Have you ever really thought about the phrase “to train a horse” or “horse training”?

According to Pat Parelli, a horse is the ultimate prey animal; they are perceptive to changes in people, places and things.  This includes changes in people’s physical look, emotional state, & intentions.  How many of you have ever gone to the barn with an umbrella during a rain storm and your horse now believes that you have morphed into a mushroom?  How about when you have had an emotional day and your horse seems to be calmer than normal, feeling for your emotional state as you cry into their mane…or have gone to the barn after a stressful day of work and your horse won’t even meet you at the gate?  Coincidence, I think not!  Horses are unbelievably perceptive to subtle changes – way more than we can imagine!

A horses’ personal environment is his home.  They are acutely aware of the exact placement of all things,  anything outside of that norm is cause for skepticism; the tractor is parked in a different place, the jumps have blown over in the night, new snow has fallen and the ever present item that brings up a horse’s skepticism -movement of the horse trailer to a new location!

Dusty Practicing His Flight Line! 😉

This perceptiveness is not a choice that they make; it is genetic makeup, DNA programmed for survival.   A horse is always ready to react in a blink of an eye.  Why are they so good at this?  They have bi-lateral vision which gives them “surround” vision as well as ears that rotate to give them “surround” sound, they have multi-layered lenses which give them instant focus at different ranges.   They are quick, athletic and have great endurance.  Even the ones that are labeled “klutzy” are way more athletic than us humans!  They are pre-programmed to have a flight line; a pre-determined distance they will run until they re-evaluate the situation at hand (or hoof).

Training is to teach, to develop, to concentrate, to focus, to learn, and even to acquire new skills as determined by someone else’s agenda.   Training comes in many forms; but the two main ones are positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement; regardless of what type of training you use, behavior modification is the end result, to create a desired response.  In the study of Parelli Natural Horsemanship, you learn how to modify behaviors to the point that your horses will even become puzzle solvers…not just a trained trick horse.

The conundrum is this:  horses are aware of everything and must be able to react at a moment’s notice for the sake of survival; then we put “training” into the equation.    We ask them to completely override their genetic makeup that is to be perceptive to everything, turn off their instinct, and focus solely on us and our request.  Regardless of what we ask them, no matter how basic or difficult.  it is an incredible phenomenon. Their keen sense to change is what makes them so trainable; and their ability to adapt and override their genetic makeup to me is fascinating.

So, next time your horse spooks or looses their attention on you, take a moment to realize that this is what they are supposed to do.  They will always be a prey animal regardless of how much training they have.  A horse is always a horse, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, every moment of their life.  Then revel in the conundrum that Mother Nature has given us in the horse; a prey animal that is able to be “trained”.  When you think about it this way, it brings new meaning to Pat’s phrase:  “inside every wild horse is a tame horse and inside every tame horse is a wild horse.  Never, ever forget that!  Happy Riding!