This came up in conversation the other day, someone told me a person had decided their horse needed to be punished for an action they did not like.
Within the Carolyn Resnick method of horsemanship you should never feel the action of punishing a horse is something you would need to do. A horse doesn’t understand that he did something you didn’t like and you ‘punished’ him for it, in fact if your punishment is to deny him his basic needs or to hit him he is really not going to understand you.
When you make fair requests, are clear and always ask in the moment your horse will say yes then there is never a big NO from your horse or a behavior that is undesirable.
When we start to work at liberty with our horse of course we need to stay safe, we need to know our horse will move away when asked, this is never a punishment, simply a request that horses make of one another all the time. We aim to grow a bond, trust, respect , willingness and focus. To do this we have to offer this to our horse as well, if we loose focus our horse may decide to barge us, nibble us basically do something to show us we are not focused. If we then punish him in some way as we think he is NAUGHTY he will not see us as a trusted leader. A leader he will choose to follow and respect would not have lost his focus. We have to stay in a state of calm awareness so that we can read the subtle communications our horse is offering.
I would like to share the story so far of Heather and her horse Marble. He does give the best kisses.
When I first met Heather and Marble the relationship between them was pretty much on his terms. Heather adores him, she would not ‘ punish’ him but also she couldn’t see that her lack of leadership and attention to addressing how he conducted himself was the not creating the ideal relationship.
He was really dangerous, mainly in his stable, he had barged out, jumped out, squashed Heather and she just loved him. Over the course of a few sessions at liberty Heather has grown into a leader Marble will respect and follow. I am so proud of her. Marble has not changed he is still Marble if lacking in the confidence of his human I have no doubt he will show them they need to pay attention, set boundaries, and reward polite behavior.
One visit I made to Heather and Marble we started the session in the stable even. Heather has remained open to following my suggestions. If I had told her she needed to punish Marble in some way I am sure our working bond would not be what it is. Of course learning to be present, aware, confident in your leadership and having the tools to do all this takes time but this has been a remarkable turn around and Heather and Marble are much happier for it.
The moral of this story really is no matter what your horse does, check yourself did you do anything to stop an unwanted behavior , sometimes simply letting your horse know you are paying attention you can steer him the right way and that is enough, sometimes you need to address what is lacking today go back a step. Our horses don’t punish they communicate.
The more we can learn about how they operate and the more we can make sense to them by entering their world the more they will offer they are incredibly forgiving and generous.
Please do share your horse and human experiences.
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