Keeping the ‘horse’ in Horsemanship!

31 December 2010

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In 2009 I was lucky to ride in the inaugural Mongol Derby, a 1000km horse race across Mongolia which saw me partner some 25 native Mongolian horses and ride all day, every day, for ten days, across some spectacular terrain. Stuck for imaginative names, they were all called Bob, and all memorable for their intelligence and independence. It was reflecting on the qualities of Bobs 1 to 25 (given my own dressage background) that led me to a reassessment of what I am looking to achieve when training my own horses at home.

"Any sore spots?"

I am currently home for Christmas and have had the pleasure of working my mum’s dressage horse Tucker a couple of times. It’s a joy to peel his rugs off and admire a horse who quite literally glows with health and happiness. By the time I get in the saddle I will have made numerous concessions to his comfort and well being, all in order to minimise the taxation on his joints and make the efforts we ask of him as easy as possible. While I bandage his legs with gel pads next to his skin to provide a little extra support, he has two heat lamps over his neck and pelvis, and I work a palm into the big muscle groups with an eye on their warmth, yielding texture and his reaction to my touch. We also use a massage pad, which aids lymphatic drainage and with it the elimination of waste products from his system. Any sore spots? How does he stand and step back and to the side when I ask him to move round me in the stable? I use all of this information when I get in the saddle and start to work him.

"In the arena, I am boss!"

Oblivious to hazards…

What I have noticed since coming back from riding the wilder, native horses in Mongolia, is that this dominance and precision of every movement is not without consequences. Out hacking when I need him to pick a sensible path over slippery, rutted or sloping ground, he hasn’t got a clue. In fact, if a bird gets up in front of him or something else catches his eye, he won’t give what’s under his feet a second thought and will turn to look at things with his whole body, oblivious to hazards and transfixed by the smallest natural distraction. Navigating a suitable path, apparently, is still my responsibility. Having taught him to await my instructions and let me position his body quite minutely, it’s as if his ‘horsey’ autonomy and instincts have been blunted, or replaced altogether. His instinct is to trust me not to put him in a pickle. In the same way, I regulate his diet, his body temperature, his routine of turnout, work and rest, the company he keeps, all for his own good, though indirectly for my own in pleasing me.

"Pause for thought"

Tucker is basically a family member and will live out his days under our protection and considerable care. I think of him as a lucky horse, but exposure to the wild horses in Mongolia, who live in herds and have much less interaction with, and protection from, humans, has given me pause for thought on this matter. In its inaugural year in 2009, the Derby came under a great deal of scrutiny from individuals and organisations concerned for the welfare of the horses involved in the event, and the general standards of care and horsemanship in Mongolia. The general sentiment was ‘horses were wormy, unfit and not up to weight to carry fat Westerners and their battery-powered gubbins’.

"Shaped by their own actions and instincts"

Having ridden one Derby and been involved in organising the event for 2011, the very last thing I feel for these formidable little horses is sympathy. As tough as their lives are (and surviving on meagre rations through a winter with temperatures plunging to minus 40 degrees is most certainly tough), they enjoy a degree of freedom that Tucker, and most of his ilk, will never have the chance to experience. Their existence is gloriously free from human interference and they live, eat, mate, age and die in herds shaped by their own actions and instincts. They are fit, not because they are worked daily by a rider and trained to be fit, but because their survival requires it. The brief periods they spend under saddle do not ‘teach’ them anything except that they may have to comply with a person from time to time, that ‘go’ means ‘go’ and ‘stop’ means ‘stop’. The finer details are left to the horses, and they quite dexterously navigate some very testing ground with a kind of nonchalance which left me feeling quite dizzy at times, imagining the various flavours of sticky end I had just risked had I been mounted on a common or garden warmblood.

"Seeing horses as horses"

I am well aware that a romantic attachment to these free and feisty horses does not invalidate all the generations of expert breeding and training of sport horses. However, I think it has been a healthy exercise that has led me to question some of the tenets of horsemanship and to see my horses as horses primarily, and athletes, projects, investments, friends and pets secondarily. Also, breeding an inherently stupid horse, which only knows to do blindly as you tell it and trot (beautifully) off a cliff should you fail to stop it, seems a bit sad. So, I would like to offer Horse Hero readers some food for thought, by keeping the following considerations in mind when around your horses.

