Hurry Up and Wait

Long associated with the military, where the grunts are mobilized in double-time to get ready for action and then end up cooling their heels for hours or days until being deployed, "hurry up and wait" applies to horsemanship as well - with a twist.  Giving up the hurry and being willing to wait gets you to your goal faster than you'd think.

I think we all know by now that quitting on a positive note is a good idea, but even so it seems that horses all too often still end up doing things the human doesn't have in mind.  Almost always that is what you get when you push a horse - when you hurry the process along on human time rather than horse time and end up having to backtrack to an earlier stage in the training or, worse, give in to the use of "remedial" training - punishment as a way of gaining "respect", force as a way of getting obedience.  In other words, forget the partnership.

"Longeing for respect"
Seriously - I didn't make that up
Hover over image for link

With Spiritual Horsemanship, partnership is not optional and is not a part-time relationship.  It's not the kind of phony deal where the human makes it "hard for the horse to do the wrong thing and easy for the horse to do the right thing" - a popular "natural horsemanship" sound byte that seems like a good idea but amounts to the horse having no say in the matter.

The partnership of Spiritual Horsemanship is a true one in which a horse can say no and the human accepts that response.

Which is not to say that the partnership can't bring about results the human wants.

A horse is content to go along with what the human wants because horses are herd animals and they are hard-wired to go with what the herd leader has in mind. Thus, if a horse says no, it means that either the horse doesn't believe the human is herd leader (a position mistakenly confused with forced dominance), there is fear involved, or the horse just doesn't understand the issue.

Part of the responsibility of the human member of the horse/human partnership is to recognize even the most subtle of communications from a horse. The trouble is, it's not quite as easy to tell when - or why - a horse is saying no as you'd think, particularly when you're holding a lead rope or reins or the horse is confined.  Is a hesitation and then a continuing a true no?  Is a shifting of weight to another leg a no or is it nothing?  If your horse turns his attention from you for a moment, is that a no or is it something else?

No or not no?

From the Spiritual Horsemanship perspective, the most unequivocal way to know what your horse is saying is to get rid of the reins, get rid of the halter rope, get rid of the fence.  Interact with your horse without anything restricting him and you will learn immediately what he is thinking.  If he's okay with what's going on, he'll stick with you.  If he's not okay, he'll leave. That's what would happen in a herd, that's what a horse understands, and if you are communicating with your horse on a level he understands you don't need anything more than that to get where you want to go.

Everything comes from you giving your horse true choice.  Without the freedom to leave, any interpretation you may have of what your horse wants is going to be shaded by what you want.  Trust your horse to voluntarily partner with you and allow your horse to come to your goals on his own. If you cannot trust your horse enough to do this, then what can you trust in yourself or the world?

Dive in.  Immerse yourself in true partnership.  Change yourself and the world will change for you.  Spiritual Horsemanship is about more than you and your horse - but this is where it starts.


Next week (March 6, 2013 or thereabouts):  Real world application - Sophie