When we visited BG this weekend the only thing that concerned me was that the other two horses were not allowing him to share the run-in shed. Word came this morning, *S* has allowed BG to move in with him so I am very happy and pleased.
The reality is when you mix horses together you never know who will pal up or who will be frienemies etc… In BG’s new home there is not much tree cover so it’s important that he have access to the shelter and now that I know the established crew is letting him in I can breathe a sigh of relief.
In Riding the Right Horse, Barteau outlines her four types of horses: Social, Fearful, Challenging and Aloof. In my previous reviews I’ ve already written why I think this is limiting. As I was mulling this over, I realized there are many facets to the horse personality and behavior that influences how I train that individual. Actually, it was much nicer to think about this then the biology lecture I needed to listen too.
These were some I came up with (not in any particular order) and perhaps you have your own?:
Confident/Bold - In the video of the two dominant horses, the chestnut horse is not only dominant with higher aggression but there is a confidence in how he presents himself. He is assured that he is the King of the Earth. The opposite of this is the Gray Arab mare who, although she is also Aggressive, Dominant and Challenging, is Fearful.
Awareness – the amount the horse is conscious of his own environment, level of alertness to something new or someone entering that environment but not necessarily displaying as “spooky” or fearful. I am curious to explore if Awareness is linked to Dominance… and it’s link to herd leadership.
For example, in the pasture greeting videos, Z notices immediately that I have entered her pasture (actually she usually notices when the car goes down the driveway)… yet with Dee I had to cross half the field before she noticed me.
Curiousity – Not only is Aware, but also wants to check out and investigate what is new in the environment. Curiousity can be linked to play drive, creativity, boldness and confidence but is also something we can encourage the horse to develop.
This short video clip is of Z shows this as a natural part of her personality as she comes to investigate where I was sitting:
Creativity – Puzzles and figures things out, can connect a chain of responses to an outcome: this is the horse who teaches himself to unlatch a gate. Although some horses are more creative then others, the proper training “puzzles” can encourage the more reserved horse.
Play Drive – Horses’ desire to do activities unrelated to survival for it’s enjoyment (though of course, fighting games do have an end result, but the intial play-fighting with a friend springs from joyful exploring and testing). Could be related to curiousity and the Social type Barteau outlines.
Examples, are the clown at the barn who likes to play with the water hose, or the one who plays endlessly with his ball – generally, I mean the horse that does games without a human-provided reward.
Food Drive – how motivated the horse is by food which could lead to either aggression during feeding time OR the high drive response on the part of the horse during clicker training sessions. To a certain degree all horses are food motivated. However, it’s been my experience that horses that were fed in a field and who fought over grain portions is more likely to be food aggressive. Of course, the dominant aggressive horse is also going to be, innately, more food aggressive, then the omega-passive and/or aloof horse.
For example, pony is very food driven; my horse Dear One was not. This next video of Pandora shows her high drive for treats:
Territorial Boundaries – Amount of space the horse needs between himself and others in order to feel comfortable. Each horse is unique in how close you need to approach in order to influence them. Sensitive horses have a larger boundary; tuned-out and/or dominant horses seem to have a smaller boundary.
For example, Z (dominant) likes to crowd into your space; she likes to be “close” to horses and people. It takes more whip action to get her to move away :
Z (note at 3:58 mark)
Dee seems more sensitive to physical relations and moves off quickly or sometimes over-reacts to a simple request. Note her response at the :16 and 2:01 mark in this video on round pen liberty work:
Remember, this boundary is not always related to Awareness boundaries. For example, Z notices me immediately at great distance; however, I must work in close proximity to her to get her to move off from my cue.
Reward Drive – Some horses really get off on getting rewarded; some seem to care less. Rewards could be food, scratches, relief from work, grooming etc… Some horses prefer one to the other more strongly while other horses will need to be enticed.
Horses that have received traditional training that is repetitive and boring, often seen with lesson horses, may seem initially immune to rewards linked to work. This is because, IMO, they have given up any belief that anything they do will gain them anything. How sad!
Companionship Needs – Amount of desire to be with others, either horses or humans. The horses with a strong need are those who pace the fence when their friend leaves vs. the ones who wouldn’t leave the grass if the entire herd left! My horse Dear One was actually aloof with other horses and you could see this quite clearly in her grazing pattern, where she stood off at some distance from the main group.
In this little video of calling pony from the pasture, notice the two others who come with her. Do you think Fehn (the pinto that comes 2nd) came because of me or because of the other horses? (at the 1:53 mark):
Energy – Some horses have a higher energy level then others; can be related to play drive, curiousity and creative horses. Energy levels can also be effected by how much work the horse is doing overall, the conditioning of the horse, it’s health, heat/coolness of the area temps, hormones etc… Be aware that it can fluctuate from session to session and adjust yourself accordingly.