1. What do you want from your horse?

Clearly, there are some parts of the dressage curriculum (if we take the sport of dressage, as that's the one I hail from) which apply universally and benefit the health of the horse as well as the enjoyment of the rider; for instance suppleness, straightness, general gymnastic ability and sensitivity. As well as helping the horse last well into old age, they make a horse pleasant to be around and work with. However, I think we risk taking something away from our horses by focusing only on their ability in the dressage arena. It’s the equivalent of only running on a treadmill - fine if you are recovering from surgery perhaps, but a very limited form of exercise for the overall health of the individual. Overall fitness requires co-ordination, mental toughness and stamina, proprioception and agility, and focusing only on the power and cadence with which the horse moves, how long he can sustain this way of going, and his ability to concentrate on his rider and await very nuanced instructions, fails to stimulate, or even erodes, these other skills.

"Are horses taking on a raft of human neuroses?"

I can’t think of a good enough excuse not to cross-train a horse. The idea that they won’t hack down the road, can’t navigate a slippery path or a muddy field, jump a ditch, see another horse without their brains splattering down the hedgerows, just seems to suggest they have left the animal kingdom altogether and taken on a raft of human neuroses. In addition, only the highest levels of pure dressage require the horse to put his instincts and impulses to the side and rely on the rider for instruction. Even brilliant riders can’t get it right 100% of the time over fences, for example, and the horse needs to know how to get out of trouble, see a clever short stride, asses their environment on a course they haven’t seen before. I think this confidence comes from keeping a degree of autonomy from the rider, an understanding that each party has their contribution and respects that of their partner.

2. What would he do in the wild?

It’s natural to worry about the horse you spend all of your spare money on, and pay very close attention to his health and well being. In fact, it’s part of being a responsible owner. On the other hand, you don’t see that many horses in the wild tripping over their feet, over-reaching, eating poisonous plants in dangerous quantities, fighting to the death with other horses or falling down fox-holes. In other words, hazards tend to be self-limiting, if they are allowed to be.

"More capable than we give them credit for?"

Rather than never allowing your horse to face a hazard, consider what instincts he has as an animal, a horse, a herd creature and how he is equipped to handle what life throws at him. They are probably more capable and intelligent than we give them credit for. By the same token, they don’t forget skills and habits they accrue through their lives. Time spent thinking about their last training session could be as valuable as another identical training session designed to reinforce everything once more.

3. Is that recognisable ‘horse’ behaviour?

Horses aren’t evolved to live as most stabled competition horses do. This isn’t to say they aren’t wonderfully content and happy to be around their people, have their food brought to them at regular intervals and stand still snuggled up in plenty of rugs. However, I think we owe it to the animals in our care to let them express themselves as animals, first and foremost. The mare I currently bringing on as a novice endurance horse is a hilariously strong character. She lives out in the day with three other mares, and they jostle for status, enjoy hormone-fuelled spats and fight for the same patch of grass and pile of hay.

"I set the overall direction, and she handles the details"

If I interrupt her in the middle of such a spat, she pulls some pretty funny faces. I actually find it really cheering that her first loyalty is to herself, and that she doesn’t look at me and see a feed, a treat, an exchange which conditions her to please me. As long as she is respectful of my personal space and is safe to ride and handle, I don’t think she needs further socialisation with me. We are firm friends, but she is a horse and I am a human, and under saddle, I set the overall direction, and she handles the details. The overall direction includes being supple to both sides, yielding to my leg and keeping a proper contact. In fact, she’s on the bit and stretching forwards like a ‘proper’ dressage horse. Just don’t tell her that - she’d be furious!

I suppose my conclusion is that developing a horse to their maximum potential and well being is about more than their way of ‘going’- there is also a way of ‘being’, where they are allowed some autonomy to think for themselves and act like a horse.

Editor's Note: The Horse Hero competition to win a place on the 2011 Mongol Derby, opens January 10th.