting alone with someone I have not previously met- extremely nervous. But I think if I continued to work with horses this could change a bit. If I can trust a 1500 pound animal with my life, and trust that I can effectively communicate with it in situations to keep me safe, then why can't a trust a person? I think my intuition will improve with further work with horses. I will learn to keep my guard up, when I need to; not just because I meet alone with a man that I did not previously know.

I think that horses will tell me more about myself than I could learn otherwise. You can't be fake with a horse. He doesn't read your lips or your words he reads your body language. A horse can tell you intention, and tell whether you might be a threat. Working with a horse will tell you if you have issues with control, anger, shyness- it will eventually come out. A horse can also give you confidence. Once you can figure yourself out, you can learn the best way for you to communicate with other people. Sometimes you have to truly understand yourself, before you can understand someone else. Once a person can understand their strengths and weaknesses, they can then learn to communicate that with a another person.

Today was rainy, and there was not much I could get out and do. Arena would be just mud and the saddle would have the potential to be ruined, so I gave it a break for today. I read a bunch of articles and watched a 3 hour film by Tom Dorrance. His film was interesting, but very slow to develop and I couldn't find much to relate to my research. (Maybe something will click later, but I have yet to draw any profound conclusions.) Some of the articles I read were interesting though. One article on gender and the horse world was a new path for me to explore.
Mutual Corporeality: Gender and human/horse relationships
Important quotes from this article:

*"Our relationships with nonhuman animals are a crucial, but often overlooked, part of our social life"

*"messing around with horses allows them to be tomboys, and to develop self-esteem and confidence" ----This is very important to relationships with other people. If you are confident you may be more social and have more frequent relationships that are open.

*"In turn, participation in these activities helps to produce a sense of belonging to particular rural communities. In many ways, the horse and its specific abilities helps humans to shape their identities as horsepeople" ----These people work with horses and this refines their social group to mainly other horse people. This can show that their communication with people is definitely affected by their work with horses. They communicate more with people that have horses and less with 'outsiders'.

*referring to natural horsemanship " one NH student explained that she was "becoming a better person, learning not to think like a predator... [learning to be] polite to the horse"..."-----the context of this quote was not completely given. I can assume that she is referring to being a better person in reference to her horse (being a better person to her horse). But if she goes so far to say she is a better person, you can't help to think that maybe she thinks differently of herself on the whole.. and maybe wants to carry that in all aspects of her life.

*"Having a good feel means that both are sensing and making sense of each other such that sensation itself becomes an important mode of communication."---maybe this could apply to humans relationships with one another. Once you get a good feel for another person you communication with them can reach a new level.

These are just a few of the many idea that have floated through my brain in the past two days.

Ground Work

I started my day by watching a DVD by Stacy Westfall called "Basic Ground Work". It totaled about 2.5 hours, so it took up most of my morning. I don't mean this to sound sexist, but I enjoy watching a woman work with horses because you mostly see men. Some men that work with horses say that a woman is too sensitive and not assertive enough... well they don't know some of the women that I have met! I think it is good that when working with a horse you are sensitive, if you are sensitive to its feelings (such as nervousness or fear) then you can adjust your training or if everything is going as you like, you would know to keep it the same. In so many words, I mean to say that if you can be sensitive to a horses emotions then you should be able to communicate well with other people- they talk.

Back to the DVD. Stacy did exercises lounging, introducing a green horse to a 'whip' (it wasn't really a whip, it had a plastic pole and a long string attached) which she called an extension of her arm. She also introduced it to a tarp and a large bouncing ball- like some people exercise with. She also reiterated how important it is to repeat things on both sides of the horse. Something that never occurred to me, is that you should find out how your horse acts while under pressure. BUT you should find out in a controlled environment first. An example would be a bird flies past the horses feet on a trail. If the horse has never seen this before it will probably jump or run away, and you do not want this to happen when you are on his back. If you expose him to a condition similar to this before you go on the trail, then you reduce the chance of hurting yourself or the horse if it happens on the trail.

Something that clicked in my brain while watching this film was body language. Horses communicate through body language and their movements may be subtle, but can mean so much. If someone works with horses extensively and concentrates on body language they should be able to pick up on body language of a person as well. If that person can pick up on a person's body language then they should be able to communicate more effectively with them. An example would be that if you see someone standing away from everyone else with a scowl on their face and their arms crossed you probably wouldn't approach them; similarly you wouldn't want to approach a horse that is swishing his tail and has his ears pinned back.

Now two definite possibilities to keep exploring Patience and Body language.

