An Extraordinary Relationship with an Extraordinary Animal

There is minimal research on the large animal-human companionship bond. The purpose of the phenomenological study was to identify the meaning of the relationship between women and their horses and the impact on their adult lives of the human-horse bond. Analysis is based on in-depth interviews with five adult 4-H alumni horsewomen. The meaning of the relationship was a deeply emotional response to a reciprocal relationship between women and their horses. The central finding was the role of the horse in providing needed social support for the women to meet the challenges of life on an everyday basis


Life Without Horses Is Unimaginable

For these women, the meaning of the horse-human relationship was the deeply emotional response they felt to the satisfying reciprocal relationships that developed between themselves and their horses. In discussing the bond they felt with their horses, they described a compatibility the source of which even they could not easily identify. Their interest in horses could be described as part of their being. Marilyn mused about her affinity with horses: "You know, sometimes you think it is a gift."
Whether married or not, whether they had children or not, and regardless of family income, life without horses for these women was unimaginable. These women had family responsibilities, employment obligations, and education expectations. They also experienced a persistent attraction to horses both in childhood and in adult life.
Explanations referring to the bond they felt with horses included, "As a teen, I hung out with my horses all the time" and "I wouldn't miss a day riding my horse when I was younger. I wish I could do it now." "I liked boys, but they were not my focus. My focus was my horse." Nora stated flatly, "I never could give up my horses."
In several cases, life from childhood on was about very clear choices involving horses. When Marilyn was 18, her mother told her she could no longer attend 4-H horse meetings:
She told me that if I went to the meeting, I'm not to come home. She put the ultimatum out. I spent the balance of my day, without her knowing, moving my stuff out of my bedroom window and loading it into my car—bridles, saddles, a couple bags of clothes, etc. I made that choice then. Mom did not speak to me for a year.
The meaning of the horse-human relationship to these women was filled with emotion. Their words to describe the meaning included "best friend," "comfort zone," "just like people," "family," "a definite relationship," "passion," and "therapy." Each had devised individually prescribed programs for improving her own quality of life on an informal basis through activity with horses. Those activities, by their regularity and because of the responsibility women took towards caring for their animals over time, strengthened the bond and deepened the meaning of the relationship for each woman.

An Intense Interest in Horses

Among the women in the study, parents or grandparents provided their introduction to horses. All five women discussed periods in their lives characterized by a passion for horses. Nora referred to the attraction as being "horse crazy." Marilyn called it an "addiction." All wanted to share their strong feeling for horses with others and to offer others the opportunity to experience the fulfilment with horses that they themselves had experienced. Linda, who was a schoolteacher, said:
I don't know if people understand who I really am. At school, I'm not the real person I really am. Until they (colleagues) come here and meet the horses and see the barn, see what we've got here, I don't think they get it.
For Sandy, passion for horses was "living and breathing horses." When she talked about her bond with her horse, she explained:
When you spend that much time with something, they are just like a graft on your arm; it is like they are part of you . . . like children or your husband, when you wake up, that's the first thing on your mind.
When asked what it took to be an award-winning 4-H horsewoman, Marilyn replied, "First you need the passion." She skied and travelled with husband and children, but:
I'm in my comfort zone with horses and no matter how much work the horses may be, that's where my skills are. For me, that is vacation. Every aspect of my life, every energy, and every brain cell is ways of tying horses and youth and families together . . . trying to share that same passion and find people who have that same interest.

The Horse As a Source of Stability in Life

In the horse world, the phrase "collected horse" refers to a positioning of the horse's body for balance, when the hind legs of the horse feel firmly and solidly situated underneath its body before horse and rider move off together. A collected horse is balanced, responsive, in control, and sensitive to its rider. Its mind is with its rider. In the study reported here, a central finding was the role of the horse in providing sure footing and the needed balance to its female owner for her to face not only life's special challenges, but also to move ahead with confidence, courage, and competence in everyday living situations.
Comments by the five women indicated that, at various periods in their lives, horses were necessary for their "sanity," good health, and capacity to deal with issues of life beyond the daily care of horses. None deviated from the stated conviction that, whether or not there was an actual horse on the property, she was better able to cope with the rest of life when her life also included horses. What the women seemed to have in common was personal experience with at least one horse that, to its owner, had a presence that was a powerful stabilizing effect in her life.
Social support has been found to be a strong buffer against the potentially negative effects of stress in human life. In human interaction, social support has been singled out as the primary non-health factor associated with well-being in people. The horses were participants in determining quality of life issues among the women in this study. The grounding provided by horses in each woman's life was comparable to social support among human beings.
Each woman told of times when she carried emotional burdens to her horse, to confide in her animal what she believed would have been more difficult to tell human friends and family members. The horses' responses in such situations appeared to their owners to be adequate. Research indicates that, in human friendships, it is the presence of a confidant that is the measure most strongly associated with mental health outcomes (Siegel, Angulo, Detels, Wesch, & Mullen, 1999). For these women, the horse seemed to provide the support that was extremely important in coping and working to attain well-being for self and family.

