IT’S NOT A QUAD!

Have you ever heard a horse trainer say something like, “I can handle the horse, it’s the owners that drive me nuts!” Likely you have, and possibly more than once. I know the feeling well, although I usually keep the comments to myself - after all it takes all kinds, right? Unfortunately, trainers and horses are subject to the vagaries of human behavior and the confusion, stress, and pain that can result from misguided thoughts and actions.
For many years now my life has been about half wild and half civilized, one foot in the wilderness and with horses and one foot in civilization. In my line of work, I typically work with fifty or more trail riders a season. Through these experiences I find myself ‘reading the person’ as often as I ‘read the colt’. I have come to the conclusion that, even with the best intentions, how we are influenced in our technological and digital life may have some drawbacks, along with the positives that life in the fast lane provides.
Let me say from the top that when I observe a rider approach, train, saddle, tack up, or ride, it is rarely conducted in a way that I believe is exactly best for the horse – what is needed to bring out the best behavior in that specific horse. Not to lay blame on those less capable but what I believe may be a reflection about people’s attitudes and abilities that are more in tune with machines and computers and stress and time constraints then with reading a horse’s mind and providing the direction that the horse needs. Some riders are very ‘in tune’ with their horse while others are so far off scale they are not even on the right page. Looking at this ‘technology rift’ between man/woman and horse may give us some insight into our own lives with horses.
Horses and livestock in general were domesticated so long ago we are not even sure exactly when, but there is no question that man and the animals he uses developed along with one another, not independent of each other. Although I consider the round pen the greatest recent tool or practice for training horses, mankind has been controlling, applying pressures, disciplining, culling aggression, and creating softer minds in animals through the ages, and not just with horses. Even if you grew up in a time when cowboys bucked out the rough stock, or the lunge line was the training tool of choice, you still clearly understood the importance of training for a willing horse and an agreeable relationship. If you grew up on a farm this is a given, and if you went through 4-H you understand the importance of how your relationship with animals works. Now fast forward to the modern world and techno kid.
Life is great in the box – the Xbox – the modern person pushing buttons, instantly gratified with flashing screens and the information of choice - what I want, not now but right now. It is a lifestyle that consumes many of us. Now let’s transplant digital kid from the modern world to the side of a huge, powerful, beautiful, living, breathing beast that is a horse, and tell him, don’t worry, just ride it. Awe, excitement, fear, wonder. What to do? Gandalf just jumped on Shadowfax and was whisked away through sky and cloud and into the horizon. No way, this thing could kill me.
This is one part of my life I truly enjoy; this moment of city person meets horse for the first time. I know the horse is as civil as a postal employee, but the new rider is not. Now this person digs deep, in seconds, and reveals more about themselves than imaginable. Will they bow out, back off, cower out of the picture, or stand tall and offer themselves with deliberate and gentle touch that says, ‘I am not afraid, I am in your space by choice and choose to do so as I am the master. Or something in between?
I have seen many people from many cultures and nations do extremely well in their first meeting with a horse that they intend to control and ride, and I am convinced that those that do well often have a set of basic life skills that was developed in a home or in a life separate from a saturated computer-based life. For years, outfitters, cattle ranches, dude ranches, and trail riding operations have sought after young help, high school age or older, and have preferred and asked for farm raised kids for the reasons explained above.
Next is what I think of as a ‘quad mentality’. Not that I have anything against reasonable ATV owners and their machines, many of my best clients’ own quads, and so do I, great for checking horses and hauling blocks of salt to the lower forty. But the machine attitude can and often does work against the man/horse relationship– pull start it – wrench it harder – crank it left, crank it right – smack it if it doesn’t work right – turn it off and forget about it when you don’t need it anymore. It’s no joke, many new riders are at an immediate disadvantage because they truly have never worked with something that you get on and moves forward that does not have a gas pedal and brakes. This lifelong relationship with machines and fixing machines has created hands in people that are simply too firm, aggressive, and incapable of the give and take that creates softness. And the minds in these same people simply cannot reach out to understand the mind of another living, breathing thing. What is needed to create an understanding and empathy, what is necessary to decide what action to take next and how to build a relationship.