In my horse group, pony always has the highest energy; T-man the lowest. While T-man has low energy it doesn’t take much to get him going and being responsive, while Z (coupled with her Dominance) takes far more energy on the part of her human to be moved.
Distractability vs. Focus – While this may fluctuate like energy, some horses may naturally just have more distractability or lack of focus.
My horse, Big Guy is very easily unfocused because he goes into robotic-form due to his traditional, lesson horse going around in a circle at w-t-c history. OTOH, the Arab gelding, Beautiful Boy was distracted due to fear. The first is easier to influence then the second. So be careful! The causes of the distraction and the lack of focus may be from very dissimilar reasons between horses showing the same symptoms.
Just like people, in horses there are extroverts and introverts. If the world was filled up with extroverts, I’m not sure I would like it! Quite, reflective horses who are not big on physical signs of affection, need affection just as much – just not in a touchey-feeley, all-consuming type of way. This horse may enjoy a low-pressure, companion walk to hand graze after hard work and that too can form a bond.
My horse Dear One was reserved, but once you had won her respect she would have done her utmost for you. Whereas, Big Guy is reserved because he just isn’t that interested in people and Beautiful Boy was reluctant to connect due to his fear and worry.
Retention Ability – I don’t want you to use this as a measure of intelligence… some horses may pick up things quite quickly in training, but then just as quickly “forget” them! While a horse who takes longer to figure something out, once he does, knows it! So this, like many things we notice about horses is neither good or bad but just a measurement and knowledge to help you work better with your specific horse.
Willingness to Please -I’ve found this naturally coupled with the Internal Worrier and possibly the Emotionally Sensitive horses. However, you also find it in the horse who learns that working with humans is fun! I wonder which came first the willing to please? or creativity? or social? Horses that want to get along and to interact are going to be looking for ways they can be with you.
OTOH, the robotic, traditionally trained lesson horse is not very willing to please generally. He actually is tuned out for survival! Should we label these horses “aloof” and then walk away? No! Let’s respect where they are coming from and invite then into our world based upon their own nature.
Emotional Sensitive – Now that I have a 12 year old daughter I know all about this! This is the horse who needs the most gentle of requests – the most gentle of corrections. They may be bold, playful and fun to work with but also their feelings are easily hurt. Or maybe they are reserved and shy, who retreat further back into their shell when they are corrected? See how this one “label” can be applied to two, very different personalities?
Internal Worrier – Probably much like the Emotional Sensitive, this horse frets. These are the hard keepers, the ones who crib or pace the stall, who colic the day of the show… Like the Sensitive horse they need to be supported by consistency.
Grounded – Now here is the personality who when you get on you feel like you are on a table. You immediately connect to the ground. These horses fill in for the riders who are a bit sloppy, unbalanced and weak.
These are just traits that could be combined in a myriad way. It can be very dangerous to attribute right and wrong, good or bad, or even human motivations to horses and their behavior. Personally, I’ve found it fun to guess “what is my horse thinking?” but have always tried to keep it in the perspective of what the horse would need in order to be a horse thinking it – not a person.
Occassionally, I’ll be posting videos of horse behavior. I’ll have my thoughts about what I saw and experienced, and I encourage you to post your viewpoints in the comments to share!
Today, my plan had been to show you a Pinto draft mare who was very hard to catch and head shy. She is very aloof around humans except for her owner. However, she (not surprisingly) did not cooperate with my plan so here is what happened in the video:
The chestnut gelding is a very dominant horse. He runs this band of mares (Pinto Draft, Gray Arab, and Pony) and his aggression is so bad that no other geldings are allowed in the pasture when he is occupying it. He and Z got into a fight over the fence (Clash of the Titans!) and so I no longer allow her to free graze in the commons area which attaches to the pasture fenceline.
At one point the gray Arab mare comes over to greet me in the left stall. She is also dominant and ended up taking down the two other mares to be lead mare in this band. Within moments of meeting the other horses she immediately picked fights, and took over as alpha mare.
The idea that horse leaders are born out of gentleness is simply not true. Or at least I have not seen it…
Anyway, she came over to talk, making the chestnut upset. He came into my space and was pinning ears at the mare (MY PERSON!) which is why I asked him to go back over the stall door and leave my personal space.
When he did not back up enough for my comfort, I clapped. This sent the Arab mare out her stall door, because though Dominant she would be classifed by Barteau (Ride the Right Horse) as Dominant-Fearful (and I add Social) with a mid to high aggression.
The chestnut I would probably classify as Dominant-Social (and I would add Confident) with a higher level of aggression.
When we go outside both the dominant horses came straight back to me. Both of them have behavior bordering on “pesky” and show that they are enjoying the idea of hanging out with a human (not necessarily a good thing for the human – have you ever seen toys played with by dogs??) which got me wondering…
Are Dominant horses, who want to control their environment, who alert the quickest when something new is in their environment, who are often “clowns” looking for attention, just naturally more interested in interacting with people? Is this Curious-Social-Interest part of their very nature being dominant?