The Horse As Companion and Friend

The strength of the bond with their horses as described by the women was significant. As these women discussed their relationships with their horses, they described a sense of horses as animals with extraordinary presence and powers. While they acknowledged safety issues when working with horses, it was a matter of the woman and horse needing to work more successfully together to accomplish goals the women saw as mutually agreed upon between horse and rider. The friendship relationship as described by these women was give-and-take, and the women seemed to give their horses, at times, more-than-equal credit towards the success of the relationship.
The temperament or appearance of the horse did not negatively affect the bond between horse and woman. Nora, who described her first pony as "stubborn," further explained, "There will be days when you cannot stand that animal, and you just want to clunk it. But other days? It's kind of like working with children basically. Unconditional, but with horses."
The women discussed how they would explain to a non-horse owner what it was all about to own, work with, and care for a horse. For Sandy, it was a friendship that provided mental and emotional therapy. For Bonnie, it was the comfort and freedom of riding. Nora stressed teamwork. Linda said, "We talk about them more like people than like pets. They are family and they are partners. They respect you if you respect them and it's a team thing. "
The friendship the women described fits the definition of human friendship offered by Savin-Williams and Berndt (1990), being important, enduring, relatively problem-free relationships accompanied by new learning experiences and understanding. These women found trust, emotional closeness, and intimacy in their bond with horses, similar to traits that people would expect to find in their friendships with each other.
You spend time trusting the animal that trusts you and you find that one in a hundred that makes the same connection with you. You are not going to find any better reward. The bond with a true pet is the same bond, that same respect and compassion you have had with another human being.

Discussion and Implications

Inherent in findings reported here is support for the social value of horses. The relationships between these women and their horses were comparable to human-to-human relationships but appeared in some ways to surpass the power of human-human relationships in stabilizing life. For the women in this reported study, bonding with their horses presented a significant method for buffering life's stresses and augmented their own strengths in coping.
As described by these women, the horse-human bond was intelligible, meaningful, and beyond the commonplace. The exceptional nature of horses, as seen by study participants, created exceptional bonds between the women and their horses. The descriptions by these women of the horse-human bond echo animal-human companionship research findings of the emotional, psychological, and physical health benefits to human life of the human-pet bond, regardless of animal species.
The findings regarding the horse-human relationship with women in the study are consistent with the view that animal therapy is appropriate to and important among people who are well and functioning effectively in society (Levinson, 1984). For these women, including animals in human lives made sense and was a much valued way to receive love and comfort, two conditions Levinson recognized as necessary to human life.

Why Horses Make the Best Therapists

How the Horse Influences Psychological Goals

Exercise in the fresh air away from cities and towns help to promote a sense of well-being.

Improved Self-Confidence

Confidence is gained by mastering a skill normally performed by able-bodied people. The ability to control an animal much larger and stronger than oneself is a great confidence builder. Participating in events such as shows and play days add to the sense of achievement.

Increased Interest in the Outside World

For those confined by a disability, the world tends to shrink in size. Riding increases interest in what is happening around the rider, as the rider explores the world from the back of a horse. Even exercising becomes interesting when done on horseback.

Increased Interest in One's Own Life

The excitement of riding and the experiences involved stimulate the rider, encouraging the rider to speak and communicate about it.

Improved Risk-Taking Abilities

Riding is a risk sport. The rider learns to master fears though the act of staying on the horse, as well as attempting new skills and positions on the horse.

Development of Patience

Since the horse has a mind of its own, the rider learns patience as he or she attempts to perform skills on the horse when the horse is not cooperating. Repetition of basic riding principles also helps to develop patience.

Emotional Control and Self-Discipline

The rider quickly learns that an out-of-control rider means an out-of-control horse. Shouting, crying, and emotional outbursts upset the horse, which in turn frightens the rider. Riders learn to control these emotions and appropriately express them.

Sense of Normality

By being able to master a skill considered difficult by the able population, the rider experiences him/herself as being normal.

Expansion of the Locus of Control

The rider begins to view him/herself as having control over his/her world as control over a powerful animal increases.

How a Horse Influences Social Goals

Friendship

Although riding can be a solitary activity, it is normally performed in groups. Riders share a common love of horses and a common experience of riding -- a good foundation on which to build a friendship.

Development of Respect and Love for Animals

Horses require a great deal of care and attention. Riders find themselves bonding with the animals. They develop an interest in them and learn to care for them. They learn to put the needs of the horse first.

Increased Experiences

The varieties of experiences involved in riding are endless. From tacking and grooming to hacking in the countryside, going to horse shows to learning the parts of a horse, the rider is constantly experiencing and growing. The horse also provides the rider with the ability to go places otherwise inaccessible due to the disability.

