I recently took my three year old filly to a local show to hang out. While watching the class, a woman approached me to ask, What should I do about…? In this case, her horse would fly backwards every time she came close to put the bridle on. And so, the questions, what should I do? why is he doing this? As usual, tough questions to answer. First, the horse tells me when to do, how to do, and what to do in any given situation. There is no formula for “if he does this, then I do it”. Then, what the horse is physically doing may not be the problem, it may be a by-product of the problem. What you do know is that what he’s doing is not acceptable behaviour. The real issue comes down to the mentality: the mentality of the horse and more than that, the mentality of the person. In other words, it’s not necessarily what you’re doing that actually causes the horse to have a problem, but rather the stress from what you’re doing, which in turn triggers a response; In this case, he raises his head and flies backwards. The horse uses something Nature’s View calls a tyrant’s mentality: In other words, freezing or fighting is its natural instinct. When in this position, the horse is actually saying “I want to do what I want to do.” Sound familiar? There is nothing wrong with this mindset. Indeed, in the wild, in the natural world, a horse will depend on it for its survival. The problem is that in our world, that mindset isn’t working for him and if he continues down this path, someone is likely to get hurt.
So, back to the first question, what should I do? The first thing to do is introduce a new mindset to the horse: the alpha mindset. This is not necessarily the same alpha you may have heard of in other equestrian avenues. With Nature’s View, alpha simply uses the “How can I help you?” mentality. With the tyrant mentality we mentioned before “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 recalled from past situations, so you may be overreacting or underreacting). The alpha mentality, the other side of the pendulum, is defined as whatever resistance from the horse in any given situation determines how much pressure is applied, plus many more. This mindset calls for dealing with the moment, the horse riding under you, not the four steps ahead or behind you. Remember, we teach and learn by example, so what mindset would you prefer your horse to use: alpha or tyrant?
Anyway, there are four basic things we use to accomplish a task or goal: movement, direction, rhythm, and trajectory. These are actually the things you can see: in Nature’s View, we use these to work on the basic stuff (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, you first have to get moving; Then you need to move towards the kitchen to have breakfast; But back to the situation with the horse. For example, in a piece of work, if we ask the horse to go in a certain direction and the horse decides on its own to change direction, the amount of pressure you apply is equal to its resistance, plus a little bit more. If you pay attention to the horse and allow it to tell you what to do in applying that pressure, the horse will most likely turn back to the original direction. Every time you apply pressure, you raise what we call the negative electrode. The inner poles (negative and positive) are those feelings that let you know when a situation is beneficial or not for your well-being. If you continue to resist and keep increasing pressure (remember, using an alpha mindset), finally what they feel from you will be greater than they imagined (pressure to change direction). Once you feel they have shifted to the new mindset, you should take the pressure off. Don’t get caught up in watching any event. Remember, once you feel the horse shift to the new mindset, that’s when you relieve pressure.
So back to the questions; We use the bridle (the goal) as a reason for the trip (creating a relationship with your horse) to practice the occult (timing, feeling, anger management, listening skills) allowing you to develop a whole new alpha mindset or way of thinking; A lot to think about, right?! Just like jumping, crossing a creek, or loading into a trailer, putting on or taking off a rein is one of the many things we’re seen doing with our horses; But the icing on the cake is having a willing partner for whatever task we attempt. It’s not about achieving the goal, not even about the journey; It’s about the mindset needed for both. The goal is simply the reason for the trip. During the ride, we are allowed to exercise the mindset, and the more adept we are of reasoning, the more we will be able to pursue our passions, whatever that may be (dressage, hunter/jumper, riders, western fun). So instead of putting the cart before the horse and focusing on the goal or even the journey, we first need an alpha mindset.
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