Observe, Observe, Observe!

by Mary Gallagher

Pecan responds to Mary while keeping an eye out

Imagine standing on the ground, watching a horse in the process of spooking. What can we observe?

1. Thought exits: “Yikes! What is that spooky thing?!” Their mind goes blank—run! They turn around, get ready to run again—head up, lots of blowing.
2. Thought returns: They turn around, freeze—stand still (testing the stop) run again, stop without freezing, take a few steps. Then—
3. Extend nose, while blowing and smelling.
4. Stretch and reach with nose and neck.
5. Cautiously move in the direction of the nose, engaging the feet.

Spooking is something all horse people have witnessed, but I’ve made a point here to break it down to predictable components—sort of a slow motion camera to show the process. We can expect this pattern in a spooking situation, and that kind of predictability gives us options, if we can train ourselves to 'observe, observe, observe'. Now extend that expectation to all horse behavior. What if every movement is the horse testing to see if it is safe to linger or better to leave...?

Body Language 101: the Value of Quiet Work

by Mary Gallagher

Nina and Mary working quietly.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the deeper aspects of communicating with our horses. We all know, more or less, that we humans tend to express ourselves with words, and that horses are more about body language. Most of us are accustomed to our horses watching and responding to us in our daily interactions. For an obvious example, your  horse notices when your hand enters your pocket, right? and responds by asking for a treat? Or when picking out your horses feet—does he offer his hoof to you before you ask? or even better, does he shift his weight as you prepare to ask? If your horse can do this, how much more might he perceive?

Things go along pretty well as we use all the horsemanship tools we’ve been given to direct the actions of our horses. We even call it ‘schooling’, with us as the teacher and the horse as the student. Horses pretty much buy into being schooled, as they are hard-wired to accept leadership. But if we really pay attention as we school our horses, we may discover that they are teachers in their own right. How many times have we thought we have things going pretty well, only to have our horse show us something we missed? Or maybe it’s just that we aren’t getting the result we were looking for, and despite our best efforts, we seem to be at an impasse…?

Leadership Learning with The Boundary Box

by Mary Gallagher

Good leadership means good boundaries. Human psychology has taught us that healthy relationships require boundaries, or a personal sense of safe limits on the behavior of others towards us.* Horses are keenly aware of boundaries, which are crucial to the safety of the herd; they test boundaries as a matter of survival. So when our horse gets in our space—gets us even a little off balance, fishes for treats, has us stepping back, or a million other seemingly harmless intrusions—they are testing our boundaries in order to test our leadership.

The way we establish leadership in a healthy relationship with our horse, in my experience, is by acting with unaffected emotions while setting clear boundaries that we can fairly and effectively enforce.

Body Language and Reading the Teeth

by Mary Gallagher

Recently I had the opportunity to learn from Jerry Schmidt about telling a horse's age by understanding and reading the teeth. I learned that there is a world of knowledge inside the horse's mouth that can help me communicate better with my horse. I cannot fit all of what I learned in this short article, but I would like to share the insight that knowing even a little about how your young horse's teeth develop can improve your training and communication.

Noticing: What do the feet tell us?

By Mary Gallagher

Fourth in a series about noticing your horse's body language.

A complete view of the body language of the horse must include the feet. When I look at a horse, it helps to see what they are standing on and how it is working for them. If a horse is wearing shoes, there will be signs of the effect of those shoes throughout the body. If the horse is barefoot, I will look for balance, shape and wear to give me a better overall idea of how the horse is using its body.

Noticing: Why Hurry?

By Mary Gallagher

Third in a series about noticing your horse's body language.

When you first look at the photos in this article, you might think 'gosh, Mary wants that horse to step on the tarp', and you would be partly right. I do want him to step on it--eventually. More important are all the wonderful things that develop while he avoids the tarp. So many times we get the end result fixed in our minds and we think we should achieve it right away. However, if we slow down and allow the horse to work at finding comfort, we achieve so much more.

Here I have my rope just long enough that this horse has to work at going around the tarp. As he avoids the tarp, he has to bend his head and neck around. He is also picking
up his shoulder and reaching underneath himself with his inside hind leg stretching and loosening the hips, ribs, and back.

Noticing Your Horse's Body Language

By Mary Gallagher

Last month I began this new series on noticing what our horse is telling us through body language. I shared my belief that learning to read the horse's head carriage, ear position, shoulder direction, eyes, feet activity, tail position, weight on the rope, and proximity to our personal space is essential in our development as horsemen and horsewomen. All these signs fit together like a puzzle, telling us what is going on inside the horse's skin. We can use this information to put together a plan for how we will communicate back to our horse, ultimately improving our training and enhancing our pleasure time together.

Noticing: Seeing What Your Horse is Saying - A New Series

By Mary Gallagher

Sometimes life imitates art, or more accurately, is inspired by it. I recently received some wonderful horse sketches from artist Carolyn Guske (whom many of you know as Remy's owner), and found myself responding to one in particular. I instantly noted its body language, thinking, this horse looks pretty concerned, and is about to move away from something worrisome, maybe I need a sketch of a calmer horse. Then I noticed my own response, and realized this was a pretty fine sketch, that my usual instincts kicked in and I'd seen it like an actual horse. Then it hit me: perhaps I could use such a sketch, as well as photos, to point out what I see when I look at a horse at any given moment.