Something else that Stacy emphasized in her film is that the horse should respect your personal space. She gives them definite cues to get out of her space such as throwing her elbows way in the air (like the chicken dance). I believe this is something that as people we should work on as well. Sometimes I talk to someone and feel like I keep backing up because they are too close and I am uncomfortable. If we can teach a horse to stay out of our space, then we should be conscious not to be in someone else's space. I have to say, that all the good horse people that I have been around have not invaded my personal space. So far I am finding that working with horses can only increase your communication with other people (that is of course if you are communicating with horses using natural horsemanship, such as the Horse Whisperer, Mr. Dale.)

I think a lot of people do not realize that horses need a purpose; they need a job. If you ride a horse aimlessly, he may get bored and not want to be there because there doesn't seem to be a reason for him to be there. I think the same thing can apply to people. They need a job and a purpose. It would be like putting a child in a classroom and not giving him an assignment. He would want to know why he was there. If you have a purpose or a goal and something for the horse to do when you set out to ride his focus will be on you and your chance of communication is better. Communicating with people can be the same way if you ask someone to meet you, usually there is a purpose and bonding and communication can happen over this purpose.

I think I have mentioned this before but leadership is extremely important in horsemanship and can carry over to relationships with people. If you can be a leader for a half ton animal, then you can be a leader in a group of people.

Teamwork is also important in horsemanship. You may be the leader of the group (you and the horse) but the both of you still have to work together. If a person can work with a horse to get a job done, then they should also be able to communicate well with people to meet a goal.

I rode Midnight again today. I was more nervous that previously simply because I heard horror stories about what can happen if you aren't communicating well with your horse, and of course I am not an expert. I did however pay attention to where his feet were. An example would be, if you want a horse to take a step to the right, you should give him the signal to step right when he is picking up his right foot. If he is picking up his left foot when you give him the signal then he is not going to be able to do what you ask. I watched and felt where his front feet were and tried to give him the signal to step when the correct foot was about to leave the ground. I think it is much more complex to correctly communicate with a horse than most people think. I think it is also amazing that as people we can talk to communicate and many of us do such a poor job. You can imagine how much more in tune a person who works with horses is to body language on a person as well as a horse; they use the body language as well as spoken language to communicate better with people.

Whispering to the Horses Again

I spent the day with the Horse Whisperer again. This time I actually got to see him work with a horse. All of this is hard to describe on a blog, but he lounged the horse and did backing up and side steps. But the key is he did all of this with putting pressure on the horse and then releasing pressure the moment the horse did what it was asked. He first started out with light pressure, and allowed the horse to find release, its happy place. He would then apply more pressure and the horse would struggle until it realized how to find that release and happy place again. He finished the exercises with the horse in a good and relaxed mood. He says never leave a horse in a bad place (aggravated or has a problem) because when you come back the next day the horse will still be in that bad place, but if you leave the horse in a good place (relaxed) then when you come back the next day he will still be in a happy good place.

He says that the training starts from the moment you step in the gate to put the halter on the horse. PATIENCE. Working with horses is all about patience. He waited maybe 10 minutes until the horse was curious enough to come to him and allow him to put the halter on. If he had just walked up to the horse and kept pursuing the horse, it would not have come to him or wanted anything to do with him. The more pressure he would have put on the horse the more horse would have flighted, backed away because a horse is a flight animal. It has to be the horses idea before he is going to do it. You have to make it the horses idea, not your idea or it might never happen.

I believe this can relate to people as well. Like a student, if you make it their idea to want to go to college, then they will work harder to get better grades. But if you tell the student to make better grades and don't give them a reason, then why in the world would they put that much effort into, what seems to them is nothing. Horses are like that too. They want to get away from pressure, so if you allow them to make it their idea to get away from pressure then they will do it.

I also believe that the patience you gain from working with horses will of course help you communicate with people. If you have the patience to train and wait on a horse, then you could be patient in potty training a child. You would be patient enough to learn how to communicate to the child when to use the toilet instead of a diaper. It could teach you patience with coworkers or in my case patience with group member when I work on a project.

When you work with a horse you are supposed to work from where they are coming from. Meaning that they are a flight animal and they are scared and you should recognize that. I think you should also do this with other people. You should realize where they are coming from. My friend might be flaky one day and tell me she wants to hang out and then not show up. When I speak to her the next time maybe I should be considerate that she is going through something difficult or maybe she just can't keep plans. Instead of me getting furious at her I should take the pressure off and let her come to me and apologize. Once she realizes that I will not yell at her and be extremely mad she can open up and tell me what is wrong with her. ( I realize of course that some people would take advantage of this situation and do it multiple times... in that case I would loose my patience.)