Working with these mechanical minds can be a real challenge and often it takes time and education for an individual to develop an understanding of what a relationship with a horse really involves, and the satisfaction that can result from the relationship. But some just never seem to get it, and generally their life on the range is a short one, good for them and good for the horse.
A while back I wrote an article called ‘The Emotional Abyss’, all about the danger of getting overly emotional about horses. But this is easier said than done. We live in a society where we have heightened sensitivities toward love, fairness, and compassion, as witnessed by our infatuation with beauty in looks, voice, food, sexuality, and developing attitudes toward gender, race, religious equality and freedom. So, why are there more wars and more wanton murder and death in the world than ever before? You tell me. Likely, the world is not listening to the average North Americans sense of fairness and compassion. Well, here is another dilemma.
All of that compassion that is good - that love that comes from family and healthy relationships, even the skin-deep beauty some cherish in media, contributes a small part of what is needed to train and maintain a healthy, respectful relationship with our horse. In our lives we know that, generally, if we are good to others, they should be good to us. But as good as we can be with our horses, as much good feed as we give them, as many good hugs, as many nice bridles we buy, we learn the hard way that we need to become the partner that is in control. Alpha. It may truly fly in the face of one’s gentle spirit, even what we hope for ourselves and children in the modern, compassionate world.
So, as much, if not more than love, a horse needs definite direction with training, control, and at times, discipline. Respect is not an option, becoming alpha is something the horse owner earns with good training over time. So, unlike life with technology, we enter the world of living, breathing, powerful flesh, explore a world of training with a clear mind, understanding what join-up truly means and how to get there. Firm at times, sure, but a horse is not a quad, direction and growth cannot happen with forceful hands, long pulls and pushes, misguided aggression.
If there is a message in this article that we can put in a pocket and take home it is that all things with horses get better with involvement - good old-fashioned hands-on experience with plenty of good old-fashioned time, and the good old-fashioned concept of putting oneself in another’s shoes – a horse’s shoes.
I am writing this article while sitting on a remote riverbank on the BC/NWT border, a surprisingly pretty little river set in aspen trees full of fall color, gentle gravel bars and clear, smooth-running water. It reminds me of the many wilderness canoe trips I have taken in the past, but years ago now, and it bothers me that modern pressures are robbing me of something I once had more time for. A time for reflection, staying grounded, keeping a sense purpose, self-worth, in our universe. I have changed, hardened perhaps, like many others under time and financial constraints, career decisions, raising children.
So, I promise that someday I will come back to the headwaters of this river, 200 km upstream, and canoe down. Now I must rush off and get this article sent in. So, I will promise not to become a button pushing techno kid, or quad man, if you do the same. Promise.

It is difficult to predict who will thrive on backcountry trips and who will struggle physically and /or emotionally. These two sisters from Germany took off on a one-month wilderness trip. One was a doctor. Had a great trip. Hands on gals and a great attitude. You must think that their upbringing was much more than screen time, likely generous outdoors time with challenges.

Our kids took some amazing wilderness journeys, went through some hard times on the trail. They left that lifestyle pursuing their own interests. Now, they remind us how much those experiences, the wilderness and horses, mean to them, their attachment to it. For a child, a few minutes on a horse can be a lifetime memory.

Our civilized lives are technological, mechanical, and we ask for and expect immediate gratification in most of what we do including entertainment, relationships and food. We carry our perspectives of love into horse relationships, but living with horses requires proper hands-on direction and training. Horses are big powerful animals that are very often willing to abuse us no matter how many treats and how much love we give them.

Useful signs. If you are looking for trail direction or direction with life’s choices, probably best to ignore these signs. Unless, possibly, you are wanting to sit and contemplate the metaphysical, or politics, or your bank statement. Marijuana is legal now.