When we first brought Fol, our lead mare, home she had to convince the horses we already had they she was going to be the new lead mare. She had shoes and we pulled them off as soon as we saw the confrontations begin. Our horses were already barefoot. My wife would only let me turn them in together when I could stay with them and break up any fight that got too serious. Well in order to do that I had to spend several hours a day for several days. I took my lawn chair out to the pasture along with my newspaper; after all, they didn't fight all of the time. My wife would refill my tea cup every hour or so. I was a tough job but someone had to do it.

A Learning Experience

The thing that surprised me the most is how much I learned by watching Fol handle the situation. The thing that surprised me the least is that Fol took over the lead position in just a few days. Fol taught me just how much one can learn from observing and listening to horses. I have never stopped learning from Fol and the other horses. Now I understand what the late Bill Dorrance meant when he wrote in his book, "Everything I have learned about horses I learned from the horse."

Brains Versus Brawn

We had one foal at the time Fol and Brana came to live with us. I don't think Brana had ever lived in a herd situation before. She had a lot to learn about horse etiquette. As I heard Buck Brannaman say at one of his clinics, "She had never learned how to be a horse." She would get beat up by one of the other horses and then she would go beat up on the foal. The foal's mama did the best she could to defend the baby but she needed help. Uncle Sokron, our gelding, came to the rescue. He would position himself between the foal and Brana and protect the foal. This was very noble and we were very proud of him. I later came to describe his reaction as typically male, macho behavior (brawn). In the next few days the number of conflicts went down. Of course I expected the number of conflicts to go down so at first I didn't notice what was going on. Then I noticed that Fol and Brana were off together in a part of the pasture away from the foal. After watching for awhile I realized that this was no accident. Fol was herding Brana away from the foal. I later came to describe her reaction as typically female conflict resolution (brains). She was taking an indirect approach to protecting the foal by avoiding conflict. Wow! I never knew that horses were this intelligent. Sure they can be trained. Sure they remember things (good and bad) for long periods of time. Sure they form relationships with humans and with each other. But this mare is smart! If I had been as good at dealing with people as Fol is at dealing with her own kind, I could have been running Microsoft and Bill Gates would be here shoveling horse poop. I'm only kidding; I wouldn't trade places with him. He only gets to work with horse's rear ends; I get to work with whole horses.

Attitude

The main lesson I have learned from watching Fol lead her herd is that attitude is the big difference. Yes, she is smart. Yes, she is strong. Yes, she has the size to back up her threats. But she is not the biggest nor the strongest. It is her attitude. She IS the lead mare. There is no doubt in her mind and no doubt in the other horses minds (after a little convincing.) with one exception. Sokron just never got the message. He would spar with Fol just to have something to do. After all he is male. Fol always has a method to her madness. If she attacks another horse it is to establish her authority. Once her authority is accepted she quickly backs off and accepts the other horse into the fold. I think that ability to apply JUST enough pressure is the quality I admire most about Fol. She wants to lead--not fight. And she fully excepts the responsibility that goes along with leadership. Sokron likes the challenge but wants nothing to do with responsibility. Finally Fol just accepted a position of peaceful coexsistence with Sokron. You could almost see her decide that Sokron was no threat to her leadership. So what did it matter if he gets to stick his head first in the feed bunk, along WITH Fol of course.

Time To Learn Some Manners

Fol is very protective of her foals and any foals in her herd. And she is tolerant. She puts up with things from the foals that she would NEVER put up with from older horses. Somewhere from the time they are weaned to about a year old, Fol starts to teach them some manners. Like not biting, kicking or jumping on other horses and backing off when they are told to. They are learning to respect other horses and people. I am always wondering how strict to be with the babies. I have learned to take my clues from Fol. She knows when to crack down. I am fortunate to have a world class trainer on my farm; she has four legs and is named Fol.

Other Trainers I Admire (Besides Fol)

Only in my dreams will I ever be a world class horse trainer. But I have seen a lot of horse trainers; good and bad. Their methods vary from rough (even cruel) to extremely gentle. For example using chains, twitches and two-by-fours to Linda Tellington's T-Touch. The thing that has always amazed me is that they all seem to work. At least they all seem to produce trained horses. There is an old saw at the race track that describes this; it says, "Many paths lead to the winners circle."

Which Training Methods Are Best?

Oh boy! Am I ever getting on shaky ground; I can feel the quicksand sucking me in. Who am I to tell someone who successfully trains horses that he is wrong. Well, I,m not going to. I am talking more philosophy than technique. I certainly don't approve of cruel methods but trying to be too gentle can cause just as many problems. I see more spoiled horses than I see horses that are injured mentally or physically by cruel training methods. At least this is true since I quit hanging around the race track. What do I mean by being too gentle? Watch horses in a herd situation; they admire strength and confidence and take advantage of weakness. As a human, the trick is to exude strength and confidence without being rough or at least not cruel, i.e., develop the attitude of a leader. There is that word "attitude" again. Fortunately for us humans (and horses) there are some living, practicing clinicians who are showing us how to perform this trick. Actually there are many, many clinicians that are doing a very good job at this (the cruel ones still exist too but they don't present clinics.) To me a few trainers stand out from the crowd. There are a few I am willing to call world class.