I also watched a short video with Dale today and he showed me how you shouldn't scare a horse into doing something. This man was in a round pen with a horse and laid down a tarp. The horse had never seen a tarp on the ground and did not want to step on it or even come near it. The man motioned the horse with a flag towards the tarp but allowed the horse to think about it and make the decision to jump over it. With enough time the horse finally just walked over the tarp. But it took patience and time to let the horse make it his idea to walk on the tarp.

I think this can apply to people. Its like forcing a child to ride a bike. If you let them get comfortable with the idea and give them some confidence then they will want to ride the bike. They will allow you to take your hand off the seat and let them ride by themselves. You shouldn't scare or force people into doing something they don't want to do either. You should communicate with them and give them the space and confidence they need in order to do what you may want them to do. Its like someone asking me to ski dive. If you push me out of the plane of course I don't have a choice, but wouldn't that person want to be comfortable and trust them enough to go on my own? ( At least I would think my friend would want this!) Someone pushing me out of the plane is not going to make me conquer my fear of heights. Just like forcing a horse to walk on the tarp is not going to conquer his fear, it is just going to make him distrust you more, and every time he approaches the tarp he will be nervous because in his mind he didn't get over the fear of the tarp you just forced him to cross it. The horse will be fearful of the tarp and additionally the fact that he will have to cross it regardless of his fear.

I believe pressure and release with a horse can be like pursuing a person. My boyfriend pursued me, but then he let me decide to call him back. He showed interest but allowed me to decide to push the relationship further. You can be like this with horses. You apply pressure and then release. You apply enough pressure to let them know what you want them to do, without pushing them away. ( I understand that dating and relationships can be MUCH more complicated that I am describing but the analogy works here.)

The Horse Whisperer

Yes I have watched the film. I thought it was good, but talking to an actual 'Horse Whisperer" is even better! I put Horse Whisperer in quotations because he doesn't whisper to the horses, he just uses minimal body language to communicate with horses. I spend all day Friday with this man and learned information that many 'horse people' would love to know.

First I am going to list the questions I asked him and his responses:

1. How have horses affected you life?
-taught him patience
-said he got better working with people( he was previously a plant manager)

2. How many years have you been involved with horses?
-most of his life, but 20 years with his new perspective of natural horsemanship

3. What do you believe is the most effective way to communicate with horses?
-body language, does not use voice commands when working with horses, ( means someone else could control your horse when you are on it)

4.How have horses affected your communication with other people?
-he has learned not to be aggressive back when someone comes to him with a problem( when he used to be a plant manager)
-he has learned that people learn from release as well as horses
- he gave an example that when watching a fight, as soon as one person stops fighting back the other person will soon stop as well ( release of pressure)

5. What have you learned from communicating with horses that you believe that everyone should apply to their relationships with other people?
-respect
-less is better
-try too hard to make a first impression( too nice or too overbearing)
-be natural and honest

6. Do you believe there is any aspect of human communication that can be translated into communication with a horse?
- sign language, you have to pay attention, look and not speak

7. What are some of the most important things about horses to know in order to better communicate with them?
- remember that a horse is a wild animal, NOT a pet
- you have to always have the horses attention
- you need to learn the horses language
- remember that the horse is just as scared as you are
-horses are a flight animal
-you should never destroy a horses self preservation, this can be done by forcing it to submit when breaking it/starting

8.Do you believe that communication with a horse should stem from being the leader in the relationship or do you believe that horse and rider both play equally important roles in the relationship?
-they are a herd animal, they need a leader
-they will always look for a leader
-you have to show the horse that you are capable of being a leader
( The conversation then lead into that if you can be a leader to a horse then you can most definitely be a leader in society.)

9. Has communicating with horses allowed you to become a good judge of character in another person?
-Yes, if you can learn to pick out a troubled horse then you can learn to pick out a troubled person.
- Horses and humans can sometimes be alike in the fact that they are good at hiding what troubles them

10.If you have never worked with a horse before, what signs or signals from the horse do you concentrate on or look for to learn about their well being?
- pinning of ears
- tail, knot at the end
-he just looks at body language
-the trained eye can tell by the way the horse moves his feet, and how well he yields to pressure
-if the horse avoids you- there is a problem

11. Are there any signals that you look for when you first meet another person to learn about their well being?
-he says that is more complicated, and he just has to get to know a person
- sometimes you just can't describe it
-bullies are an example, the horse that is the bully is like the person that is the bully, they are that way because they have a problem
-he gave an example that the loudest person in the room is the most troubled, just the horse that causes the most trouble is the most bothered


12. Do you think there is a correlation between these? ( questions 10 &11)
-yes

13. What are some misconceptions that you find people have about communicating with horses?
- people think horses communicate like people do
-you can not treat a horse like a human

14. Do you think that the practices of western riding and dressage use different communication methods with horses?
- I omitted this question because it doesn't really apply to what I am researching. Also I omitted it because communication with horses can vary drastically between to western riders, just as it can with English or dressage riders.