Enjoyment

There is no doubt about it, riding a horse is fun. Riders experience excitement and pleasure every time they come for a lesson

How the Horse Assists in Academic Achievement

Before one can read, it is necessary to recognize the difference in shapes, sizes, and even colors. These can be taught more easily on horseback, as part of games and activities. There is less resistance to learning when it is part of a riding lesson. Through the use of signs placed around the arena, letters can be taught, and reading of individual words by word recognition can also be learned. Games involving signs for "exit", "danger", "stop" etc., help to teach important life skills involving reading.

Counting is learned by counting the horse's footsteps, objects around the arena, or even the horse's ears and legs. Number concepts are gained as the rider compares the number of legs on a horse to the number of his own legs. Addition and subtraction are taught through games involving throwing numbered foam dice and adding or subtracting the numbers. Because the concepts are taught through games, resistance to learning is decreased.

Sequencing, Patterning and Motor Planning

Something as simple as holding and using a pencil requires a great deal of motor planning. Knowing which comes first in a sequence of events is an important part of most activities. These and other similar skills are taught on horseback though the use of obstacle courses, pole bending, drill team, and many other games and activities.

Improved Eye-Hand Coordination

Eye hand coordination is necessary for such skills as writing. These skills are taught in tacking the horse, as well as various activities and exercises.

Visual/Spatial Perception

This includes our awareness of form and space, and our understanding relationships between forms in our environment. Included in this area are directionality (knowing right from left); space perception, which allows us to differentiate between items close in shape but spatially different (i.e. "h" versus "b"); form perception (i.e. differentiating "h" and "m"); figure ground (picking out an object from the background); and visual sequential memory (such as remembering symbols in a particular sequence or pattern). Both reading and math concepts involve visual spatial perception. Visual spatial perception improves as a natural result of control of the horse. Additional exercises are done on the horse to increase ability in this area.

Differentiation

The rider learns to differentiate significant from less significant stimuli in the environment. An improvement in this area occurs as the rider learns to attend to his horse and those things that may influence the horse as opposed to attending the environment in general.

What Horses Really Want

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Love, understanding, trust. These are the words that describe what people look for in relationships, and while they may guide our actions with one another, do they apply to our relationships with horses?
The question we are really asking here, is, do horses crave the same things that people do? In essence, do the needs of horses align with those of people? While the answer to this question may be obvious, it is worth asking nonetheless.
Clearly, horses needs are very different from those of people. Not bestowed with the comforts of an insulated world, the equine species lives at the center of what we consider our most primitive need — safety. While we have easily surpassed the hyper-vigilant state that is horses everyday experience, for them, life is still a minefield of scary objects. And yet we have even brought them into our world — away from the only safety they know — to face what, to us, is not scary, but to them, often overwhelming.
To be sure, we ask them to walk down our streets, live in our buildings, even wear the clothes we make for them.
So in hoisting them fully out of their familiarity, how often do we consider what they really want? The answer, unfortunately, is not much. Watching any person, new to horses, approach a horse for the first time is a lesson in just how frequently our understanding horses’ needs become enmeshed with our own. While the intentions are good, for sure, people give them what they would want. Applying affection first, people fail to consider that horses, who are driven by the unending need for safety, do not find safety in affection.
Observing herd behavior — particularly that of a mare and foal — under distress, would not reveal a display of affection-oriented actions. Instead, the mare would very deliberately move the foal out of harm’s way — away from the scary object — and placing her body between her foal and what is threatening, she would offer protection. In this way, protection is an act of leadership, in the form of controlling the space.
In the example above, if the foal were to attempt to move out of his mother’s protective cushion, she would not allow it. And why? Because allowing the foal to move when his movement may induce harm would defy protection.
Yet, this is not to say that horses do not include affection in their repertoire of behavior. They do, however, they determine safety first. For example, when horses are introduced to each other for the first time, the first thing they do is determine who leads, and who follows. To do this, they may squeal, kick, or even bite one another. However, once this hierarchy is clear, it remains, and affection commences.
While this may be opposite that of typical human introductions — being affection before roles, rules, and expectations — it is probably not that far removed from what people actually want. After all, how often do we exchange pleasantries one minute only to find out much later, what the other really wants?

