Recently I took my three year old filly to a local show to hang out. While watching a class, a woman approached me to ask the question, What should I do about ...? In this case, her horse would fly backward every time she approached to put on the bridle. And so, the questions, What should I do? Why is he doing this? As always, difficult questions to answer. First, the horse tells me when to do, how to do, what to do in any given situation. There is no formula for "If he does this, then I do this." Next, what the horse is actually physically doing may not be the problem, it could be the by-product of the problem. What you do know is that what he is doing is not acceptable behavior. The real issue leads back to mindset: the horse's mindset and even more so, the person's mindset. In other words, it isn't necessarily what you're actually doing that the horse has a problem with, it is the pressure created by what you're doing, which in turn triggers a response; in this case, raising his head and flying backward. The horse is using something that Nature's View calls the tyrant mindset: in other words, freeze flee or fight is his natural instinct. When he is in this mode, the horse is actually saying "I want to do what I want to do." Sound familiar? There is nothing wrong with this mindset; in fact, in the wild, in Nature's World, the horse would depend on it for his own survival. The problem is that in our world, that mindset isn't beneficial to him and if he continues down that road, someone is likely to get hurt.
So, back to the first question, What should I do? The first thing to do is to introduce the horse to a new mindset: one called the alpha mindset. This isn't necessarily the same alpha that you may have heard of in other horsemanship methods. With Nature's View, the alpha is simply using the mindset of "How can I help you?" With the tyrant mindset that we mentioned before of "I want to do what I want to do." the horse decides what to do or the person decides how much pressure to apply (usually evoked from past situations, so you may over or under react). The alpha mindset, the other side of the pendulum, is defined as whatever the resistance from the horse is in any given situation determines the amount of pressure that is applied, plus a little bit more. This mindset calls for dealing with the moment, riding the horse beneath you, not the one four strides ahead or behind. Remember, we teach and learn by example, so which mindset would you rather your horse use: alpha or tyrant?
In any case, there are four basic things that we use to accomplish a task or goal: movement, direction, rhythm and track. These are actually the things that you can see: in Nature's View we use these things to work on the underlying things (things like problem-solving, timing, listening, etc.). This is actually true for us as well. Think about it: to get ready for work in the morning, first you have to move; then you need to move in the direction of the kitchen for breakfast; but back to the situation with the horse. As an example, within a segment of work, if we're asking a horse to go in a particular direction and the horse decides on his own to change direction, the amount of pressure that you apply is equal to his resistance, plus a little bit more. If you pay attention to the horse and let him tell you what to do in applying that pressure, more than likely, the horse will change back to the original direction. Each time you apply pressure you are raising what we call his negative pole. The poles within (both negative and positive) are those feelings that let you know when a situation is beneficial or not to your well-being. If the resistance continues and you keep increasing pressure (remember, using the alpha mindset), finally, what they are feeling from you will be greater than what they are imagining (the pressure to change direction). As soon as you feel that they have switched to the new mindset, you should release the pressure. Don't get caught up in watching for an action. Remember, as soon as you feel the horse switch to the new mindset, that is when you release the pressure.
So back to the questions; we use the bridle (the goal) as the reason for the journey (creating a relationship with your horse) to practice the unseen (timing, feel, anger management, listening skills) which allows you to develop a whole new alpha mindset, or way of thinking; lot to think about, isn't it?! Just like jumping the jump, crossing the creek or loading into the trailer, putting the bridle on or taking it off is one of the many seen things that we do with our horses; but the icing on the cake is having a willing partner in any task that we attempt. It's not about accomplishing the goal, not even about the journey; it's about the mindset needed for both. The goal is simply the reason for the journey. Within the journey, we are allowed to practice the mindset, and the more proficient we are at the mindset we will be able to follow our passion, whatever that may be (dressage, hunter/jumper, trail riders, western pleasure). So instead of putting the cart before the horse and focusing on the goal or even the journey, we first need the alpha mindset.
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Bruce Anderson is a full time equine consultant, trainer and clinician located in Camden, South Carolina. Originally from the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, he has worked throughout the US, Canada and Great Britain. He conducts clinics and training opportunities with partner and co-author, Julianne Neal, using the Nature's View system. To learn more about their work, please visit http://www.naturesview1.org or http://www.equusencounter
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