15. Since every horse and every person is different what do you believe is the best method to approach communication?
- to attempt to talk the same language with the horse
- it has to come from within
- should always work from where the horse is coming from( using the fact that a horse is a flight animal etc.)

I spent hours just talking to this man. I learned that he used to train Arabians, who are hot blooded. I learned that hot blooded means that they are high spirited. Also when I arrived there I learned priceless information about which bits should and should not be used. He only recommended one type of bit, a broken snaffle. He said that bits can increasingly get worse and make the horses mouth tougher. The problem is the rider isn't using other forms of communication like the legs, they only use the hands. The broken snaffle is used when a horse is first introduced to riding and a good rider shouldn't have to use anything stronger. The broken snaffle is the easiest on the horses mouth, doesn't make his mouth tough. An analogy would be our hands getting calloused, there mouths can get like this and become resistant to bits.

He compared horses to kids. If you close one door you have to give them another. He hates it when mothers tell their children," just because I said so". It doesn't give them reason or justification. He relates this to a horse, if you tell them they can't go right you have to give them another option, like going left.

He also claims that a happy person can make a horse happy. They can feed off of your energy. He says that sometimes it is like a telepathic communication. He also said that it sometimes looks like a "horse whisperer' is whispering, but the body language is so subtle that it looks like he is.

I also learned that the canter is the easiest gate for the horse to buck. He already has one foot that is kicked out so all he has to do is kick the other one out. You shouldn't even think about getting on a horse if you think it will buck. He says that he has never been on a horse when it bucked. This is due to the fact that he won't get on a horse until he feels it is safe to do so.

He says that riding lessons ARE important. People think that if they get the basics that they can do the rest themselves and that is NOT the case. Some people need to have more of an open mind.

After we talked we went to the stables and we watched some people ride. He told me what they were doing right or mostly wrong and how to watch the horses. For instance one lady had her reins extremely tight and after watching the horse it was obvious that the horse was extremely unhappy. ( Side note: The horse whisperer says the thing about horses is that they are so forgiving, you can make mistakes one day and they will forgive you the next.) This lady had her reins too tight and instead of using her feet to signal to the horse she would pop him with her reins. Another girl was using 'neck reining'. He told me that the horse finally realizes that the rope on the side of their neck means to turn in the opposite direction it usually would. When neck reining you actually put pressure on both sides of the horses mouth, which is not necessary.

Later we followed a lady to another barn on the property. She got her horse out of the barn with only a lead rope. What I saw next was amazing. She lounged her horse and used body motions that were barely detectable to communicate with her horse. For instance she would slightly turn her head to the left and the horse would go to the right. She would then turn her head to the right and the horse would turn around and go left. If she stopped moving her feet the horse did as well. And she would wait for the horse to start licking and chewing its lips before she would move on. This meant that the horse was in a good place and could continue to learn and not be afraid. Something that he said and I think is very important is that you should never leave your horse in a bad place, because when you return it could be worse.

I learned how to safely tie a rope! Many methods show you how to tie a horse but when you pull to release the horse you may get pulled towards the barn or trailer that the horse is tied to. With the method that he showed me, when you pull to release the knot you can step towards the horse giving him a release.

I learned so much that I am still processing some of it, and I know other information will not make sense until I ride again. Hopefully, weather permitting, I will meet with the horse whisperer again tomorrow and he will show me some things with the horse that he has at his place.



Interesting Quotes:
"if you look into a horses eye you can see right into his heart"
"we didn't know the formula for success has been under our nose and we just can't see it"( the formula is the horse)
"horses never lie"
-he said one point in the conversation that in order to raise a child you should be able to start a colt ( have the patience and ability to communicate)
" don't be scared, but don't be foolish"( referring to working with horses)

Parelli

I did a little research on the Parelli Method that I mentioned Yesterday. Very interesting depiction about how leadership is very important in horsemanship. This method is a approach sometimes called 'natural horsemanship'. The Parelli Method also mentions that each horse has a distict personality and that the trainer or rider should take this into consideration. The horse personalities are called 'Horsenalities'. Trainers are taught to look at body cues from horses such as their facial expressions and body language to determine what kind of personality the horse has.