Identification of Emotion in Equine Therapy

One of the most commonly promulgated benefits of equine therapy is that for those who may have trouble being aware of just how they feel, or the even more challenging why, working with horses can help identify these feelings. Yet, for those in the field of equine therapy, the mechanisms behind this process are somewhat up to debate.
Much of the difference in understanding as to how horses can actually help people put their finger on how they are feeling is related to the fact that horses do not respond to people in the same way that people do. Horses are said to be much more intuitive to human defense mechanisms, and are not easily bluffed. Where another person may not recognize the projection of a troubled other, the horse will indeed have a response that is reflective of the very emotion from which the person is trying to defend. This is the main reason that projective identification is not possible in equine therapy.
A person, in discomfort, may attempt to deflect his negative feelings onto another, and the other, unknowingly, will act these out, thereby enacting a situation where the discomfort, which is detested, becomes reality, horses will act quite differently. Instead of acting out the projection, a horse will respond to it. And the response the horse offers will always be within the context of a herd animal, and thus herd behavior.
For example, let’s say that the troubled person projects his/her feelings of anger onto another person, and the person then acts out angrily, thereby creating the undesirable emotion. Ok, now lets take this same scenario into the arena. A person who projects his anger onto the horse, proclaiming that the horse is actually the angry one, will not necessarily produce an angry horse. Rather, the horse will respond to the person’s hidden anger by attempting to bring it to the surface. This can be done in several ways. The horse may “haze” the client — circling around him in progressively smaller circles in an attempt to dominate space. The horse may also repeatedly move into’s the person’s space, nudging him out of the way.
By using her body, the horse essentially places the person in a position where anger would be a healthy response. This is all done to draw the anger to the surface — out of the unconscious — thereby making the person “readable” to the horse, and a viable herd member. In order to understand this, it is important to remember that herd animal relate predominantly through physiological responses, and unconscious drives, emotions, and motives, have physiological traces. For horses, hidden emotions are like hidden physiological responses, making communication, and the establishment of the horse’s safety — through a congruent and connected herd — impossible. So in order to preserve her own safety then, the horse must make the person — her current herd member — more congruent, through evoking his hidden unconscious material. For while people can operate with closeted emotion, horses cannot, and therefore, identifying any emotion that is covert, and responding to it is an automatic process for the horse.

Just Be Yourself

AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE WRITTEN BY ROSIE



Authenticity is the ‘real’ you – your heart and soul – the essence of who you are. It’s when you have the ability to flow with your emotions, be congruent, live in the present moment and therefore be open to respond to life’s opportunities with balance between your head and your heart.
You know when you are being authentic, it’s simple – you FEEL GOOD!!
When I was a teenager, I can remember my Mum saying to me ‘Just be yourself’, when I was worried about going into a new or strange situation. I used to think ‘But which self is that? The one who answers the telephone, the one who I need to be when visiting Great Aunt, the one I am at college, the one I am at home or the one I am with my ponies?? Which was the ‘real’ me?’ I longed to be my self – the same ‘me’ in all situations; if only I was good enough to be myself!!
Here was the clue. I believed that I needed to behave appropriately to different situations, to be accepted, to gain approval, to be my best. This is a conditioned sense of ‘self’. Our ‘authentic self’ is the one hidden beneath all the ‘masks’, all the layers of conditioning and limiting belief patterns. And so how do we access our authenticity? In the words of Lao-Tzu: A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
My journey to authenticity began during my studies in Life Coaching. I began to learn what was important to me and what I valued in my life. I began to recognise that my beliefs were simply thoughts that I’d continued to think for a long time. Some were useful and some were detrimental to my health, wellbeing and happiness. I also learnt that as I brought the limiting belief patterns into the light they lost their power over me and new, more helpful beliefs could take their place. This was often a liberating experience, but sometimes the celebration came after the anger I felt as I realised that I’d limited myself for so many years!!
Over time I learned to accept my past limitations as I learnt that these old beliefs were survival patterns that had kept me safe as a child. I could then be grateful for what I’d achieved and let go of the past, which always left me feeling lighter and more joyful. I began to question all my beliefs – quite a sobering experience – at the then tender age of 45!!
When I planned to sell the Riding Centre that I’d built and run for 14 years a new wave of vulnerability hit me. I had come to know the Rosie who had a successful riding centre and was well known in the area and I accepted her as ‘me’. But who was I under this mask? I wanted to find out.
I continued my journey of self awareness and personal development as I studied, learned and practised Reiki, Radionics and Hypnotherapy. I worked as a Freelance Riding Instructor and what I noticed was that I loved teaching. I was most joyful when I was in the company of horses and their owners – in a mutual learning environment and relationship. I was totally ‘myself’ in these situations. I noted it down!
In November 2006 a new horse came into my life, who was to lead me to the next step of my journey into authenticity, Jack. Looking back it’s hard to believe that I bought Jack. He wasn’t the horse that I truly wanted at that time, he wasn’t fit and ready to go, and I knew it would take time. Now I realise that behind this decision was another limiting belief – “I won’t find a horse that will do everything I want it to do, I’ll have to make it”.
The fittening process was one that I was very familiar with and over the ensuing months Jack grew in strength and condition; he looked a picture of health. However, what I hadn’t noticed, under the mask of his lack of fitness, was his level of fear and unpredictability, particularly when he was left alone. As he grew fitter and stronger he could spook more rapidly and soon my confidence turned to fear and our relationship started to deteriorate. But why??
What I didn’t realise at the time but which became clear later, was that I didn’t honour my ‘fear’ when it arose. I continued to act confident, as I was so used to doing. However, this left me in a state of prolonged alertness and Jack could literally feel my fear and that added to his own insecurities.
After our fall in September 2008 I knew that I had to face my fear. I either had to sell Jack to someone with more confidence and feel a fraud for the rest of my life, or I had to admit to myself, to Jack and to the world that I was frightened of him. On some level, I knew that the latter was the path that I had to take, and however painful, was the path to set me free. Once I could honour my fear I could keep myself safe and begin to build a relationship based on honesty and trust. 
The Epona Approach teaches the Emotional Message Chart as written by Linda Kohanov in her book, Riding Between the Worlds. Horses are masters of emotional agility. They communicate through their emotions. For example, if they are in a field and suddenly a piece of loose paper flies into the hedge they may be frightened. They feel their fear, they run to the other end of the field, they turn to inspect the new intrusion and when they recognise it to be safe, they go back to grazing.
The biggest impact of the Epona approach on my life has been learning about emotions as information to guide and support my daily life. I feel more calm, content and more alive. Throughout my life I’d become a master at suppressing my emotions. I grew up not wanting to be a ‘cry baby’ and bottled up my tears, even though I knew I often felt better after a good cry. I suppressed my anger, not realising that it had a simple message about the need to set a boundary. Unfortunately when the boundary continued to be violated my anger often turned into outbursts of rage or sarcastic condemnations, followed by the inevitable feelings of guilt and shame for acting so offensively.
I was so used to suppressing my feelings that learning to feel my emotions in their purest form has been the biggest challenge. However, it has also been the greatest reward, bringing increased calm, happiness and joy into my life. With the understanding that the emotion has to offer me I can now take appropriate action to allow my body to return to its original state.
As I embrace a whole range of emotions in their purest form my life is much richer. As I have begun to honour what I truly feel, free of old survival patterns I have been able to do more of what I want to do, I’ve had fun trying new things and I’m open to new opportunities. I’m more able to trust my own instincts and I don’t have to rely on the approval of others.
Of equal importance to my personal growth was what I learned about being congruent; by this I mean acting in the same way as I was feeling. This was when I learned that all the time I thought I was fooling Jack by acting confident, he knew that I was fearful, and that was partly causing him to over react to certain situations. I can now honestly say that I finally know how to ‘Just be Myself’!
To complete the triad of what’s important to be the ‘real’ you is the ability to respond in the present moment. This is achieved when we can see each situation as if it is happening for the first time with the innocence of a child, free of any limiting thoughts and beliefs. I think that this is a job of a lifetime. Since horses live in the moment they are great teachers of this concept, whether we are just in their presence or whether we are working with them on the ground or riding them. They teach us how to ‘go with the flow’ and how to embrace not knowing what’s going to happen next. Over time this allows us to enjoy the present moment more fully.
Accessing authenticity brings a greater sense of calm, contentment, joy and happiness into life. Life becomes more about the journey on our way to reaching our potential and our greatest achievements. The added benefit is that as each of us feel more joy and contentment in our lives it ripples out to all those around us, and impacts all our relationships with human and animal beings.