My Heros Have Always Been Horsemen

Of the trainers I have had the pleasure of observing there are some common threads among the ones that I admire the most. They are "horse centered." That is a little play on Sally Swift's wonderful books on "Centered Riding." There is one characteristic which I see in every trainer I admire. Their emphasis is on what the horse needs rather than on helping people train their horses. Truth to tell both paths lead to the winner's circle, i.e., trained horses, but one is horse centered and the other is human centered. It is not so much a difference in what they do maybe not even so much of a difference in how they do it as it is a difference in why they do it. Now my guess is that if you ask almost any trainer they would answer that their primary interest is helping the horse. But the difference is something you feel rather than what someone says. The Dorrance brothers (Tom and Bill), Ray hunt, Buck Brannaman and Curt Pate are my heros. Curt Pate stated in a clinic that he hated the step-by-step approach to training because you end up thinking about the steps rather than thinking about the horse. Meredith Hodges who is famous for her work with mules and donkeys is "mule centered." Do you remember the line from the movie, "The Horse Whisperer?" Annie telephoned Tom Booker to ask him, "Are you the man who helps people with horse problems?", he replied, "No ma'am, I help horses with people problems." I thought Robert Redford did a credible job of portraying this attitude. I just wish he would learn how to wear a cowboy hat. Of course, if had hair like that, even I might push my hat back over my forelocks--NOT.

Horses Are Way Too Easy To Train

Now this seems like a controversial statement but in fact horses are too easy to train. Let your horse pull his foot out of your hand just a few times and he will learn how to make you leave his feet alone. Let your horse walk off while you are mounting and he will learn that trick too. Let your horse crowd you while your leading him and he will quickly acquire yet another bad habit. Sometimes I think what your DON'T teach your horse is more important than what you DO teach them. Bad habits are harder to break than good habits are to learn.

Don't Start Something You Can't Finish

If he can get away with not doing what you are asking, he WILL remember that. My family gets tired of hearing me say, "Don't start something you can't finish." What I mean by this is, "Don't ask your horse to do something that you are not already pretty damn sure he will do." You can be pretty sure he will do what your asking if you have prepared him for it. You probably won't be able to trim or shoe your horse the first time you pick up his feet. But, over a period of time, if you, 1) touch his legs, 2) pick up his feet briefly, 3) pick them up and hold a while, 4) pick up and clean his hooves chances are he will accept the farrier willingly. Your farrier will love you. It takes a plan and it takes time.

Don't Get In A Hurry

A friend of mine used to say, "The hurrier I go the behinder I get." It goes double with horses; quaduple with mules. When ask at clinics how long he will need to gentle a particular horse, Buck Brannaman replys, "The horse will tell me that--he'll take as long as he takes." I think Buck gets sightly irritated that people place so much importance on time. But, as a clinician, Buck is under a time contraint. Fortunately Buck has a gift which lets him read what a horse needs instantly--I mean instantly (maybe quicker). The rest of us don't have Buck's gift for instantly reading what a horse needs but we do have a luxury which Buck does not have. We have time. If we breed a mare and raise the foal until he is trained, we are with that foal for at least three to four years. In the case of Icelandics it is more like five to six years. That is a long time--plenty of time to be patient. I find young foals and older horses the easiest to work with. This really shouldn't surprise me. I had trouble dealing with my kids when they were teenagers. Two and three years old horses correspond to teenage humans. Young horses go through phases like kids do. They (kids and horses) seem to grow in and out of phases almost irregardless of what we do. You can sure drive yourself crazy if you react (over react) to everything a young horse (or kid) does. Of course you have to discourage behavior you don't like and you have to encourage behavior you do like. Body language, voice tone, and a disapproving smack or an approving pat usually do the job. But it takes time. The changes you want don't happen immediately like some of my critics would like but they do happen and that it what is important. In his classic book, "True Horsemanship Through Feel," Bill Dorrance wrote about being in a hurry will a horse, "I reckon a fella shouldn't start working with a horse if he doesn't have the time to do it right."

Transferring Cues

One training technique works well for me and it is easy (that's why it works for me). If the horse is already doing what you want, you can give him the cue to do it just as he does it or just as he is about to do it. I teach my very young foals to lead by leading the mare; the foal will walk with the mare. I put a halter on the foal but I keep my arm as elastic as I can so as not to jerk the foal around. Before very many days the foal learns that the halter means going for a fun walk and accepts the control which the halter gives me. With the halter on, the foal learns to walk with me, turn with me, stop with me and stand with me. All on cue. Later on in life when someone is ready to mount the horse we can transfer the old cues to new cues. A person on the ground can give the old familiar cue shortly after the rider gives the new cue. As soon as the horse begins to respond correctly to the new cue we can phase out the old cue. The person on the ground is really most useful to help the horse to learn to start and to stop. These new cues are very different than the old ones the horse is used to. A person on the ground can also help the person aback the horse to back up, yield his hindquarters, step over in front, sidepass, etc. You don't always need a person on the ground. The old cue to turn is close enough the the new cue so that from aback the horse you can exaggerate the new cue to turn by extending your arm and "pulling" the horse around the corner. My wife asks, "Why don't you keep your elbows in at your side like you tell me to?" I tell her, "I will in just a few days."

Iyuptala

Now that heading ought to get your attention. In sports when everything falls just right it's called, "Being in the zone." In music, "Catching a groove." In horse training different people use different terms. Bill Dorrance calls it "Horsemanship Through Feel." Ray Hunt says to "Think Harmony with Horses." Tom Dorrance calls it "True Unity." Gawani Pony Boy calls it "iyuptala" which is a Lakota Sioux word meaning "at one with". I like "iyuptala (ee-yoo-P'TAH-lah)" because it is an unique word for a unique experience. Even us hacks experience it sometimes with certain horses. The only thing that beats it is being in love. Wait a minute. Being in tune with one another. Practically sharing the same thoughts. Unspoken comunication. Caring for each other. That is love. I wonder how my wife will like being told I love her like a horse? Actually she will probably understand.