I think this is extremely interesting because teachers might consider this with their students. Students have different personalities and learn in different ways, just as the Parelli Method suggests that horses do. If a horse trainer can determine the personality of his horse and train him accordingly, then a teacher can definetly do the same for their students. I believe that if a person can interact with a horse and with communication determine its personality, then they could learn about their human partners as well. If you can communicate with a horse, which does not speak and determine its characteristics and personality then you should also be able to do so with a human. You can speak to another human and interact more closely than you can with a horse. If you learn the personality of another person then you can learn how to communicate with them better. My point is that if a human can characterize a horse and learn how to communicate with them better, then it should increase that person's communication skills with other people.

On another note, I rode Midnight again today. In my mind it was not as succesful as previous days but I think that is due to distraction on both of our parts. There were workers cutting down trees near us, making loud buzzing noises and such. Also I let my mother come and watch, mainly for safety reasons, because there was no one else at Zach's today. Riding alone even in a round pen could potentially be very dangerous. Midnight wanted to be in the pasture with his friends and wanted to leave the gate pretty bad. I know I anticipated his approach to the gate each time we went around the ring. I have a lot to learn and correct in my lifetime of riding. I also purposely tested whether he would actually go in the direction that you looked. It really does work. I know that my body is sending signals that I do not realize that I am sending to the horse, but Midnight is very sensitive. I am lucky that he is not extremely desensitized because he is somewhat older and has had many riders. Communication was not as I would have liked it to be, but everyday is going to be different and I can't get frustrated because things did not go like I wanted them to. I think the distraction aspect applied to humans as well. If something distracting is going on in your life, it is harder to communicate effectively with others. For instance my grandmother passed away last week and at the funeral there was a long line of people who came through. I was so distracted by the situation that I sometimes could not form words to respond to them. I was distracted by the the devistation that had just occured to my family. I believe that if a person works with horses long enough they can learn to over come distraction and still communicate with the horse. Once you are able to do this with a horse, then it seems that a person given a distraction can still communicate effectively with another person.

I also did some article searching with Mr.Brown. We found some articles that look promising but I will post the results as soon as I get to reading all the articles. Also worked on my outline for the final paper, I hope my expectations are not too high for this short amount of time to do research.

On another interesting note I read an article titiled "Equestrian Program Repair Boys' Spirit". This article talks about how boys who have been incacerated come to her farm and she shows them how to make the right choices again. She explains that an important aspect of her program is that the boys can learn, "simply how to trust others". This is exactly the kind of things that I have been looking for. This means that others have acknowledged that working with horses can build a person's trust. This person does not only build trust with the horses but they can learn how to trust people again be realizing that "this horse loves them unconditionally until they do somehting to compromise that trust". That teaches the boys that if a horse can trust them, then so can other human beings and that the boy can trust again too.

Therapy

Today I was a volunteer at Hope Remains. Hope Remains is a Ranch that helps 'problem kids' through therapy and activities with horses. Some kids may have been abused, may have anger problems and some kids may just have gotten in trouble at school. They spend about half the time with the kids with the horses, playing games and such, and then the second half of the time the kids learn scriptures and answer questions about how that can apply to their life.

Today I saw how much joy the horses brought to some of the kids. The kids were separated into two groups- and there were two horses. We were in an enclosed round ring at one end and at the other end stood a man holding a bucket full of golf balls. Each group had to help their riders into the saddle (each person in the group had to ride) and someone would lead the horse to the other end of the round pen to pick up a golf ball and then the horse would be lead back to the starting point after the golf ball had been dropped into a bucket balanced on a barrel. As a volunteer I managed one of the buckets on the barrel to make sure the smaller kids could get it in and to make sure the bucket didn't fall off the barrel.

I cannot follow the kids home to see how they apply the things they learn with the horses, but some of the workers did mention that they learn valuable lessons while working with the horses. For instance they once had an exercise where they had to make the horses move from one station to another, without touching the horses or using treats. If the horse would not move some children would get angry and yell, and of course the horse would then turn around and not come to that child. These things can be applied once they go home, for instance if a child yells at his mother because he isn't getting his way, the mother isn't going to give him what he wants, she will probably punish him or ignore him. (I was told this story at Hope Remains.) I was also told that the children sometimes have trouble trusting the horse. A big scary 1200 pound animal is hard to control and you need to trust it in order to climb on its back safely. Once the children can become confident around the horses and begin to trust them, then maybe they can learn to trust people in their life.