The Conversation

 For conversation to be successful it has to be 'mutually' successful. We have all had a one-sided conversation where whoever we are speaking with is not paying attention, distracted or trying to control the flow of energy and information. These sorts of experiences can leave us feeling dissatisfied, incomplete, angry and disrespected among many other negative feelings. Imagine what it might be for a horse to have mostly one-sided conversations with humans because even well-intentioned humans do not understand how to have a conversation with a horse.
Many humans simply do not understand the mind, psychology, language and behavioral tendencies of horses. They feel that they must dominate and control the animal to get what they want from it. This is indeed a sad state of affairs for the horse. Horses always want to communicate with whoever is near them. They are a very social animal and desire to have 'relationships' with those around them. We humans often only show up as the caretaker and boss for our horses. When the boss speaks, it is always a one- sided conversation. Not being 'heard' within a conversation goes along with not being
respected. The person we are having the conversation with doesn't listen to what we are saying or even tries to understand our point of view. This creates frustration, resentment, a collapse of communication and destroys the possibility of a good relationship. If we take a hard look at the failure of our relationships with our horses, I think we would find that our inability to have a simple, successful conversation with them is partially at the core of the problem. We simply do not know how to listen to them and appropriately respond. Nor, do we have to desire to do so much of the time as we want what we want from them and we want it now. We tend to think we need to show up as the boss of the horse rather than a respectful friend and trusted leader. I am not suggesting that our conversations with our equine friends be all sugar coated and honey sweet. This would not be honest or reasonable as some conversations need to contain information about rules, boundaries, procedures and the like. This is serious information that needs to be received in a positive way to be effective and helpful. Both parties having the conversation need to be open and respectfully giving and receiving information.

Being a good conversationalist is somewhat of an art. Whether it is between humans or humans and horses, the same elements need to be present for the exchange to be considered mutually successful. The first important element might be a common language. After all if one person only speaks French and the other only Greek, great success would seem to be difficult to achieve. For horses their main mode of communication is body language. If we are not able or unwilling to read and correctly interpret a horse's body language, we may as well be speaking a foreign language to each other. A successful conversation also has an element of mutual respect within it. If we determine someone is not listening to us, they are showing disrespect. We can feel it and so can the horse when we are not listening to it or paying attention. The conversation quickly becomes an unpleasant and a frustrating experience when this is the case. This one main point is at the root of many problems humans have with their horses. We are not listening to our horses and making a sincere effort to understand what they are trying to say. Mostly a horse is attempting to communicate its fearful feelings or its feelings of safety. We so often seem to ignore their efforts at communication.

