The Voice of the Horse

Posted By Jo on July 1, 2009

One of the concepts explored in the Horse-Human Relationship Riding Program is the concept of subtlety.  We aren’t generally very subtle in our everyday lives.  It’s hard to think of being subtle in a culture that bombards people with constant noise and constant images so that each noise and image must be bigger, louder, brighter, more shocking in order to get our attention.  But that is not the world in which horses live.  They live in the natural world, and that world is full of subtlety.

Take some time and watch horses in a field.  They don’t constantly whinny.  They aren’t constantly running around.  If they want another horse to move, they often move their ears and that is enough to let the other horse know that they need to find another place to be.  Watch what happens when a fly lands on a horse’s skin.  The horse will simply twitch a muscle to flick off the fly.  If the fly continues to land or if it bites extremely hard before moving, the horse will swish her tail or bite at the fly.  But first, there is the twitch of muscle.  What do we do when a fly lands on us?  A lot more than just twitching a muscle.

Do you ever ride bareback?  Many people don’t because it takes them out of their comfort zone, which was discussed in the last entry.  Riding bareback is a wonderful way to feel the subtlety of your horse and to learn how to be subtle yourself.  Like most people, I was taught that the main way to stop a horse is with rein pressure.  It was my Quarter Horse Cisco and our two Mustangs, Flint and Sugarfoot, who have taught me to gently use my thighs for a perfect stop.  Cisco is a horse I brought with me cross-country from Massachusetts.  He’s a wonderful teacher horse, who has taught me a lot and who is now teaching others.  One of the most important things Cisco has taught me is subtlety.  His preferred way to be ridden is bareback, with a halter and reins or leadline, on the trail (no actual trail is needed, however, just land to ride on).  Try pulling back on the reins, with or without a bit, and you’ll find he stops but not nearly as quickly, quietly, and nicely as he does if you just sit.  It’s that simple…and not.  We are so accustomed to pulling and making big gestures, that Cisco will teach you that you have to sit just right for him to stop.  It’s a gentle squeeze with the thighs that gets him to stop perfectly.  Once you learn it, you have it.  But until then, you have to avoid the impulse to pull and instead, just gently squeeze.

In the process of riding our two gentled Mustangs, Flint and Sugarfoot, I found that they, too, will stop on a dime.  Again, it’s a matter of a feather-light squeeze of the thighs.  Too hard, and they don’t like it.  But just a gentle squeeze, and they stop right then and there.  Cisco, Flint, and Sugarfoot all respond to the same cue.  All three horses were trained by different people, used in different ways, and yet, they all understand the same cue.  And not all of them were ridden bareback.  So, who is really teaching whom?  We pull to stop when all we need to do is just sit and gently squeeze.  And since these 3 different horses all know the same cue, it is clearly something universal.  How and why these horses all understand this cue are questions we may never know the answer to.  And that’s OK.

What is most important to realize is that horses can teach us what cues to use and that we can be very subtle when riding.  There is no need to be any more severe or loud than that.  Ride with subtlety, and you’ll begin to understand what riding naturally is all about.  More on that topic in future posts.

Categories: Horses, Riding
Tags: bareback, cisco, flint, mustangs, quarter horses, Riding, subtlety, sugarfoot