I believe today that the kids learned teamwork through use of a horse and team members as well as joy. I believe that sometimes when people or kids have a horrible home life they may forget that it is okay to find joy in things. If these kids get time every week to enjoy a horse and enjoy their time, maybe they will learn to enjoy the company of others and learn how to work together and leave their anger problems behind.

After the riding and time with the horses the kids had Bible Study time. They read and looked at a verse and applied it to their life. This part did not apply as much to my research but it was still insightful and I got to know some of the kids a bit more. I talked to a lady named Debra who was extremely friendly and knowledgeable about horses. She is not only a local musician but wants one day to become a cattle rancher. She talked about training horses and how she uses the Parelli Method, which I now will be googling all night to learn about.

If feel that this experience at Hope Remains will open my eyes to possibilities that and knowledge about horses that I would never have imagined.

Circles

My day started with watching a Film by Stacy Westfall on Body work. This DVD had two discs so it took me a while to watch the entire set but it was well work it. The first disc concentrated on being able to use your reins in order to make the horse go in a circle as well as bend and counter bend. Stacy used the phrase 'give and take' many times during the course of this film. In order to make the horse turn in the direction you wish ,you pull lightly on the reins, and the second the horse goes in the direction you wish you release the pressure. I also learned a new way to hold the reins which makes it easier since I am using reins that are not connected. ( sometimes you will see western riders whose reins are separated and are long leather straps, that is what I am riding with). This is hard to describe without a picture but I will do my best: you cross the rein from the right side to the left and vice-verse. The reins are crossed at this point, you then collect both reins in each your right and left hand, so it looks that you have doubled the reins. I feel that it keeps my hands steadier and I feel safer because I have twice the amount of reins under my control and in my grip. Using this method helped me to not only keep up with my reins but also to feel Midnight's mouth better. I felt that today my release was quicker and our communication in regard to direction was a little better.

This 'give and take' phrase can definitely be applied to humans relationships with one another. I couldn't count the number of times I have heard someone say that they are putting more into a relationship with a significant other than the significant other is. This applies to horses as well; if the horse responds when you give a command, but you do not reward them (by releasing pressure) they will become confused. People do this all the time with one another. If we learn to balance the give and take with our partners in life communication becomes easier. If one person feels they are putting more time and/or feelings into a relationship they can become defensive; just as a horse can become defensive if you are not clear with your signals.

Stacy also mentioned that many riders go saddle up their horse and start riding without any plan or or intention. I decided that my goal or plan for today would be just to communicate with Midnight and try to do circles. Getting a horse to go in a complete even circle is like drawing a perfect circle on paper, you have to do it slowly and really concentrate on what your hands are doing. Our circles were not perfect by far, but the mere fact that I could communicate with him and get really close to a round circle made me happy.

Another important statement Stacy made is ' to look where you want the horse to go next'. 'They can feel a fly land on their body and they can tell where you are looking'. I found this to be true while riding today as well. There were barrels set up in the outdoor pin I was in- I did not use them because I am NOT a barrel racer but they were there none the less. I was just walking Midnight around the enclosure, in an oval, to give him a break from circles, I lost my concentration on him and was looking toward the road, next thing I know he has turned out of the path we were on and headed around the barrel towards the direction in which I was looking. I do not believe this was a mere coincidence, I subtly changed my body and moved it in the direction I was looking, he felt this and acted accordingly. Stacy mentioned this in the DVD ;when you are anticipating the next move, you may change your body and this can send signals to the horse without you meaning to do so.

Stacy talked a lot about telling if your horse is soft in the face, in the neck in its body. With close attention I realized that Midnight is soft on his left side but not at all on his right side. This was evident with the small amount of ground work I attempted and with the circles that I tried with him. I started out by just trying to bend his head toward the saddle to the left and then to the right. I noticed on the ground that anything you did on his left side did not bother him at all, but when you walked to his right side and tried the same actions he was not as confident and trusting. For instance when bending his neck to the right he would also move his feet; this did not happen on the left side. Midnight had no oppositions to circles if I was bending his neck to the left, but did not like to do them if I made him go in the opposite direction- his head was bent to the right. Most people do not realize this but, a horse must see things with each eye. For instance if you pass a barn that is on his left side he sees it with his left eye and he must see it with his right eye also. If he does not see it with both eyes then it will look foreign to him and he will not recognize it with the other eye, and this could potentially spook him. I believe Midnight is not as soft on his right side, because everything is mostly done on the left side of a horse. The saddle is fastened and the horse is mounted from the left side.