My strongest belief is that all behavior we do not want from our horses is the animal trying to communicate it is afraid. If the horse shows resistance to a request (or demand) we tend to judge it as being stubborn and bad. We then tend to 'shout' at the horse by using force and punishment to make it comply with what we want. The mutually successful conversation went out the window. An alternative to this unsuccessful conversation might be to first: be very clear and precise with what we wish to communicate. The more precise and accurate we can be in our communications, the better chance we have of being understood. Not knowing what we want to say makes it very difficult to say it. Horses do not suffer from this sort of inability to be clear and precise with communications as we human can tend to do. Additionally, the horse is not trying to manipulate us as we want to do with it. What the horse is telling us all the time is how it feels in any given moment. But we tend to ignore the horse's conversation to us in deference to our agenda with the horse.

Here is a simple, imaginary successful beginning conversation between a human and a horse. First things are we want to calm ourselves and focus in the present on what we want to achieve. We want to greet the horse (say hello) so we take a step or two towards the horse and then back up a step or two. By backing away a step we actually are showing respect and asking permission to approach the horse for more greeting. Simply walking up to the horse and touching it is disrespectful and can scare a horse. The horse will generally look at us when we back away and may even turn towards us a bit. This is acknowledgement and gratitude for our respect coming from the horse as well as it showing interest in us. Next we might slowly and thoughtfully approach the animal's neck or shoulder, keeping our hands down. Again, this is a respectful way of beginning this conversation. If the animal moves away from us, we should back up a step to assist the horse in understanding we mean it no harm. Compare this to a typical conversation you might see between Greeks or any two people on the street. The conversation is very animated with much gesturing and waving of the hands. The speech is often loud, rapid and one person does not hesitate to speak over the other. To us this is normal. It is definitely not normal for a horse.
Actually I prefer to suggest things to a horse rather than try to tell it what to do. Through suggestions, the horse actually begins to figure out for itself what it is I am trying to communicate. This is always best. Having a successful conversation with a horse means that information and feelings have been exchanged in a positive way. Feelings of safety and trust have been preserved and perhaps even brought to a higher level.

Some peopele say horses think in pictures. I tend to agree with this. It should be obvious to us all that they do, in fact, think in some form or another. If we accept they think in pictures and that horses are emotional animals
(feeling a range of emotions from fear to elation) then the pictures in a horse's mind have an emotional attachment like a file attached to an email. The pictures either feel good or they do not. If we think about it, our thoughts have an emotional content and feelings attached to them as well. Our thoughts can either prompt us to feel good or not. This is why many motivational speakers tell us that if we are having thoughts that do not support us in feeling good, we can choose to change our minds; our minds being the only thing we really can choose to change in this life.

An answer is to better horsemanship, either on the ground or in the saddle, is our willingness to become empathetic with our horses. Humans wanting to improve show performance, or any activity with their horses, need to somehow tune into the emotional lives of their equines and feel what the animal is feeling and then make adjustments accordingly as to how they are training and handling their mounts. I am asked often how to tune into the feelings of horses. The thing I tell people to do first is to have a sincere and honest desire to join with the animal's feelings. The next thing would be for the human to, for a little while at least, let go of their agenda. Being fixated on a big agenda causes humans to have narrow vision and limited ability for being flexible, tolerant and patient. Not being fixated on a specific agenda allows humans to be open and more able to adjust to variations in whatever a particular situation produces. Giving up agenda gives the human a better view of the bigger picture. It removes limitations and blocks to progress and allows more opportunity for success. Giving up our agenda offers a rare glimpse of freedom to the horse and the human. Empathy is a huge key and essential element to successful relationships of all types, including with our beloved horses.

Mentality Principle

We humans are a collectively insecure lot. We are determined, it seems, to prove that we are not alone when it comes to being smart. We search for intelligence in outer space and here on earth we're desperate to show that many other animals, perhaps all, are just like us, but going about their lives a bit differently.

So important was the horse to Western civilisation in the last two millennia that all European cities are adorned with statues of the horse. The horse fought our wars, it toiled for us; it helped build much of the New World. Nowadays it fulfils our dreams, and still fires our imaginations and inspires wonder in those who occasionally pause to reflect. Horses are not just pleasure vehicles - much is expected of them. A horse may be our best friend, our only friend, our child, our partner or other bizarre roles. So powerful is the horse in the human psyche that Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychologist believed that the image of a horse evokes our deepest primal drives. The horse has always been a paradox. How could such a big, powerful beast be typically so gentle, so forgiving?

Similarities
In some ways we're not unlike horses. The similarities between horses and humans probably helped to bring us together in the first place. Like us, the horse is a highly social being. That's why horses kept in isolation are more inclined to develop behaviours like windsucking and many other problems compared to group housed horses. Anyone who has witnessed separation anxiety also knows how much friends are important to horses. So strong is the instinct for togetherness that grooming and stroking horses in the area just in front of the withers has evolved to lower heart rates - it strengthens bonds. It's the best place to positively reinforce a horse.

The horse also has an excellent memory although in some respects theirs is much better than ours. While our memory is affected by our recall and reasoning abilities, the memory of the horse is more stable, probably because it is unclouded by reflection. Equine scientists Anja Wolf and Martine Hausberger showed that horses can remember reactions without practise at least for many years, and this probably extends to a lifetime. Thinking, analysing and reflecting however, corrupts memory. We humans are always reflecting on our memories, dragging them up out of storage when we think or tell a story, then afterwards we re-store them again. Only this time they are stored a little differently than before. They may be altered by the contexts in which we reflect (physical, emotional, perceptual aspects of the moments of reflection). On the contrary, the horse only retrieves memories of events and places when it is confronted with the original or similar stimuli. This makes for a much clearer and more accurate memory. Every horse person is aware of the fact that the horse knows if there is something slightly different in its environment. You could say the horse has a photographic memory. Yet most of you wouldn't be able to recall hardly anything of the design of say a ten dollar note, (to the joy of counterfeiters!) despite the fact that you see them constantly. To the detriment of training, the horse remembers far more than you do of what happened where. During schooling you may notice that the horse goes better on one quarter of the circle than elsewhere, and gradually, if what you are doing is right, the good area increases. On the downside, the horse remembers tension and fear better than anything else.

Horses are mammals and so their learning mechanisms are similar to those of humans. Like us they are swift at trial and error learning (learning the right reaction through reward), excellent at classical conditioning (i.e. learning associations, cues or aids) and masters at habituation (getting used to things). They can also learn to generalise to stimuli, (alterations in aids) and they can even learn categories of things (based on similar physical characteristics). However according to one of the most respected researchers in this field, Professor Christine Nicol of Bristol University, experiments indicate that while horses are capable of forming categories of simular characteristics of things "there is no evidence that they can develop abstract concepts". So while there are some mental similarities that horses share with humans, there are also some important differences. Understanding these differences is central to achieving a high level of success with all horses rather than just a few.

Differences
 I wanted to investigate ‘understanding' in horses. I wanted to see if the horse had a facility similar to our prefrontal cortex (front of the brain) where it could imagine, ‘see with the mind's eye', where it could ponder on past events or think of the future. I decided to design an experiment that was later published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science. The experimental design utilised the horse's well-known ability to be cued to the delivery of food to either one of two feed goals in a test arena. One by one, each horse was held by a handler in the middle of the arena facing the feed goals. There was a feed goal to the right, and a feed goal to the left, and a person sitting beside each feed goal. The person sitting beside one of the feed goals would stand up and pour feed into the feed goal. The horse would see this and would then be immediately released. Over 40 trials the horses soon learned that when they saw food being poured, that's where the food would be, so they would go to the correct feed bin. But as soon as we separated the pouring of the feed and the release of the horse by ten seconds, the horse's success rate plummeted to 50% - in other words it became random. They couldn't remember where the food was actually being poured after ten seconds. While individual horses occasionally seemed as if they could manage the ten seconds, again their results would drop. Statistical analysis showed that horses collectively or individually could not recall the correct goal in a two choice situation where each goal was equally rewarded. Interesting things happened to when the horse's discovered they had failed. A couple of ponies and warmbloods would lay their ears back and make a bee-line for the correct goal, while some thoroughbreds decided to give up altogether and leave. To account for the results, some researchers suggested that the amount of food (100 grams oats) for each trial was insufficient to motivate the horse horses. However this can easily be discounted because the same amount of food powerfully motivated the horses in the immediate release trials.

The experiment reminds us that correct timing in training is essential, that unlike us, there is no stream of consciousness that accompanies instinctive behaviours and that there are differences in short-term memory in horses compared to humans. It means that we must keep training as simple as possible to be sure it is digestible and to be sure our training methods are not so difficult that only a handful of horses succeed. Sometimes the complexity of our training suggests that we are always inclined to over-estimate mental abilities in horses.

Observational learning of novel behaviour (copying a novel act) has long been considered to be indicative of some abilities of reasoning. If you think about it, it's not hard to guess why this is so. Observational learning requires an animal to see and remember the behaviour sequence, see themselves perform it in their mind and then perform it. Notice that I say ‘novel act' - that's important because there is a phenomenon in all animals where they are able to copy a behaviour that is already ‘wired' into their brains. This contagious mimicking of instinctive behaviour is adaptive. So when one animal eats, others are compelled to do so, when one lies down others may do also. For social animals synchronising behaviour is sensible. Contagious behaviour is not learned but is more of an instinctive triggering device. Like when you see someone yawn you are inclined to yawn too. Horse people often believe that wind-sucking is copied. As Dr Paul McGreevy points out, this is not correct. Observational learning in horses has been thoroughly researched in horses and all published experimental investigations have yielded negative results. Unlike cooperative predators, horses are also slow to learn ‘rules' that govern where food might be found if food is switched from one place to another. Unlike Chimps, gorillas and dolphins they cannot recognise themselves in a mirror - they only see another horse. They are also poor at seeing a detour to a goal if the opening requires going further away from the goal first. Once they've achieved it though, they are quick to remember the path. Horses are unable to do these things because these abilities were not required in the millions of years of the evolution of their behaviours on the open grasslands.