I did not try spiraling in and spiraling out yet or the clover pattern, it is a little early for me to try that, I want to establish a decent set of communication skills with Midnight before I attempt something more complicated. (Spiraling in and spiraling out is making a circle smaller and bigger. Like drawing a spiral when you were a kid, only you are trying to communicate with a horse to get him to do that with his feet. The clover pattern is setting up four cones and weaving in and out of them until you can make a visible clover pattern with the horses hoof marks in the sand/dirt.)

On the second disc Stacy used other student's horses to show these moves. This was helpful because it showed that some horses will be resistant to bending and that the use of pressure on both sides of the mouth (pulling on both reins) can confuse them at first. You put pressure on both sides of the horses mouth when you do spiraling for instance. You pull on the reins in one direction to keep them in a circle, but you pull with the other rein every so often to make the circle bigger.

This is more or less a note to myself but I think it is important tomorrow for me to take a look at the bit. I think the bridle might be too tight and that is why Midnight is so quick to respond. I don't want riding to be painful for him at all. He would then associate pain with me riding him, not a good association to have if I will be riding him for a month.

Midnight

Today I visited Shenandoah Farms at Rolling Hill and found a horse to lease. The horse is black and appropriately named Midnight. He is very gentle and calm which is reassuring and comforting to me. I have also never ridden a horse that is so responsive as this one. He can turn on a dime, and to get him to change gates I barely have to move my feet. He also kept his ears back, which means he is paying attention to me the rider, the entire time I rode him. I rode him in the ring to get a feel for his personality and character. For example he does not spook easy as some horses do and he is somewhat stubborn, but easily gives when asked to do something repeatedly.
I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to ride almost everyday and to have a horse that is so responsive.

I also learned that I have a saddle, bridle, reins and blankets that are mine for the entire month. I will also be the only person riding Midnight which comforts me to know that no one else will possibly be using different or confusing techniques while riding him.

There was a moment today when both Midnight and I fell in sync with one another. It was 5 seconds of a perfect trot with horse and rider communicating perfectly. To those of you who do not ride horses, the trot while a slower pace is difficult to accomplish properly. It is the rockiest and bumpiest pace that a horse goes through. The hardest part of the trot is finding the rhythm of the horse. I have continued reading the book Centered Riding by Sally Swift. It describes in detail how to maintain rhythm and balance while in a trot and walk. You should keep your hips, knees and ankles loose and move with the horse. This is very hard to describe to someone who has never ridden a horse, because this is not as simple as it sounds.

Something that I did understand was a major part of communication with the horse is your hands. You must keep your hands soft but responsive. Too much tugging and pulling at a horses mouth will make them less responsive and confuse them, this is not the way to achieve good communication with a horse. If you ask a horse to move in a certain direction by pulling on the reins, the moment they give in to your request the pressure on their mouth should stop. A reward to a horse is releasing pressure. So if you tug on the reins and do not release as soon as the horse obeys your request, you confuse them.
Some of you might believe this is a stretch but I can apply this to communication with my fellow peers. An example of this would be asking the same person to cover for you at work repeatedly. You ask them to do a favor once and they do it. But when you repeatedly ask them to do the same favor and do nothing in return they may feel used and stop responding to your requests to cover for you at work. A horse may feel the same way. " you keep pulling on me and I turn in that direction but you still keep pulling, what am I doing wrong?".

This book has also taught me that transitions from one gait to another are very important. The transition should be smooth and the rider should stay with the forward motion of the horse. Again, this sounds easy but unless you are an experienced rider it can still be difficult. To get a horse to change gaits is simple yes, but to get a horse to change gaits smoothly with a human on its back, very difficult.

The book centered riding also emphasizes how important the canter is as well. Balance and rhythm are also very important with the third gait the canter. 'Forces of Energy' are also mentioned. This is a somewhat difficult concept for me to completely grasp. You are supposed to use the force of energy in the horse flow through you to allow you to find the rhythm of the gait in which the horse is in.

Tomorrow should be another exciting day with Midnight and for expanding my knowledge.

Centered Riding

I just finished reading 60 pages of a book titled Centered Riding written by Sally Swift. Centered Riding is a technique that is used to help someone have balance on a horse. Having correct balance not only makes the horse more comfortable but allows communication to flow freely, when both rider and horse are relaxed and balanced. So far this book has focused on four aspects of the body that should be considered if a rider wants to become balanced on the horse.

First you must have 'soft eyes'. This means that you must use your peripheral vision to see all of your surroundings. If you see and pay attention to all of your surroundings you are more likely to be safe and conscious of situations around you. Using 'soft eyes' could prevent and aid someone in handling a unexpected situation.