Equine researchers agree that any higher mental processing abilities in the horse are, if present at all, poorly developed. On the other hand, greater reasoning abilities are seen in predators, and are most highly developed in co-operative predators with diverse diets such as chimps and dolphins. Dogs rate highly, according to some researchers. Even birds that face challenges in food procurement (seed, fruit and carrion eating birds and also fruit bats) might also rate as having some development of higher mental abilities. Such animals have to remember the location and amount of remaining food to save energy on wasted foraging journeys. Of course, if you think about it why would horses need reasoning abilities? You need a great memory to be a grazer but no deductive powers. As Stephen Budiansky points out, grass unlike mice, doesn't hide. Such powers require extra brain tissue which, as Dr T.W. Deacon showed in 1990, is ten times more expensive energy-wise (huge requirements for glucose and oxygen) than any other tissue in the body.

What people erroneously consider to be examples of reasoning in their horse generally turn out to be excellent examples of trial and error learning. The pony that fiddles with the gate latch and learns to open it is a typical example. It's clever, but it isn't reasoning. It's the same process by which horses learn equitation. Horses learn to avoid pressure form the reins and legs by giving a correct response that was initially learned by trial and error. Then they learn associated cues such as seat and weight aids.

Why do these differences matter?
That the horse is not a reasoning creature matters a great deal. Overestimating an animal's mental ability leads to all sorts of assumptions that have bad consequences for horses. That the horse doesn't reason means he is an entirely innocent partner in the training process. The horse cannot be blamed for misdemeanours or poor performance - these are due largely riding or training (or health) problems. When a horse behaves in ways that don't suit us it is wrong to say "He knows what he did wrong" or "He understands". There is no understanding in the horse - he simply reacts to situations, events, aids etc. His behaviour at any one time is a snapshot into the sum total of all his training. If he behaves badly at an event compared to home it means one of two things - either he is not established in his work at home or else his work at home is flawed with at least some confusions. Tension is a good indicator. Does he grind his teeth because he is working hard, really ‘putting in' or because he is a little confused - perhaps there are conflicting aids or too many aids on at once.... We owe it to our horses to consider all these matters.

Therefore......
It makes the world of difference to know that our best chance of getting through to horses in training is to keep everything as simple as possible. That's what makes trainers like Kyra Kyrklund so inspiring. Her training scheme embraces a correct interpretation of learning theory as well as simplicity. It is certainly possible to train horses to the highest levels yet keeping true to correct learning theory. For welfare reasons I believe that such principles should be taught at every level of instruction, from pony club to the training of coaches throughout the world in all disciplines.

If the horse ‘understood' his training then maybe we wouldn't need to be so simplistic, so consistent, so precise. On the other hand if he were so smart as to be able to comprehend training, then perhaps he would not be so rideable. Maybe it would be unethical to ride horses if they were capable of reflection, because then they would be suffering, given that they would rather eat grass and be with friends.... But the horse is unstressed by good habits whether they are under-saddle or wherever. Furthermore I believe that correct horsemanship is equivalent to behavioural and environmental enrichment, since it is part of the horse's ethogram to experience many more stimuli and environments than he would normally encounter in a small paddock or worse still, a box-stall. However, bad habits, inconsistency and confusion have very negative welfare implications for horses.

Mankind's responsibility to horses
Because the horse is an innocent partner in equitation, we have a special responsibility there. As time passes and the material needs of the developed world are fewer, more thought is devoted to welfare and ethical issues. Short necks, tension and conflict behaviours can no longer be brushed off as the horse's fault or personality. Judges need to clear and certain about signs of tension. The signs of tension need reviewing and predetermined penalties ought to be issued for the various signs and levels of tension. Judges should recognise that they are ultimately custodians of the performance horse because the rewards they issue give direction to horse sports. They should have clear perceptions about how they might judge a flash moving but tense horse as opposed to a more average moving ‘happy' one. Otherwise the sport of dressage becomes more of a meat market than a competition of training.

Our greatest responsibility is never forgetting that the horse's welfare is paramount. Every horse trainer should always have an open mind about possible limitations and confusions in their training. Like all sports and performing arts, egos can get in the way, and ways of understanding can be severely hampered by closed mindsets. But when it comes to doing sports that involve animals, egos should count for nothing. It is a privilege to ride horses and remarkable that nature has evolved the possibility. Not for one moment should that be forgotten.