Next is breathing. An example of using correct breathing would be riding a horse past a vehicle that it is frightened of. If you know that the horse is scared of a particular vehicle you might hold your breath or breath quicker from anticipation. By just being calm and breathing normal you not only relax yourself but reassure the horse that everything is okay.

I believe this also applies to humans. For example when my sister was little if she fell and no one was around, or payed her any attention and she had no serious injury she would not cry, BUT if you jumped up and gasped when she fell she would immediately cry. She sensed something was wrong, even if she wasn't hurt, so she cried. The same thing applies to horses, if you act like something is wrong, they will sense this and react accordingly.

The third aspect of balance on the list is centering. You must center your body on the horse. An example given in the book is a doll that has sand in the bottom. You can push the top all the way to the ground, but it will always spring back to the upright position. This is how one should be when riding a horse, you will at times get off balance but you must spring back to your center and remain balance to insure the horse is comfortable.

Lastly the author mentions a concept called building blocks. The rider is to imagine that each section of your body is blocks and you must align them in order to be balanced.

While most of this reading pertains only to a rider and horse I find that correlation can be found to how people can communicate with one another. If you have experience with horses you may find that keeping your cool and balance in a situation helps to maintain a horses sense of confidence. I think that as this interim continues I will find that this situation can also be found between humans. For instance, I was in a car wreck this past Wednesday. I was headed home from the mountains in about 3 feet of snow and the car slide into a ditch. I of course panicked. My boyfriend was driving the car and remained calm the entire time. After the initial shock his calm demeanor made me relax and face the situation. While it may seem unlikely that communication with horses has a connection or relation to humans communicating with one another it is true. I believe my experiences this month will be extremely insightful and useful in everyday life and in unexpected situations.

The Beginning

Over the Holiday break I was flipping through the channels on TV trying to find something interesting to watch. Luckily there was nothing interesting on, so I went passed the channels I would normally watch and found something great. There is a channel RFD TV, that presents information and products about horses. As I started watching this channel I thought that the man was only trying to sell a product, but with patience I learned more. The product he was using was called a Blocker Tie Ring. This ring was designed to teach a horse not to pull back when tied up. It is extremely dangerous to a horse and person if a horse pulls when tied to a post or fence, it is possible to break the halter or the lead rope which can result in physical harm to the horse. The blocker tie ring allows the horse to move its feet when tied up. When the horse pulls or backs up the lead rope gives allowing the horse to back away from whatever may be frightening it. Since a horse is a flight animal ( when presented with a dangerous situation a horse would rather flight than fight), this allows them to get away from what scares them without harming themselves while still being tied up. With demonstration of this product, once the horse realizes that being tied up is not as frightening as it once was they will no longer pull on the rope.
This demonstrates an important aspect of horses and how we should approach a situation with them. You should always realize that horses are flight animals and use this to communicate with them. When they are frightened you have to show them gradually and gently that their fear is not as fearful as they thought.
I read in a book once that you must make an idea a horse's idea before it will be accomplished. Once the blocker tie ring was used and it was the horses idea to stay tied to the post it happened without complication. I believe this concept will be extremely important with communication with horses this month. I also believe that this could become important with communication with other people in the future.

Interim Project Description

My research will be conducted in the social sciences and be concerned primarily with human’s relationships with horses and how that influences a human’s relationship with another person. I will be observing horses and participating in riding horses to try and find the most effective way to communicate with them. I will also determine how communication with horses can affect a person’s communication with other people. I will shadow several horse experts to learn and observe their circumstances and relationships with horses. By riding and gaining personal experience I hope to obtain insight on learning better communication skills with horses and learn how this communication with horses may affect my relationship with other people. From observation I expect to find that communication with horses will allow people to communicate more effectively with other people. I also expect to find that communication with a horse will teach patience and allow communication with other people to grow.
For this project I have read books concerning horsemanship, safety, and riding techniques. Mr. Brown has also helped to broaden the Wofford College’s Library collection with books and documentaries on the subject of communication with horses. I intend to use all of these resources in the course of my interim project. I also have had horseback riding experience in the past and I have recently started riding horses again to have extra preparation for this project. I took horse riding lessons throughout my childhood and during my teenage years my parents owned a horse that I gained experience from. I plan to read more articles on how communication with horses can affect communication with other people before I begin this Interim project.
I plan to shadow horse experts to observe and interview them on their relationships with horses and other people. I will take my notes and observations from each expert and compare them to find how horses have affected their communication skills with others. I will also use my notes to compare the ways each expert believes is the most effective to communicate with horses. I will also take my personal reflections from riding and compose a response to my guiding research question. These comparisons and reflections along with additional research will be used to compose the final written report.